Trinidadians protest as court ruling looms
Advocates and opponents of LGBTQ rights are busy in Trinidad and Tobago as the High Court prepares to rule on a challenge to the nation’s law against same-sex intimacy.
With the court ruling expected April 12, Trinidad is the focal point for:
An online petition urging the elimination of that law: “Repeal the Buggery Law in T&T, Support Equality for T&T LGBTQI citizens.”
Demonstrations pro and con.
Denunciations of LGBT rights by the conservative Christian group T&T Cause.
The Trinidad Express reported on the group’s April 4 press conference in an article headlined ” ‘Same sex marriage is a cancer. We must keep the buggery laws’ says T&T Cause.”
The article stated:
People who identify themselves as gay, lesbian, homosexual or transgender should not have the same rights as “normal” people.
That is the view expressed by the Christian non-governmental organisation, T&T Cause.
The group is led by Bishop Keith Ramdass, Bishop Dr Victor Gill and Vernon De Leon and was formed “to resist the tide of immorality sweeping across our nation”.
The NGO held a media conference at Redemption Worship Centre, Chaguanas yesterday to promote their agenda and advertise a rally and march against same-sex marriage, which they say will follow if the buggery laws are repealed.
“Same sex marriage is a cancer. We must keep the buggery laws, if it is removed it is a slippery slope to same sex marriage,” said the group’s communication officer Aquila Holder.
The Trinidad Express reporter, Renuka Singh, had reservations about the group’s position. Singh also concluded that the group expects the High Court to overturn the anti-buggery law:
The group seemed to contradict itself several times, saying that they love and respect gay people but not homosexuality and could not explain that contradiction.
They also contended that if the anti-buggery laws are repealed, it would mean that homosexual rights trumped heterosexual rights.
When asked if the group thought that heterosexuals had more rights than people in the LGBTQ community, they answered in the affirmative.
“Yes, we are saying that heterosexual rights are superior (to LGBTQ rights),” De Leon said.
The group’s ire seems to stem from the expected outcome of the unprecedented case in which gay activist Jason Jones is challenging this country’s homophobic laws.
Related articles:
- Trinidad suit could help undo Caribbean anti-gay laws (
- Foe of Trinidad buggery law gets his day in court (
- Legal challenge confronts Trinidad’s anti-gay laws (February 2017, 76crimes.com)
- Gov’t sued over TT’s ‘no entry to gays’ law (February 2017, Trinidad and Tobago Newsday)
- Seeking LGBTI rights in Trinidad, finding them in Canada (September 2016, 76crimes.com)
- Despite his claims, Trinidad leader clings to anti-LGBT laws The prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago claims that the government must protect its LGBT citizens, but he won’t work to repeal the Trinidadian laws that make same-sex intimacy a crime. (June 2016, 76crimes.com)
- Caribbean nations inch their way toward LGBTI rights (April 2016, 76crimes.com)
- Activists go head-to-head with unaware Trinidad boosters (August 2015, 76crimes.com)
- Timeline lacking as Trinidad pushes for LGBT rightsDecember 2012, 76crimes.com)
- Trinidad moves toward protecting gay rights (December 2012, 76crimes.com
