The head of Jamaica’s teachers’ union has said that school guidance counselors should be able to refuse to provide counseling and support for gay students because the act of ‘buggery’ is a criminal offense in the Caribbean island nation.

Jamaica Teachers Association boss Norman Allen made the comments after the newly elected president of the Jamaica Association for Guidance Counselors in Education, Nina Dixon, raised concerns that some religious guidance counselors in Jamaican schools were failing LGBTI students by refusing to provide them with support.

‘I have students who have come into my office and they have expressed how they feel about their sexual orientation or their feelings. We have counselors who are of the Christian faith who will not touch it or look at those students at all,’ Dixon told Jamaica’s The Gleaner newspaper on Monday.

However Allen said it was right for guidance counselors to refuse that support.

‘You are not necessarily equipped to guide them,’ Allen said.

‘You can’t tell them to continue with an activity which is illegal. Your first order of business to these children must be to say that you are engaging in something that is not legal.’

Allen said that, like cases of ‘abuse’ it was a counselor’s responsibility to report a homosexual student to the authorities.

Allen’s comments were widely criticized online with many complaining that he did not understand the difference between having a same-sex attraction and acting on it.

‘No wonder our education system is such a mess if a teacher cannot tell the difference,’ one Gleaner reader posted.

‘The counselors are asked to counsel and provide appropriate guidance and care to anyone who seeks their help. That is their mandate. Their profession requires them not to judge or impose their moral beliefs on others. If they cannot do so, they need to leave the profession,’ wrote another.

‘As much as I don’t support the gay life style I can’t agree with the notion that guidance counselors should not provide support to certain students because of their sexual orientation. I thought their job was to provide support to all students given that buggery is deem illegal while its not illegal to be a homosexual.’ another reader said.

Research has shown that guidance counselors are the most likely member of staff in schools that young gay and lesbian Jamaicans are likely to disclose their sexual orientation to.

Norman Allen has previously voiced his support for the corporal punishment of children as he says barring it sends the wrong message to kids.