The diplomatic tightrope which Foreign Minister Senator Kamina Johnson Smith has to be walking in the current spat with Washington is only the latest reminder that the complexities of human sexuality and sexual practices remain, stubbornly, unresolved.

It is an issue that won’t be resolved any time soon in Jamaica where homosexuality is still outlawed, with support from most Jamaicans, as found by all public opinion surveys in recent memory.

No wonder that Minister Johnson Smith has to retreat so deeply into diplomatic speak in denying that there is a diplomatic row with the United States over alleged requests that an American diplomat with a same-sex married spouse be posted in Jamaica.

“In accordance with diplomatic practice, and within the ambit of Jamaica’s Constitution, Jamaica grants privileges and immunities to incoming diplomats, their staff, and families to either reside in or visit the country,” she says.

“All requests made to the foreign ministry are considered within this context. Members of staff from both countries continue to reside and work in each other’s territory and are expected to observe the laws of their host country.”

The minister, no doubt, understands well that it is an untenable position to refuse a diplomat on grounds of sexual preference, considering that Jamaica would be telling non-Jamaicans how to live their private lives, against international conventions.

What if countries, like the US, where same-sex unions are recognised, decide that they will not accept diplomats from countries where they are outlawed? Where would that leave Jamaica as far as our international representation is concerned?

At the same time, Mrs Johnson Smith is cognisant that acting against the wishes of the majority of the Jamaican electorate could come with disastrous consequences at a time when the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is not looking so good in the latest Don Anderson polls.

The one thing politicians don’t play with is their voting pool.

For Jamaicans, the LGBTQ debate is, like abortion and the death penalty, one of the existential issues of our time, seemingly inextricable and destined to promote everlasting and deep division among the populace.

We in this space believe that human beings have a right to their sexual preference, with the caveat that it is not imposed on others or used to inflict harm. What people do in their own bedrooms is hardly of concern to us.

The LGBTQ debate, complicated by the addition of transgender and cisgender issues, grows ever more enmeshed in religious and political beliefs. There are rarely anything more divisive than politics and religion, both of which can be blinded by dogma.

Ideally, who one chooses to love should not be for the State to decide. It is matters like this that informed the ideology of the separation of Church and State, starting with the American and French revolutions and the Enlightenment of the 18th century.

Mrs Johnson Smith understands these matters. She says: “The Government of Jamaica recognises the importance of maintaining the traditions and practices of diplomacy, which have long ensured a seamless relationship with the diplomatic community and supported vibrant and admirable relations with the United States for over 60 years.”

But it is not a decision for her alone. We are long overdue a referendum.