IT IS very tempting to focus on paid parking this week.  There are so many strands to explore.

• Environment department repeatedly refusing to carry out States’ instructions.
• The extra duty on fuel – unfair on the majority of islanders, who don’t regularly use these bits of prime real estate, and wholly ineffective in encouraging commuting by bus.
• The prospect of higher bus fares – not a good way to build on past successes.
• More importantly, taking the money for the transport strategy from the general revenue pot –  exactly what is planned, however it’s dressed up – which is unsustainable. It is not a bottomless pit and you can already hear the States’ financial train screeching towards the buffers. What odds on large-scale borrowing soon?

So, lots to analyse, but I am going to resist the temptation as I think people have had their fill of paid parking in recent weeks.

Instead, news of plans for a music and arts festival celebrating sexual diversity in Guernsey has got me thinking about a very different political question.

Why is the States of Guernsey so woefully poor at dealing with social issues?

Yes, I know that for most governments around the world what really matters is ‘the economy, stupid’.  Guernsey is no different, particularly in the current global economic crisis. But governments in most other countries also find time to tackle the legislative and practical changes needed to recognise changing attitudes in society.

The States seems very reluctant to do that unless really forced to do so. Either it shies away from them as ‘too controversial and best ignored’ or else dismisses them as ‘not being priorities’. The result is that we can have social legislation reflecting a society which, thankfully, ceased to exist decades ago.

Some examples. Back in 2006 the States passed a requete (OK, it was mine) calling for civil partnerships to be investigated. Policy Council argued against it. It said: ‘We will look at this one day but not now, it is not a priority’.

The States clearly disagreed and told the council to get on with it.  The response: ‘The States has got this wrong so we will ignore the vote and do nothing’.

Not only was this socially backward, as per usual, but profoundly undemocratic. Policy Council is the servant of the States, not its master, but that is an argument for another day.

The upshot is not only that locals are denied the option of entering civil partnerships in Guernsey, but that those coming or returning to the island who are already in such a partnership are in a real fog of legal uncertainty.

Another example is the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women [CEDAW].

Over a period of decades, the States has consistently baulked at passing it. It was given priority at the last consideration of the Government Business Plan. The smoke signals now coming out of the States are that it is likely to recommend that Guernsey refuses to adopt the convention yet again.

I don’t yet know why, but I would lay money on it being the requirement under CEDAW to bring in legislation on equal pay for work of equal value. Wouldn’t that be terrible?

Another glaring example are the unequal local ages of consent for heterosexuals and homosexuals. The States knows full well that it is in clear breach of its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. The island entered freely into this convention (which, by the way, has nothing whatsoever to do with the European Union) decades ago. It has recently agreed that its provisions be brought into domestic legislation. It is fully bound by it, by its own choice, and yet ignores it.

The States has been given unequivocal legal advice that if a case were brought against the island over this differential there would simply be no defence. Yet still nothing is done to address this human rights breach. Why? One can only assume it is because it is ‘embarrassing’ or would prove unpopular with local homophobes.

It’s a disgrace and needs to be corrected. Come on, Deputy Mahy and the Home Department.

Show your mettle.