In parliaments, vicious debates often take place. Opposing sides do everything they can to win a point or cause the other side to be derailed. Parliaments are not places for thin-skinned people or for the faint of heart.
Public life in general is similar. Those who are against you will tell all manner of lies about you. Some will be highly offensive personal attacks that seek to destroy your reputation.
To make it in public life one has to be able to withstand these attacks and know when to respond and how to respond. Some criticisms from the shadows are not worth dignifying.
Dr. Andre Rollins is a young politician serving his first year as an elected representative. In a recent debate, he stood up in the House of Assembly and went on a tirade defending, in his mind, his sexual identity against questions to it he claimed were made by Opposition Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis.
"For the record, I am absolutely 100 percent heterosexual," Rollins declared.
Rollins went further.
"I was accused by him of living a lifestyle that I do not live so that he could use his contacts in The Punch to try and scandalize my name," he said.
"Anybody who knows me knows the lifestyle that I live.
"I had the FNM, while I ran for the PLP, trying to tell parents lies about me, a professional who works with children, to try and scandalize my name, to cause me to lose business.
"And you think I am not going to defend myself when the member for Killarney who was lying on me, stood up on his feet because he and the member for Long Island (Loretta Butler-Turner) were trying to get into my head and bend their wrists?
"And he's supposed to be a leader of the opposition?"
Minnis said he has no interest in Rollins' sexual preference. Rollins allowed himself to be flustered by the opposition's private taunts. Consequently, he made a bizarre declaration about his sexuality - declaring to be fully heterosexual - that made many people wonder why he felt the need to say such a thing.
We elect people to Parliament to do our business. We expect them to be law-abiding citizens who live honest lives. Being gay is not a crime. Being straight is not a crime. Therefore, it is unclear why a member would need to declare if he is or is not heterosexual or homosexual.
The 100 percent heterosexual declaration by Rollins will linger for a while. Rather than people thinking about his work as an MP and Gaming Board chairman, many will think about his sexuality.
Rollins chose to enter public life. He must learn to be more strategic in his statements. He must also learn that when you are loud, aggressive and challenge your political opponents, they will retaliate. And some people in the public sphere fight dirty. If he cannot handle the fight and is easily drawn to strange declarations on the record, he will not make it as a politician.
When unnamed sources attack unnamed politicians in tabloids, Rollins should know that an elected representative should not respond to that on the floor of Parliament. He must also learn how to fight back when the opposition tries to provoke him - without embarrassing himself.

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