Pastor Ronald McGarrell yesterday resigned as a member of the board of the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association (GRPA) after he faced criticism from the organisation’s leadership for the anti-gay comments he made during a radio programme on Sunday.
President of the GRPA Board of Directors – Pamela Nauth told Stabroek News yesterday that McGarrell, who is also the Vice-Chairman of the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO), took along his resignation letter to the meeting held by the GRPA board to address the matter.
She said the letter was handed over to her by McGarrell and read at the meeting. She added that in the letter, McGarrell said he took full responsibility for the comments he made on Sunday during a programme on the radio along with Joel Simpson of the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD). The two were sharing their views on Guyana’s buggery and cross-dressing laws and other issues pertaining to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex community.
McGarrell said at one point on the programme that homosexuals and other persons with alternative lifestyles should reside on an island by themselves so as to not endanger the rest of society when/if God visits his wrath on them. He later said he was making a joke. He yesterday declined comment on his resignation.
Nauth said McGarrell’s statement does not represent GRPA’s views. She added that she was deeply disappointed in what he had said on the programme.
