While prejudice, ignorance and hatred are still directed against homosexuals, we have made moral progress in The Bahamas in terms of loving and seeking to protect from abuse and discrimination our gay brothers and sisters

Prejudice, ignorance and hatred must be challenged

thenassauguardian

Nassau, The Bahamas

Dr. Perry Gomez, Director of the National HIV/AIDS Programme, is the leading Bahamian expert on HIV/AIDS with a stellar regional and international reputation for combating the disease.

He has been on the forefront of the fight since the onset of the epidemic in the early 1980s.  Dr. Gomez has helped to save lives by advocating for prevention, testing and treatment.  The first Caribbean HIV Conference, recently held in The Bahamas, was an occasion for both the country and the good doctor to be recognized for the many successes in combating HIV/AIDS.

These successes are many in terms of intensive prevention awareness and education efforts; aggressive medical treatment, including in mother-to-child transmission for pregnant women, and measures to address stigma and discrimination in various areas related to the disease.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, through his foundation has honored Dr. Gomez and recognized The Bahamas as an international leader in the fight against AIDS.  Dr. Gomez has earned his medical and moral credibility in fighting the disease through dogged advocacy and by journeying as a doctor and as a friend to many who have succumbed to the disease and others who continue to live with HIV.

 

SUPPORT

It was noted at the HIV/AIDS conference:

“The Bahamas has been a leader in developing legislation to protect the rights of minorities and others living with HIV.  In 1991 The Bahamas was the first, and is still the only country in the region, to decriminalize homosexuality.  The Bahamas was the only Caribbean country to sign the Paris Declaration in 1994, which set global standards for HIV and human rights.  We also strengthened protection from discrimination for HIV positive individuals in the workplace by amendment to the existing labor laws in 2001.”

Experts recognize the role that the reduction in stigma plays in preventing the disease, treating those affected, and reducing the incidence of the disease.  Nearly three decades after the onslaught of the epidemic there is still much to be done, especially on the prevention side.  There is also work to be done in the prevention of stigma and discrimination as evidenced by the unfortunate comments by Bishop Simeon Hall a few weeks ago.

Bishop Hall enjoys speaking out on all manner of issues.  In the past few years he has developed a reputation for being glib, and for being something of a publicity seeker.  Often he opines on matters of which he is exceedingly ill-informed.

At a labor conference in the past, a labor leader was stunned when Bishop Hall spoke to the gathering and pressed for additional protections for workers and changes to labor laws, unaware of the fact that most of the matters on which he opined had already been changed through new legislation.

Such behavior may be considered somewhat comical and harmless, but his comments relating to gays and HIV/AIDS were neither.  Indeed, they were extremely harmful even though Bishop Hall tried to backtrack in the face of criticism.  In yesterday’s Insight column in The Tribune, Joey Gaskins analyzes Bishop Hall’s doublespeak.

 

DEMONIZED

Prejudice has always used ignorance and fear as its natural allies.  This is the means through which groups of people such as gays and lesbians are demonized and dehumanized.  Early in the AIDS crisis gays were ruthlessly demonized, with some using the disease as a warped metaphor for the supposed innate depravity of homosexuals.

We have come a long way in fighting the epidemic and the prejudice.  Yet we still need to be vigilant on both fronts.  What is refreshing is the response to Bishop Hall’s comments by medical experts, activists, journalists and others.

Bishop Hall is not the only religious figure who has used specious thinking to demonize homosexuals.  Pastor Lyall Bethel systematically demonizes homosexuals, using fear as one of his weapons while saying that he actually loves gays and lesbians.

A few months ago when The Bahamas supported a UN resolution which sought to protect various vulnerable groups from torture and violence, Front Porch criticized a group of ministers for their response to comments made by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Brent Symonette in support of the resolution.  (See “When Hatred Triumphs Over Love”, July 5, 2011).

Conveniently and retroactively, Pastor Bethel and his cohorts said they agreed that gays and lesbians should be protected from such violence.  Then why didn’t they demonstrate their love by quickly supporting the resolution instead of conveniently so doing after being criticized?

Worse, in response to the July 5 Front Porch Pastor Bethel was exceedingly disingenuous, fabricating that the column espoused gay marriage, one of the red flags which the apostles of discrimination often wave with abandon.  Readers will find no such reference.  But such fabrications and the employment of disingenuous moral and intellectual thinking is par for the course for extremists.

 

UNCOVERED

In another Insight column some time ago Tankea Thompson uncovered the source for some of Pastor Bethel’s tortured thinking, namely a Dr. Fields he has quoted to support his views.  A letter to the editor referenced her column:

“According to Ms. Thompson, the Dr. Fields that Pastor Bethel quoted to support his demagoguery is a known white supremacist, neo-Nazi and member of the Klu Klux Klan.”  She also notes: “Conservatives, who in the past have unwittingly cited Fields’ material, have publicly apologized and distanced themselves from Fields.”

Not only did Pastor Bethel not apologize, he defended his use of material from Dr. Fields by saying that people today quote from slaveholders like some of the American Founding Fathers.  The illogic behind this will not elude most basic students of logic or moral reasoning, though it seems to have eluded the pastor.

While prejudice, ignorance and hatred are still directed against homosexuals, we have made moral progress in The Bahamas in terms of loving and seeking to protect from abuse and discrimination our gay brothers and sisters.

Ironically, it is good when those like Bishop Hall and Pastor Bethel issue their screeds.  It highlights the demonization and ignorance that must still be fought.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. taught us this during his struggle against prejudice and discrimination in America.

