We already have subtly supported condoning of violence towards LGBT persons committed by non Christians for the most part when such acts occur, the outrage that rightly ought to come from real Christians who are concerned about balance, fairness and respect while espousing God’s over-arching principles despite who are involved does not; as if there is a serve them right psychological snicker in the deafening silence from the now loud church fanatics on the Bain/JFJ Sex Education matter. So much blood has been spilt on that account with dozens of near misses in years the most recent one in Clarendon as shown on TVJ News last week on Fathers' Day yet no word from the hysteria making crew on concern or their so called love the sinner hate the sin posture or their pretentious non support of violence when they really do not mean it.
The real essence of that Bain matter has been lost after its hijacking by hysterical Christian mostly led groups and has been for all intents and purposes reinterpreted and misrepresented as punishment for his testimony in Belize two years ago in actual support of the retention of the buggery law in principle when he is head of a program in CHART which is also a part of a greater initiative of PANCAP to actually repeal or decriminalize problematic laws that criminalizes some sexual activity linked to male homosexuals. It is not the content of the testimony/affidavit that is the problem it is the reason for the action taken by Professor Bain via the affidavit that is the bigger issue although some other professors across the region have said that Professor Bain did not go further by using Caribbean statistics and addressing HIV infections, anal sex overall while not limiting his thesis to just gay men.
In offering such testimony even allegedly at the intervention of others linked to the CHART and other HIV prevention initiatives not to do so is indeed problematic as it goes against the greater imperative of the Caribbean HIV prevention thrust, problem is over these many years is it in essence the LGBT groups wearing another hat that also run these programs and agitations so the mistrust is bound to happen and cause more problems than they solve. The tangled web that has been woven seems to have enmeshed the very groups struggling for LGBT recognition and legal coverage with deceptions or perceptions of it the glue that binds the hysterical response, a thinking response from concerned religious folk would be to actually talk to the people who they have a problem with especially owing to the fact that the latter Jamaicans for Justice Sex Education manual/course allegedly snuck in through the back door as it were and not made known to the Child Development Agency although reporting mechanisms from the very privately run children’s homes would have brought it to their attention plus unannounced visits by the monitoring officers and investigators also must have made known the project activities through the monitoring system, I fail to see with that kind of monitoring and find it hard to believe that the CDA was not aware of this activity for so long.
I had described the fears expressed by religious anti gay groups and churches of some kind of persecution of faith because of opposition to “the homosexual lifestyle” as a false dichotomy some years ago but after the events of the last four weeks since the story went public and the hardened positions taken by some via hysteria I might add with no sight of dialogue then there is bound to be action of some sort taken in retaliation as squared off factions take turns in inflicting bigger blows until the knockout I imagine; and to think churches who are supposed to espouse respect, togetherness and such are the actual agents of divisiveness in this matter and the JFJ sex ed matter as well. There is bound to be a causality as in any “war” since the churches or some more worked up groups who are at this and anther added element to the divisive nature of this snide remarks towards more traditional and older churches who have not joined this newly constituted wave of opposition to supposed homosexual imposition but religious history has taught us this when lesser denominations want power they simply demonise the more established ones to gain traction; case in point the very matter of buggery & traditional churches (Catholics in this case) which is the centrepiece of all this as in 1533 under King Henry VIII the buggery act was reconstituted from the French version some two hundred years before under Philip IV and in both instances the law was used to wipe out religious and theological opposition to the dominant order of the day. In Philip’s case it was used to target the Knights Templar allegedly as they were seen as a threat to his reign and to the Catholic Church’s power as well so it was used alongside “spiritual” weapons as well to target them.
Under Henry’s reign of course it was used to assist in the dissolution of the monasteries transferring the enormous wealth from a corrupt church while propping up his own monarchic power and the church of England of which he made himself head on earth after the pope then in Rome who all other monarchs were beholden to did not grant him the divorce of his first wife Catherine of Aragon as she did not bear a male heir. The Catholic Church was declared a den of homosexuals by the chief henchman for King Henry VIII Thomas Cromwell and a law based on an opinion was put into effect with several Bishops going to the gallows for alleged sodomy when many of them were not even homosexuals to begin with.
It seems every time the sodomy laws when enacted since around 390 BC in Rome they were not used for the intended purpose instead it is used as a legal device to belittle or wipe out political and religious opponents, fast forward to now we see the twinning of the Bain matter and the JFJ matter alongside cancellations of shows of Queen Ifrica described freedom of speech so the retention of the buggery laws here in the minds of some is to:
Keep the HIV spreaders at bay as part of the HIV is a gay disease ploy
Protect children from predators and paedophiles when there is a clear conflation between same gender sex and abuse whilst devoid of education on sex and sexuality
Limit the power of LGBT groups to persecute supposed Christians who oppose homosexuality
And not to actually stop homosexuality or in essence homosexual sex for the public good as it were as if we are to follow their logic they would be standing at all our doors to peek through our keyholes to see who is putting what into where.
