Declaring that the country’s morality is under siege from western powers, former PPP/C government minister Clinton Collymore says that impending consultations on the decriminalisation of same sex relations here ought to be met with a “resounding no!”
In an article in the Weekend Mirror of July 21 – July 22, entitled ‘Prepare to uphold National Morality,’ Collymore accused western nations of putting pressure on countries like Guyana “to abandon moral principles and climb aboard the decadent bandwagon of western depravity,” in exchange for much needed financial assistance.
“The pressure is most severe in the Caribbean,” while adding that it was strange that it was the colonial forces that “brainwashed us with the Bible” that are now preaching views that are contrary to its religious teachings.
The article comes weeks after former PPP executive Ralph Ramkarran wrote an article, also published in the Weekend Mirror, supporting the equal rights of gay and lesbian persons and expressed that he had nothing against homosexual persons being able to get married to each other. Ramkarran subsequently resigned from the PPP over an unrelated issue with some members of the party.
Earlier this month, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, while considering the combined seventh and eighth periodic reports for Guyana, expressed concern about reported widespread discrimination against homosexuals and bisexuals here. Education Minister Priya Manickchand, who was part of Guyana’s delegation, refuted the contention that discrimination was widespread but conceded that the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community was not readily welcomed by the populace. She noted that the Government was consulting the people once again on decriminalising same sex relations. Guyana and other former British colonies in the Caribbean are among the countries in the 54-member Commonwealth group that still criminalise gay sex. The country has previously committed to holding consultations on the current laws which discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, but has not done so.
Collymore, who is currently an advisor to the Local Government Minister, said that that the nation must be on guard against the “concerted attack on its moral status” and said that the result of the consultation “should be a resounding no!”
He also accused the opposition of being silent on the issue and also emphasised the role of the church in defending the country. “This is one arena in which the Church must fight and must win,” he said, while suggesting that too many Church leaders and their congregations seek to ignore “the western smut” that has been inundating the people of the Third World. He added that the three main religions in Guyana—Christianity, Hinduism and Islam—condemn homosexuality and prescribe death as the punishment on the homosexual male.
“Homosexuality has existed for centuries, but their practitioners were closeted. However with the freedoms being enjoyed now from totalitarian despotic regimes, these persons are emerging from the closet and foisting their views on others. Claiming equal rights, they intend to elevate their practices to the stage of social acceptability, firm legality and strict constitutionality,” he said. “Homosexuals are pouring out of their closets. Those who have been doing their thing behind closed doors are now coming out into the open and admitting in public that they are “gay.” These persons are so barefaced that they took a perfectly good word and spoiled its meaning. Today reference to “gay” doesn’t mean happy… So people steer away from the word “gay” in their conversations or writings,” he added.
Collymore also opposed same sex unions, which he deemed a “wedge,” intended to force open legislative doorways to same sex marriages and decriminalise same sex relations. “Matrimony is between a man and a woman. A real male and a real female! For a person born as a male to be subjected either voluntarily or through coercion or inducement to the sexual role of a female cannot be in the best interest of that person’s body. No matter what the protagonists may say, such a sustained role reversal would lead to a medical disaster down the road,” Collymore added.
