Kenwyne Jones: We must respect not judge LGBTQ+ people

Although retired professional footballer Kenwyne Jones is not an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, he is a believer in acceptance and respect.

So he was willing to be a part of Scotiabank TT’s multi-channel advertising campaign featuring Scotia employees and members of the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/ questioning, and others) community.

In the audiovisual ad he said, “Inclusion begins with all of us. We all need to embrace and respect each other because when everyone can be their whole self, we all thrive.”

Jones, 36, told Sunday Newsday although he believes the LGBTQ+ lifestyle was “unnatural,” one of the reasons he agreed to be part of a few LGBTQ+ campaigns throughout his international career was because it was not for him or anyone else to judge others.

“It’s (being queer) not my personal belief. I made my choices in life and I believe in what I believe in.

"But I’m not out here saying this person should be demoralised or discriminated against for their choices. That is not my stand on it, because at the end of the day we are all human beings.

“Why I’m on the side of Scotiabank is because it’s based on rewarding people for what they were hired to do. I hired you for your creativity, your ability to do such and such, and you get promotions for doing your work. It has nothing to do with your personal choice.”

Jones believed a lack of professionalism in the work environment, including sports, was one of the reasons people in the LGBTQ+ community were concerned about “coming out” in the workplace. It was also one reason for the homophobia there.

He said the culture of “crossing boundaries” in the workplace was prevalent, so people fear being objectified or discriminated against. Heterosexual people may feel that the queer person would try to cross those boundaries, or the queer person may believe their co-workers would feel that way and treat them differently.

Either way, he said, a person’s sexuality or gender identity should not be a factor or a line of conversation because they were hired to do a job. Both the queer individual, and those who were not had the responsibility to act professionally.

“From my point of view (cisgender heterosexual male), you want to be able to go into your workspace – dressing room, locker room, office, whatever the case is – and know. on any level, that the things that happen there are going to be on a work level.”

For example, in the same way that someone who liked pineapples did not go around encouraging everyone to like pineapples, someone who preferred oranges could respect the talent of the person who liked pineapples.

He said everyone had their own beliefs, had to make their own decisions, stand by those decisions, and live with the consequences. People’s personal choices had nothing to do with anyone else. So while they may not become friends, no one should refuse to work with others because they live their lives a certain way.

He agreed that some queer people were intersex but believed most “make the choice” to be queer. But, since he did not know any individual’s situation or experiences that led to those choices, he could not judge them for it.

Jones told Sunday Newsday several things came into play in his line of thinking. They include his upbringing, his spirituality, the multicultural environment of TT, and his exposure to many different people, cultures and situations throughout his professional career.

I would love my children if they choose queer lifestyle

After a career in local football, he played with several English clubs including Southampton, Sheffield Wednesday, Stoke City, Cardiff City, and Bournemouth, as well as Al Jazira in Abu Dhabi and Atlanta United in the US.

He is currently a motivational speaker, the head football coach at Queen's Royal College and the national under-17 team, and pursuing a sports management degree at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine.

“How I was brought up, I never had the perception of, ‘This person is Indian, black or white or Chinese.’ You can’t discriminate. It’s the same idea. If you are dying and they (medical professionals) are giving you blood, you don’t know who the blood is coming from. All you know is that blood is going to save your life.”

He said an “ignorant” person may get in an accident and the same people they hated could be the ones who would try to help. He questioned if they would refuse help from those people.

“At what point are we going to tailor our personal feelings and ignorance to different situations? We can’t be pressed for certain categories and not all of it. We can’t be selective.

“If you’re telling me, ‘We hate these people and they should not be around because of the choice they make,' then why haven’t we divided the world?”

For example, he said many creative people in TT were from the LGBTQ+ community. He asked if those ignorant people would stop playing mas, eating at certain restaurants, or wearing clothes.

He added that religion was helping to propagate separatist ideas by making it seem as if there were levels of wrongdoing where it would be okay for one person to sin, but another sin was worse, so that person would be punished more.

Recalling that that the Anglican religion was formed because a Catholic king wanted to break the rules and get a divorce, he called religions hypocrisy.

“Regardless of the denomination, religion has an element of spirituality to it. But the religion side of things tries to be stringent to whatever old laws, and not understand that once you are in depth in your spirituality, you follow the laws anyway.”

Asked what he would do if one of his children ended up being part of the LGBTQ+ community, Jones said he taught them “right from wrong.” but if any of his children chose to be part of the community, they would just have to agree to disagree.

“Based on my moral belief and upbringing, I would not grow my children to be unnatural. If they make a certain choice at a point in time, they are my kids and that would not change. I don’t have to agree with their choices, because you have to go on, make your life, make your choices, and live and die by them. But if you make that choice that doesn’t mean that I’m going to shun you.

"You’re still my child and I would love and respect you.”