There was an actual case in England in the 1800s involving James Pratt, John Smith and another male who had left to purchase ale and whose house the keyhole peeking took place as the landlord of the latter person who suspected strange activity and just by his word and that of his wife all three men were humiliated and charged, the ale buyer who returned was charged for being an accessory to the act; the two men who were seen allegedly making love were tried and eventually hung despite the change of opinion and appeal by the very judge who sentenced them and despite the commuting of other harsh criminal charges commuted to life as the death penalty debate raged “sodomites” did not benefit from such commutation. The trial judge in hindsight found the matter or privacy an over-arching principle as others were not exposed save and except for prying eyes by inquisitive persons violating their rights within a threshold. These two men were the last persons to be hung for the crime before the relaxing of aspects of the act in 1861 and then conditional consent and privacy in 1967 although starting at age 21 and not the 16 for everyone else. The equal age of consent came some years later then full removal hence gay marriage rights in 2005 to now.
Our former colonial masters did the right thing in removing this persecution of persons just because of who they are and their private personal choices yet our governments claim they want to leave the privy council as our final court of appeal under the guise of the Lords expression of wanting to be relieved of taking overseas cases (using the country of origin’s laws) and use the Caribbean Court of Justice, the CCJ instead but hysterical groups want to hold on to old visages of colonial rule long removed from their own books.
What is even more disturbing is that this hysteria non thinking response from these groups the very abusers that they are concerned about as we all should be are in the very churches who are involved in this mess and they like other abusers find this public furore as cloud cover to continue their actions undetected with very little vigilance as attentions are diverted to the smoke screen. If one should look even further into the very church itself that’s where the more egregious sexual abuse takes place be it same sexed, opposite sexed or paedophile in nature so this convenient distraction from none thinking or proactive child rights advocates often devoid of any real qualifications for same (including a lack of understanding of sex and sexuality) yet they want to control and sanitise what goes out there to society and as the JFJ sex education matter shows even to our young without any proper proof of where the actual offense lies, some questions come to mind.
Why was the CDA bypassed by JFJ/CVCC?
Why are these groups so quiet on other societal ills, namely corruption or murders of youths? ..... but have so much strength for homosexuals(ity).
What actually was presented to the intended 13 to 18 year olds from the 147 paged instructor’s manual?
Would the CDA have approved this course especially in public run homes if they were approached given the sensitivities involved?
Why hasn’t the CVCC with persons on its board linked to JFLAG and such divert some needed attention to homeless LGBT youth especially instead of landing the rights struggle demonised by mistrust?
Did the privately run homes use their privileged of autonomy to edit or remove some the elements in the multi-module course to suit their comfort level and concerns? (One home’s administrator on radio said they asked some sections to be removed)
What other psycho social measuring or monitoring device were employed either in house by the homes or otherwise prior to or after the delivery of the materials?
Has any of the noise makers actually read the materials involved in this course to actually see what else dominated the course’s outline?
What has been learnt from this pilot project despite the furore emanating from it albeit from uninformed fear-mongering fanatics?
If the dubious anti Christian, pro gay factions as it were are really about persecuting Christians hiding in the LGBT rights lobby then I am sure they are planning their next move as hysterics rule the day but may loose the war in the long run, it seems these groups have not learned the strategy if there is one as the atheists seem more calculated and measured in their thesis or rhetoric and not paranoid or hysterical. These groups are only making the church ripe for the plucking if and when the anti faith opposition chooses to strike as they can use this latest episode to belittle and insult them into a cowering position in terms of public perception even as more persons find the church fast becoming irrelevant and even belief systems on Christian faith are ridiculed and where are LGBT Christians in all of this?
I guess there is blood on already the floor in terms of the Bain issue in the eyes of some although that to me seems more an act of professional suicide on his part and his advisors when he may very well look like a fool in the end if and when the funders decides to pull the plug on funding the CHART initiative in its current dispensation; we must remember the word of the so called groups defending this is that they have no confidence in working with him and if they do not want to be led by him then all the court action and injunctions and even an full contract once reinstated can all be made to fizzle if the CHART project is ended or changed and a new person placed as its head with reconstituted funding. Bain may very well be left holding useless contract papers in his hands with dead injunctions and isolation from the rest of the academic community and the international HIV response core and do not forget a bitter LGBT grouping Caribbean-wide.
Meanwhile my latest podcast:
Think on these things
Peace and tolerance
H
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