As a legal drafts-person, Michelle Daly is the essence of a technocrat, but as the Deputy Solicitor General, she had to take center stage as a public figure on the controversial Child Protection Bill. The final House Committee Meeting to consider changes to the bill was held yesterday afternoon, and it ran until after 8:30 at night. All the changes should be made in time for tomorrow's House Meeting when it is expected to be passed by the House. But, Deputy Sol Gen Daly who first approved the bill wasn't there to put on the final touches to the much modified piece of legislation. That's because her contract expired today, and, best information says she left the country this morning. Her contract was with the Commonwealth Secretariat for Capacity Building and it was not renewed. So, the final changes were left to juniour drafts-persons in the Sol Gen's office.
Opponents of the bill have made much of the recently revealed fact that Daly is the ex wife of Maurice Tomlinson - the Jamaican gay rights activist who is suing the government of Trinidad and Belize for discriminatory treatment. Section 5 of Belize's Immigration Act, says that as a homosexual he is a prohibited immigrant. Tomlinson, who is married to a Canadian man, says that this law violates his right to freedom of movement within the Caribbean Community.
Last year, Tomlinson told the Jamaica Observer that he tried everything possible to suppress his urges, he even got married to a female friend who knew of his homosexuality.
