The Christian community in Guyana, led by members of the Georgetown Ministers’ Fellowship on Friday urged the Government to intervene and put a stop to a gay pride parade set for Saturday as part of ongoing pride festival celebrations here.
The Christian leaders were up in arms and protested the move even as they questioned how and why permission was granted for such an activity.
Pointing to the laws of Guyana where buggery is regarded as illegal, the Ministers’ Fellowship at a press conference on Friday said it was totally against any public display of LGBT values and culture.
The Christian leaders also threatened to withhold its vote from any Government who plays into the LGBT agenda to the extent of changing laws to legalize the act.
“The Christian community which makes up more than 60 per cent of the population is concerned by efforts to pressure the Government to legalize buggery.”
The Georgetown Ministers’ Fellowship wants the Government to explicitly state what is its position on the matter.
Presentations by several members of the panel were emotive and included Ministers of the Gospel; Desmond Rogers, Alim Mursalim, Marlon Hestick and Valerie Leung.
Flanked by an extensive group of Christians, Rogers rejected the parade and in general the LGBT agenda and lifestyle saying it was immoral and unnatural.
Rogers believes that LGBT citizens make up no more than 10% of the population and posited to the Government should not bend to its pressure for freedom of expression of its values and culture.
“How can the state apparatus sanction what moral reversion and contribution to moral decadence is?” he questioned even as his colleague Minister Marlon Hestick raised concerns over the fact that this parade is allowed to go on while the law continues to hold as illegal buggery and cross-dressing.
Meanwhile, Leung said the LGBT community cannot speak of a right to do something which is wrong.
Her colleagues also rejected claims of discrimination by the gay community, saying it is a strategy to garner sympathy.
In a surprising turn of events, Head of the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), Joel Simpson turned up to the press conference with hugs and handshakes for those very persons who have opposed his lifestyle.
He sat quietly as the religious community erupted in occasional shouts and applause to the comments of presenters.
The LGBT community has not indicated any willingness to call off the parade in wake of this protestation.
See full statement from the Georgetown Ministers’ Fellowship below:
We must be aware that homosexuals enlist others in their cause by the strategy of gaining sympathy by claiming discrimination. It is articulated in this way that says“In any campaign to win over the public, gays must be cast as victims in need of protection so that straights will be inclined by reflex to assume the role of protector.” Their campaign “should not demand direct support for homosexual practices, but should instead take anti-discrimination as its theme”. [ Marshall K. Kirk & Erastes Pill, “The Overhauling of Straight America,” Guide Magazine, November 1987, p.7-14] That strategy is only to get their way in order to enforce their agenda.
If the Gay Pride March in Washington DC, April 25, 1993 is anything to go by, the agenda of such community in Guyana and elsewhere is clear:
- DEMANDS FOR THE REPEAL OF ALL SODOMY LAWS.
- DEMANDS FOR THE LEGALIZATION OF ALL FORMS OF SEXUAL PERVERSION.
- DEMANDS FOR PUBLIC FUNDS TO COVER SEX-CHANGE OPERATIONS.
- DEMANDS FOR THE LEGALISATlON AND PRACTICE OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGES.
- DEMANDS FOR LEGALIZATION OF ADOPTION, CUSTODY AND FOSTER CARE WITHIN THE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE STRUCTURE.
- DEMANDS FOR THE DELIBERATE INCLUSION OF LESBIANS, HOMOSEXUAL MEN, BISEXUALS AND TRANSGENDERS IN EDUCATION AND CHILDCARE.
- DEMANDS FOR PUBLIC FUNDING OF ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION OF LESBIANS.
- RESTRICTION OF FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND SPEECH vis-à-vis TEACHING ON HOMOSEXUALITY (AS IS ALREADY THE CASE ON RADIO AND TV IN CANADA).
- PRESSURE TO BAN PRAYER IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND OTHER PUBLIC PLACES.
- DEMANDS THAT THE BOY SCOUTS AND ARMY BE REQUIRED TO ACCEPT HOMOSEXUALS.
- TREND TOWARDS REMOVAL OF GOD, EVEN THE MENTION OF GOD, FROM PUBLIC LIFE.
We, therefore call upon the government not to legalize homosexuality in Guyana. It is reasonable to expect that no government would implement policies and legitimize programmes that are inimical to the nation’s development and go against the mores and norms of its people.
