The child is a person

Our attention has been refocussed on the LGBTAI + issue in recent times, and more so after the unambiguous and categorical statement made by the Archbishop of Colombo, Macolm Cardinal Ranjith a few days ago.

- BY Dr. SusIRITH MENDIS Emeritus Professor University of Ruhuna ([e-mail])

On The Sunday Island lead news item on 17 August, he is quoted as saying among other things, “A group of psychologists are issuing certificates that allow children to change their gender identity”. And then he has gone on to homosexuality — as “a danger to our younger generation”. He has further claimed that certain political parties and their leaders were involved in promoting this agenda.

As a medical academic, I have advocated that any human sexual activity is acceptable between consenting adults — with absolute emphasis on ‘consenting’, the issues of same gender sex is not at issue where I am concerned. It is a matter of private personal preference and choice between consenting adults.

But I am very much concerned about an emerging trend that to me, to say the least, is highly alarming. That is, the strong emerging trends of transsexualism pervading the West and the pharma-politico-financial backing it is receiving in recent times. There is now a backlash on men trying to be women and taking advantage of the situation in invading ‘private places’ previously dedicated to women, and legal encroachment in individual and team sports. The worst aspect of it is the encroachment of these powerful corporate social segments on the Rights of the Child.

In this narrative, what I will attempt to do is make a few random ‘brush strokes’ on the large canvas of the current scenery on the ‘Child as a Person’ that may paint an abstract picture of this subject. You may see a pattern, or you may not. It will be in the eyes of the beholder.

“The child is the father of the man.”

Wrote William Wordsworth — in his 1802 poem, "My Heart Leaps Up”.