But that impact doesn't include making radical and progressive changes just yet. Jules Vasquez, asked Shyne if he's looking at moving Belize forward in terms of reducing the control that the churches have over the education system and legalizing abortion and same sex marriage. He said he supports those ideologies, but that Belize just isn't there yet:
Hon. Shyne Barrow - Leader of the Opposition
"I'm not trying to be this radical, what I want to do is get the fundamentals done first before we get to church and state and abortion."
Jules Vasquez
"You don't want to touch any of those progressive issues."
Hon. Shyne Barrow
"We need to get education."
Jules Vasquez
"But education, that's being undermined in my opinion, by the church/state system and thinkers have been saying this for fifty years. Assad Shoman said it from the 70's."
Hon. Shyne Barrow
"I do believe in a separation of church and state."
Jules Vasquez
"But you're talking in generalities but the specific, the cancer of the church and state relationship lies in the church's unequal influence in education which is only gained by moral right."
Hon. Shyne Barrow
"You see, your focus would be that and my focus would that making sure that everyone can have access to education before we could get into accusations of the church being cancerous, we need to deal with the reality that there are children who can't go to school because they don't have the resources. There are children in the rural areas that can't get to school because they don't have the bus services. So I am a pragmatist, I am not trying to be this progressive revolutionary politician."
Jules Vasquez
"Do you understand how many of our children go to school hungry?"
Hon. Shyne Barrow
"Exactly, so I would prefer to focus on that than getting into church and state."
Jules Vasquez
"So you don't want to talk about things like abortion, abortion is illegal in this country. Same sex marriage is."
Hon. Shyne Barrow
"I believe a woman should have the right to choose."
Jules Vasquez
"You believe the woman should have the right to choose."
Hon. Shyne Barrow
"Yes, she should have the right to choose and I believe a person's sexual orientation is none of society's business."
Jules Vasquez
"So you support same sex marriage?"
Hon. Shyne Barrow
"Again, I don't want to speak on behalf of the UDP. I am making clear that we have not had any type of meeting to define these policies but if you will recall, I supported equal rights for LGBT last year when I was Leader of the Opposition and I believe that people should be allowed the freedom to choose who they love and that is nobody's business."
