Anti-gay couple barred - England stops Jamaican-born Christians from fostering 16th child

This is very old news of course but I guess like everywhere else the Jamaica Observer is catching the sensationalism to sell papers and seeing the issue of buggery and gay marriage are hot off the lips of most these days following Obama's personal support of gay marriage which does not necessarily means it will be law in all the states of pushed at the federal level. The Observer however wrote:

JOHNS... gays have more rights than Christians (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

A Jamaican-born British couple say they have been told they can’t foster a 16th child in their Derby County home, because as Christians they don’t believe homosexuality is right.

Owen and Eunice Johns, who are back home in Jamaica, are preparing to take the matter before the European Court of Justice with the support of a coalition of Christian groups who are firmly opposed to the gay and lesbian lifestyle.

“These people (gays) have more rights than Christians. We have been called retarded homophobics because we want to stand up for the truth,” Eunice Johns, a retired nurse who hails from Trelawny, said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

Johns appeared at joint press conference with the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, the Jamaica Association of Evangelicals and the Roman Catholic Family to highlight what they suggested was a “secular agenda” in the fight against HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The group, which consists of several influential Christian leaders, reaffirmed their objections to the lifestyle practised by gays and lesbians.

The Johns have been foster parents to 15 Jamaican children since they started taking children into their home in England in 1992. All went well, they said, until they went back to the Derby City Council to foster a 16th child in 2006.

“They started asking about my Christianity and I told them I was a Christian, I go to church on a Sunday. I told them I was a Bible-believing Christian,” Eunice said.

She was asked: “What if a child of five came to you one day from school and told you that they were homosexual?” To this she responded: “I would care for that child, I would give them love and attention and all that’s required.”

Her response, however, did not find favour with the social worker and when Eunice ventured to ask what her response should have been, she was told: “You would have to tell this child that it is alright to be homosexual.”

Failing to convince Eunice to change her mind on the matter, the social worker said she would have to raise the issue with her manager. Two weeks later the manager came to see her.

“She said to us: ‘Well, Mr and Mrs Johns, we were told that you said you could not tell a child it is alright to be homosexual, and in this day and age you would have to because so many children are not sure where they are and a lot of them are confused. So many people are confused these days, because they weren’t told that their sexuality and what they are feeling is right’.”

She said she and her husband were then taken before a panel of 12 persons at the Council where they were asked to explain their views on homosexuality. Two weeks after that, they got a letter thanking them for withdrawing their application to foster children. The couple were shocked, because they had made no such request. However, they decided not to contest the Council on the matter.

“After they said, ‘thank you for withdrawing’, we said ‘that’s alright, we would leave it, no skin off our nose, perhaps we shouldn’t foster’,” she recalled.

But just a few weeks later, they learnt of another couple whose foster child was taken away because they refused to tell them that homosexuality was right, she added.

After the passage of The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations of 2007, Johns said they began hearing of Christians who were being prosecuted for denouncing the gay lifestyle. Several Christian children’s homes had been closed, Christian pastors were being abused, and several Christian business owners were forced to close because they decided to affirm their belief. Christian marriage counsellors were also coming under increased pressure because of their refusal to marry same-sex couples, she claimed.

The Johns’ case eventually attracted the attention of the Christian Concern for Our Nation, a religious lobby group in London. Their solicitors took the matter before the Nottingham Crown Court in 2009. Following months of court appearances by the Johns, their lawyers, representatives of the Derby City Council, and civil rights group, the High Court, in a landmark ruling in 2010, noted that laws protecting gays from discrimination superceded the couple’s religious belief.

“The judge did not say we could not foster children, but the judge was saying England is no longer a Christian country, it’s now a secular country. He made it quite clear that we have got to adhere to what is being set out,” said Eunice, who came back to Jamaica five months ago with her husband.

Their solicitors are now preparing to take the matter before the European Court of Justice, Johns said, adding that Jamaica was in a good position to refute what she believed was a hidden agenda by the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender community.

“I notice the word that they are using here while trying to push this thing through is tolerance. We are Christians, so we should be tolerant. But it only takes that first door and it’s like a domino effect, all of the other doors are going to be opened,” she said.

Read more:

also see a previous entry on a radio interview they did late 2011

Shirley Richards & The Jamaican UK Foster Parents (The Johns) on Love 101 FM ............. on buggery

Anal Fixation (Tell Me Pastor)

After a long hiatus as you may have noticed my readers and the shouting matches on national radio on Obama's support for gay marriage rights in the United States comes this convenient letter to the Tell Me Pastor of the Star News. With threats to Miss Portia Simpson Miller from supporters and non supporters alike that if she attempts to review the buggery law the PNP may loose support all kinds of antigay drama come flying out of the woodwork.

Have a read of this latest letter to Pastor Dumas and see if it makes sense bearing in mind that anal sex is criminalized in Jamaica whether committed on a man or a woman but the matter of privacy ought to be considered.

Here is the letter and pastor's response

Dear Pastor,

I am 35 years and a Christian. I got married to a man I knew in Jamaica, but he migrated to the United States. We were only acquainted with each other before he went to live in America. He came back to Jamaica and visited me at my workplace. He said somebody told him where I was working. He took my number and, the evening of that very day, called and invited me out. We went to Port Royal and had fish. He told me he was always admiring me when he was living in Jamaica. He also told me that he had got married to an American woman but they broke up. He said that she was too demanding. He was living in New York but had moved and went to another State.

got another girl pregnant

He asked me if I had a boyfriend. I told him no. My boyfriend and I had broken up a year before and I had taken a break from men. I broke up with my boyfriend at the time because he got another girl pregnant.

This man took me out every night because when I met him he only had three days before returning to America. He asked me to have sex with him, but I told him no because I did not know him well enough. We kissed, but that was all. He went back to America and called me two, three times a day. Sometimes at work I had to turn off my phone to do my work. He came back to Jamaica last year and begged me for sex. He brought me a very expensive watch. I had sex with him twice during that visit.

We got married last December. On my wedding night, he tried to have sex with me in my bottom and I strongly objected. He tried to fight me to do it and I told him that I would kill him. We made up.

Pastor, I am now living with him in America and he always wants anal sex. When I am asleep, he is trying to do so. He says everybody is doing it. I told him I am going to leave him if he doesn't stop. He says that is what he likes. I am not working. I am here because I have a visa.

Pastor, please give me your advice. Many nights I have to be sleeping in the couch because I am afraid to go on the bed.

L.S.

 

Dear L.S.,

This man is not going to stop harassing you to for anal sex. He has declared that is what he likes. He tried to coax you into it and you objected. He has not succeeded. He tried to force you and it hasn't worked. He does not respect the position you have taken and is making a big mistake by believing he has a right to have sex with you anyhow he pleases.

I suggest you ask him whether he would go with you to see a therapist. If he objects and continues to demand anal sex, you should seriously consider seeing a lawyer for advice.

Pastor