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Justice Minister Senator Mark Golding has put to rest speculation that the Government could soon change the definition of marriage in Jamaica.
Jamaican law defines marriage as being a legal union between a man and a woman.
However, with changes being made to that definition in other jurisdictions to allow for same sex marriage, Senator Golding indicates similar moves are not being contemplated for Jamaica.
“I don’t think that will change in the foreseeable future.,” Golding said.
Golding was speaking at a recently held Molynes Garden Citizens Association town hall meeting in St Andrew.
The Member of Parliament for St Andrew East Central constituency, Dr Peter Phillips, who was also speaking at the town hall meeting, says while he strongly supports the continuation of marriage in Jamaica between a man and a woman, the decay of the family structure is a more urgent cause for concern.
Jamaica’s crisis
He said family life in Jamaica is facing a crisis which must be arrested as part of the development of the country.
“We are not having settled families, 89 percent of births in Jamaica are to a single parent – that is the big crisis that we face,”
He said other statistics showing that 20 percent of all births are due to teenagers is another issue that will cause persistent poverty.
Lack of discipline
The Justice Minister has lamented that a lack of discipline in society, is part of the reason for backlogs in an already overburdened court system.
He said of the many who use the court system, they do not respect the court's time and that causes some of the delays in administering justice.
He added that despite the backlog, efforts are being made to identify areas that cause delay and eliminate them.
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