Sometimes the world’s moral heroes wear a clerical collar, sometimes they don’t.  Often, the moral heroes are people like Dr. Perry Gomez and the many others who have sought to uphold the moral dignity and protections of those living with HIV/AIDS.  This includes gay men who often in the face of stigma and the effects of the disease know that they are no less a valued citizen of this country and a child of God, made as much in His image and likeness as Pastor Bethel and Bishop Hall.

www.bahamapundit.com

frontporchguardian@gmail.com

Dec 06, 2011

thenassauguardian

...the laws criminalising homosexuality are depriving the Caribbean of the use of remarkably talented people in all fields of life who could be contributing to the development and prosperity of every Caribbean country

Gays have rights too: The Caribbean dilemma

By Sir Ronald Sanders

A statement by the prime minister of Britain, David Cameron, that his government will not provide budgetary aid to governments that violate human rights, including by discriminating against homosexuals and lesbians, has angered sections of Caribbean society.

The angry response may have arisen over a misunderstanding of Cameron’s remarks made in a BBC interview at the end of the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, Australia from 28 to 30 October. The remarks were not made at CHOGM itself.

While Cameron did say that his government would not provide general budget support to governments that do not uphold human rights, including the rights of homosexuals, lesbians and vulnerable communities such as young girls, his remarks were not specifically about homosexuals and he did not say that all aid would be withheld. In any event, no independent Caribbean country is a recipient of General Budget Aid from Britain, and, therefore, not one of them would be affected. In this regard, the response to Cameron’s remarks could have benefitted from more careful study.

Cameron did not state a new position. What he said has been the British government’s published policy since earlier this year when the Department for International Development (DFID) conducted a study, involving a wide range of organisations and countries, from which it was decided that General Budget Aid to governments should be linked to good governance, accountability and respect for human rights. British budgetary support is only 16% of the UK’s annual aid budget of £7.46 billion (US$12.1billion).

Nevertheless, the policies, laws and practices applicable to homosexuals and lesbians are real and growing issues in the Caribbean, not only from a human rights stand point but as a public health one too.

At the CHOGM in Perth, an Eminent Persons Group (EPG), of which I am a member, delivered a report to Heads of Government, who commissioned it at their meeting in Trinidad two years ago, on ways to reform the Commonwealth to make it relevant to its times and its people.

Included in the 106 recommendations in the report was one that governments “should take steps to encourage the repeal of discriminatory laws that impede the effective response of Commonwealth countries to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and commit to programmes of education that would help a repeal of such laws”. Amongst these laws are those that criminalize homosexuality.

The recommendation proved to be difficult for many African and Caribbean governments. Of the current 53-nations of the Commonwealth, 41 of them retain laws that criminalise homosexuality in particular. Some of these laws dictate that homosexuals should be flogged and jailed. Of the 41 states with such laws, all 12 of the independent Commonwealth Caribbean countries are included.

Remarkably, these laws are relics of the colonial past. They were introduced in the Caribbean by the British Colonial government. But, while Britain, like the majority of countries in the world, has moved on to decriminalize homosexuality, the colonial laws remain in many parts of Africa and the Caribbean.

In Britain, Australia, Canada, the United States and the majority of European and Latin American nations, many homosexuals and lesbians, freed from the criminalization of their sexual preferences, have risen to the top of their careers. Many are captains of industries, government ministers, leading sports persons and even members of the armed forces doing duty in dangerous places such as Iraq and Afghanistan. In the Caribbean, however, homosexuals are marginalised and the majority remain hidden, terrified of the consequences of “coming out”.

Caribbean governments face serious difficulties over this issue. There is a strong prejudice in societies based on both a lack of education and reluctance to engage the issue in public fora. The churches in the Caribbean are the most unyielding, constraining political parties from adopting a more enlightened and modern-day view of the matter.

The facts indicate that 60 million people worldwide have been infected with HIV and 33.3 million presently live with the virus. Over 60% of the people living with HIV reside in Commonwealth countries. The region with the highest rate of HIV/AIDS per capita is the Caribbean. In this sense, the problem for the Caribbean is one both of human rights and public health.

Homosexuals who live under the risk of flogging and jail are reluctant to reveal themselves if and when they become HIV infected. Consequently, they are left untreated and the disease spreads and eventually they die, although the real cause of death is usually hidden.

In any event, the laws criminalising homosexuality are depriving the Caribbean of the use of remarkably talented people in all fields of life who could be contributing to the development and prosperity of every Caribbean country. Some homosexuals have already emerged – despite the laws and the stigma – as outstanding Caribbean citizens, revered not only in the region but in other parts of the world, but they have been persons of great courage and unquestionable ability. Others have simply fallen by the wayside, or are living lives of lies.

On the eve of CHOGM in Perth, Helen Clark, the head of the United Nations Development Programme wrote to Commonwealth leaders pointing out that “it is important and urgent” for them “to promote and secure the repeal of the discriminatory laws which impede effective national HIV responses”. She called for “legislative initiatives and programmes which will repeal discriminatory laws” that “can not only turn back the HIV epidemic, but also improve the health and development of their citizens”. She urged leaders “to seize this opportunity for the Commonwealth to turn a corner in preventing and controlling HIV by embracing the proposals to repeal laws which impede effective HIV responses”.

In part, it was to this urging that the British prime minister was responding when he spoke in the BBC interview of the need to repeal discriminatory laws.

The issue will not go away. Britain’s linking of General Budget Aid to respect for human rights is one response. Others will follow in different ways. As the international community sees it, homosexuals and lesbians are entitled to rights too, as long as they do not affect the rights and preferences of others.

The Caribbean will have to face up to that reality -- as most of the rest of the world has. The best way to start is by informed public discussion.

November 11, 2011

caribbeannewsnow