ATTN ANGLICAN PROVINCE OF THE WEST INDIES: Strident Religious and Political leaders must be confronted, resisted and their ¨influence¨ overturned

Newly appointed Archbishop of The West Indies, John Holder (left) receives the Crozier from former Archbishop of The West Indies Drexel Gomez (right).   +Drexel Gomez remains the chairperson, ¨as needed¨ for the ¨punitive¨ Anglican Communion Covenant

In the Caribbean, a call to stop discrimination against blacks and gays

Monday, 22 November 2010

"...12 countries of the English-speaking Caribbean still have laws criminalising sexual and intimate conduct between persons of the same sex". The commission named these countries as: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

According to the commission's report, sentences range from 10 years in prison or forced labour to life imprisonment for consensual sexual conduct between adults of the same sex. The commission received information indicating that the very existence of such laws perpetuates unwarranted stereotypes, is a cause for fear in the sexually diverse community, and fosters impunity for serious crimes committed against this community.

Other detrimental factors that could be added to this are the spread of HIV/AIDS that could result from clandestine same-sex practices, the fear of seeing doctors, and the loss of a productive people who could make a real contribution to Caribbean development in the broadest meaning of that term.

There has been more than a handful of non-heterosexual Caribbean persons who have made a lasting contribution to Caribbean civilisation and whose worth and dignity have been publicly acclaimed. It is a frightening thought that the significant contribution of these persons could have been denied because of their personal and private sexual preferences.

The issue of decriminalising homosexuality between consenting adults has been confronted squarely in many parts of the world. Homosexuals and lesbians have served in the highest councils of government, business and the arts, and they continue to do so today.

In the Caribbean, the issue is linked to the doctrines of some religious groups and to their influence on people who vote in elections. Political parties have been loath to fall afoul of voters swayed by some strident religious leaders.

But just as discrimination against persons of African descent must be resisted and overturned wherever it occurs, so too must discrimination against consenting people of a different sexual persuasion. They are a part of our common humanity.¨  HERE

Bishop Gomez accusses the Episcopal Church of ¨teaching lies¨

In October 2003 Archbishop Gomez was appointed to the Lambeth Commission on Communion by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams. The Commission produced the Report of the Lambeth Commission on Communion (also known as The Windsor Report and the Eames Report), published in October 2004.

In August 2007, Archbishop Gomez was the main preacher at a service where several Anglican Archbishops consecrated two American priests as bishops despite the opposition of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America‎. He accused the U.S. church of "aggressive revisionist theology" and ¨teaching lies.¨ HERE


Bishops Cameron and Gomez offer the ¨St Andrews Draft¨ which provides a ¨mechanism¨ for ¨provincial removal¨

¨In the most recent St. Andrews Draft of the covenant, provinces would pledge to uphold historic Christian faith inherited by Anglicanism and to promote and proclaim the Biblically-based Gospel through mission.

Signers of the covenant, Gomez* explained, are called on to pledge themselves to the understanding that the Anglican Communion requires mutual accountability among provinces and that the constitutional autonomy of provinces exists within a larger framework of communion that sets limits on that autonomy.

The covenant also would provide a mechanism or process by which provinces, once they have signed the covenant, could be determined to have violated the covenant and, thus, to be deemed to have removed themselves from the Communion. HERE

The LGBTI blood drenched National Flag of Jamaica (hate crimes)

· Thanks to The Barbados Advocate, photo
· Thanks to The Jamaica Observer
· Thanks to Sir Ronald Sanders
· Thanks to Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR)
· Thanks to LGBT Asylum News, sidebar
· Thanks to The Organization of American States
· Thanks to The Caribbean Community (CARICOM)