Church leader warns that members will be mobilised to vote against any administration which changes buggery law; mass rally to send warning in Half-Way Tree today



Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff

Reporter

A SENIOR member of the clergy and chief

advocate for the recently established lobby group Jamaica Churches

Action Uniting Society for Emancipation (CAUSE) has signalled that the

church would not be shy in rallying massive support from its flock to

use the ballot to punish any political organisation that rushes to

repeal the buggery laws.

"We are saying to the

Government of Jamaica, through our mass rally and motorcade on Sunday

(today) at 5 o'clock, that we would like the buggery law to be retained.

We are clear on that," declared the Reverend Dr Stevenson Samuels,

chairman of CAUSE.

At a CARICOM meeting to be held in

Antigua this week, heads of government from across the region will

discuss, among other things, recommendations on eliminating HIV-related

stigma and discrimination.

The recommendations include

repealing laws criminalising consensual sexual acts between adults and

making sexual orientation a protected category for

non-discrimination.

But Samuels is adamant that if the

Government should hold a referendum on whether provisions in the

Offences Against the Person Act dealing with buggery should be repealed,

the church would strongly advocate for Jamaicans to vote for the

retention of the law.

The opposition Jamaica Labour

Party has called for a referendum on the vexed

issue.

RISKY ROAD

However, Samuels

warned that if any administration take steps to change the law on

buggery, that policy move would form part of a mix of issues that would

influence the powerful church community as members vote in the next

general elections.

"As it relates to an election, I

can say that would be one of the considerations. As the church and

citizens go to vote, that would certainly be one of the issues that

would be considered, but obviously, an election is more than a buggery

law," said Samuels.

He was supported by Dr Doreen

Brady-West, spokesperson for Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society

(JCHS), who told The Sunday Gleaner that the time has

come for Jamaica to decide how it is going to be

ordered.

She contended that such a critical decision

should not be imposed on a country by external influences, but should be

determined by its citizens.

"Everybody deserves to

have a say in what is going to form the foundations on which public

policy and laws of Jamaica are going to be made," Brady-West

remarked.

The JCHS spokesperson outlined that laws do

not come out of a vacuum but are grounded in some kind of philosophy and

world view. Consequently, she argued that the nation must decide what

is the proper moral view or philosophy upon which its laws and public

policies is going to be grounded.

"If it is left on

its own, we are going to see things that we don't want, like what

happened in the children's homes," she

added.

Addressing the political directorate,

Brady-West urged them to consider the world views and the philosophies

which they think would be applicable for Jamaica. She implored the

leadership of Jamaica to "listen to the people of the country and not to

be pressured by external forces, either international or

regional".

SPURRED BY BAIN'S

SACKING

Today's planned mass rally by CAUSE was

initially triggered by the sacking of Professor Brendan Bain as director

of the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training (CHART)

Network.

The university said that it had become

increasingly evident that Bain had lost the confidence and support of a

significant sector of the community which the CHART programme has

targeted.

However, organisers of the rally said the

issue has become much wider than the Bain sacking.

"We

are standing up for the establish-ment of our laws on the basis of

truth and rights. We are opposing injustice wherever it is, and we are

asking that the nation rise up for truth and rights in this nation and

that our laws be based on these premises," said

Samuels.

He said a festival atmosphere is expected in

Half-Way Tree, St Andrew, this evening as hundreds of churches

islandwide will be closing their doors to support the

rally.

The clergyman pointed out that with the New

Testament Church of God, the second largest denomination in Jamaica with

more than 350 churches, throwing its support behind the CAUSE, buses

are expected to take people from as far as Westmoreland, Hanover and

Portland.

"I would say it is the first in our recent

history that we have come together to support a civil issue as a church

in such a sustained manner," he said.

"We have put

together a specialised team just to look at our message to make sure it

is properly researched and crafted to ensure that we are speaking

accurately to the issue and that we are educating the public on this

matter," he added.

The church protest comes despite

calls from a little-known organisation - Citizens Advocacy Group

International Support Initiative (CAGI) - for the revocation of United

States visas issued to Jamaican government officials and citizens who

violate the rights of homosexuals.

The group, which

says it is affiliated with international gay-rights organisations, also

wants aid supplied by the United States and Europe to Jamaica

withdrawn.

According to CAGI, it will not allow

members of the religious community to dictate the rights that members of

the gay community are entitled

to.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com

