I sat frozen this morning in my seat after I changed dials on my radio and caught the end of a discussion on buggery that was not previously advertised or promoted by the station it was aired on as normally there would be some promos, is this the new way of getting the anti gay message out there? after listening to the radio program on the religious station Love 101FM hosted by Reverend Clinton Chisholm the discussion centered around the Importance of the Buggery Law, other guests were Dr. Wayne West of the Isaachar Foundation the group that had that anti gay/buggery full paged ad in the Gleaner, a Reverend Pitkin and a Pastor Garth.
The usual pointers were represented as in other discussions with the anti gay religious agenda as subject matter and the fear and or almost hysteria or paranoia that legalizing buggery somehow is going to unleash some horror on the nation and silence religious voices were repeatedly suggested. The fear of the promised Buggery Law review is so pronounced that it was suggested that if the law is reviewed it will silence the church, how so? it was not clearly said. When the question was posed by host Rev Chisholm as to whether or not the law should remain? all guests expressed a clear no, in as far as the fact that the present buggery law does not speak to same gender sex between females former President of the Lawyer's Christian Fellowship, LCF Shirley Richards said that she would push for such a law, "I see nothing wrong with pushing for such a law.... not an amendment of the current one but an additional bit of legislation which criminalizes unnatural acts between women, at the same time however I want to say, I certainly want to recommend that the existing sodomy law that's there be not amended in anyway , what we possibly can look at is actually putting in a bit of legislation that covers these practices between women."
The other guest Pastor Pitkin was asked to also respond to the same question to which he expressed that he agreed with Shirley's comment " ...unfortunately there is no law that exists at this present time where two females are concerned but that does not dictate that it is right in the sight of God morally it is also wrong and I would support any moves to legislate that it is also unlawful."
When asked directly by the host Reverend Chisholm "What if somebody says to you as a pastor of a church aren't you just restricting the spectrum of sexual options people can have if you are gonna insist on a law that would forbid a woman to have sex with another woman?" he responded "Truth is truth, truth is absolute and whatever is wrong is wrong and it has to be viewed from that perspective."
Reverend Chisholm then asked to all the guests "What is your suggestion about the buggery law?"
Shirley Richards went first by saying "I say let's go for keeping the law, don't touch it,if you touch it you'll loose it, keep the law."
Dr. Wayne West who is also aligned to the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship the said "We must be clear that the sodomy law, removing the buggery law is neither necessary nor is it sufficient in reducing HIV among men who have sex with men because in Singapore where there is a law it has one of the lowest prevalence rates for men who have sex with men in the world, lower than places than France, The Netherlands, The United States for example where sodomy laws have been removed so there is no need to remove the law to decrease HIV among men who have sex with men." he continued " ... the buggery law assists in defining the nature of a society that you have, it goes way beyond health and sexual transmitted disease, it goes to defining whether in your society marriage is between a man and a woman or whether fisting, felching, rimming and so on are equivalent to what takes between an adult male and female who above the age of consent."
The other guest Pastor Garth sought to bring in the paranoia bit in my view, he contended that there was a dimension left out of the loop, "If you remove buggery law the church is going to come under enormous pressure, pastors and marriages because it is going to be legal so my advice is for churches to re-examine their constitution because it can be very critical putting in their what is your view clearly on marriage between a male and a female because to amend that law then a lot pastors will loose their license because it will no longer be illegal and you cannot refuse unless you show constitution," Reverend Chisholm intervened that unless a pastor wants to give up his right to marry people, Pastor Garth continued "....the pressure and the other dimension is that they not only do not want us to speak they are wanting government and legislation to institute punitive measures to those who try to uphold what the scripture says."
I am not aware of anyone in the gay lobby as it were who has said that the church and or its representatives must not be allowed to speak on buggery or homosexuality even if it is an opposite opinion as is the case in most instances, the problem is the tacit insighting of violence as has been done by some voices from the church and the hate via strong comments by some, where was any call for legislation and by whom was such made to restrict the speech or opinions of the church in regards to homosexuality as a whole when there is freedom of speech in this country? a religious community by the way that still wheels enormous power in political circles, I smell dishonesty there and it stinks to high heaven.
Pastor Pitkin said he is encouraging pastors to begin to lobby their members of parliament as he said not long from now there are going to be moves to re-examine the buggery law in parliament. He said a lot of other freedoms are going to be taken away if the law is removed or amended. "The church will not be able to speak and further to that the church will come under severe attack," by whom he did not say.
Sadly this is the fear these people continue to drive in the not so knowledgeable religious communities and followers as if the gay lobby is this evil bastion of darkness to destroy humanity through same gender sex all because persons make a choice via adult consent based on their sexual orientation for the most part while strongly and unethically imputing paedophilic motives by supposed male homosexuals as a reason to keep an archaic buggery law when we know that most same sex paedophiles are not homosexuals as we are not interested in pre-pubescent individuals. I found it interesting that Dr. West seems to be infusing European anal same sex practices with Jamaican gay males as if we also indulge in felching and fisting on a large scale which are not practices widely done in African descented gay communities worldwide, the graphic nature of anal activity he is trying to infuse is to create repulsed responses from persons may very well backfire as what is taboo in this country tends to become a magnet for some. More and more women have been reporting that their male partners have been asking for anal sex especially during the menstrual cycle periods when vaginal sex maybe either untidy for both parties or painful for the woman.
What about recent headlines with men of the cloth in inappropriate relations with congregants we do not hear the rage and urgency in that regard? albeit the Star News sensationalizes but there is some truth somewhere in the mix you just need to sift it out.
The psychological strategy of the homosexual lobby BY DR Leahcim Semaj
We have a long way to go it seems.
Peace and tolerance
H