Freedom of conscience fights back

Fri Jun 20, 2014

Editor,

I was happy to see on the weekend, evidence of the asserting of freedoms of conscience, opinion, expression and speech of Dr Brendan Bain and other persons who have been persecuted by sodomite lobbies’ influence upon organizations. On Friday 13th June, 2014, I read that Professor Dr Brendan Bain who was recently fired by the UWI has secured an injunction against it until the hearing of his claim against the institution for breach of his constitutional freedom of expression and opinion. The professor is also suing for damages.{{more}}

The Jamaica Gleaner reported on Friday 13th June, 2014:

“The Supreme Court has granted an injunction barring the dismissal of Professor Brendon Bain as the director of the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Training Network until his suit against the University of the West Indies (UWI) is heard. Justice Carol Edwards granted the injunction this afternoon allowing for Professor Bain to keep his job for the time being.

Bain who is challenging the termination of his contract also wants the court to award damages.

The UWI terminated his contract effective Sunday June 15, after claiming that his constituent had lost confidence in him. It followed his decision to provide an expert report on homosexuality and HIV in a court matter brought by a gay man in Belize who was challenging a law that makes it illegal for men to have sex with men. Attorney-at law Georgia Gibson-Henlin, who is representing Bain, says a date has not yet been set for the trial.â http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=53531

Please remember that this man’s professional career was threatened with destruction simply because he gave his expert opinion in a court case. This professor has worked with and treated medically sodomites. He has served them in his capacity as a doctor and been involved in programs which give education to them on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. It is evident to me that because his expert opinion exposed so strongly the nature of the sex they engage in and its risks and since the sodomites in Belize and elsewhere felt it would defeat their purpose/effort to have the anti-buggery law removed in Belize, they lobbied the UWI to remove the professor. This is intolerance against the professor and the fact that they seek his removal from his job shows that they believe only they have the right to live, work and survive with their views but none with views different from theirs and indeed that may be used to make a case against their position must have the same rights and freedoms as they do. This is wrong and I wish professor Bain great success in his endeavour.

The truth is that this is a shame, disgrace and insult from UWI. Do our governments pay economic costs for our students to attend UWI so UWI can, under pressure from lobby groups of sodomites and sodomites sympathisers, deny our students an excellent professor? Is this what UWI education has come to? We should be protesting against this injustice and assault on our rights as Jamaicans and Belizeans have done, including other UWI professors and students. Now, the question is, if the UWI professor can lose his job from UWI for his expert opinion, what about a Christian group at UWI who speaks out against sodomy? Will they throw them out of the UWI? What will our governments who support UWI say then? Silence too?

Now, in other news, again reported in the Jamaica Gleaner on Sunday 15th June, 2014, written by Erica Virtue, senior Gleaner writer, entitled “High Cost To Defame Donald – Jamaican Pastor Successfully Sues Gay Newspaper Which Libelled Himâ:

“Gay Star News, a United Kingdom-based tabloid dedicated to providing information to members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, has apologised to Jamaican pastor Donald Stewart, and paid damages for defamation after it accused him of being a paedophile.

The newspaper has run an apology stating that: “On 25 August 2013 we published an article and a photo of Dr Donald Stewart with the headline ‘Demonologist pastor says ‘homosexual issue’ needs to be corrected’.

The article had alleged that Dr Stewart was a paedophile who had been convicted of two counts of indecent assault on a child as part of his role supervising the Swift Purcell Boys Home, Jamaica, in 2009.

But in its apology the newspaper said: “Dr Donald Stewart, pastor of the Portmore Lane Covenant Community Church, Jamaica, is entirely innocent of these charges and has never been arrested or charged in connection with any such offence. We sincerely apologise to Dr Stewart for the distress and embarrassment which he has suffered as a result of our very serious error and we have unreservedly withdrawn the allegation”.

Gay Star News had published its story in response to a Sunday Gleaner report in which Stewart, pastor of the Portmore Lane Covenant Christian Church in St Catherine, was quoted as saying that, “somebody must stand up to homosexuals.”

Last week, Stewart said he was convinced that the allegation was part of a strategy to discredit anyone who is opposed to the homosexual agenda.

CUTTING DOWN CREDIBILITY

“We know it’s part of a strategy to cut down the credibility of people opposed to their agenda. But there is a God in heaven and my stance on homosexuality has not changed,” Stewart told The Sunday Gleaner.

He said another entity operated under the moniker, The LGBT Network, picked up the story from Gay Star News and plastered it on its website.

Stewart said when his lawyers contacted the entity, they discovered that it was run by one individual, “and he begged us not to sue, as he did not have any money to settle.”

“We agreed to leave it, because we would incur a cost to pursue someone from whom we could not collect. … I was initially angered that they would stoop so low, but honestly not surprised. If they can’t get you on their side they try to discredit you,” said Stewart.

According to Stewart, his lawyers are now pursuing defamation cases against four entities based in the United States. “They do not want to settle, so we are going to court,” said Stewart without naming the entities.â

Now, now, now, what will those who shout “homophobiaâ at Christians for preaching God’s word say to this? That sodomites are free to defame people because of their beliefs? I am happy that freedom is fighting back and I wish Professor Bain and Pastor Stewart much success in their pursuit of justice against this assault against freedom from the gay agenda. The rule of law must stand in countries. And the rule of law principle does not give more rights to some than others or create special rights for some that others do not have. Rights and freedoms are equal under law for all.

Sodomites already have rights and freedoms as everyone else. They do not need a law to give them some so called right to do their practice, which they do already, anyway. Besides rights come from God. Laws only protect God-given or natural, free born rights. God did not make any baby a sodomite. My next piece will prove that there is no such thing as a sodomite/gay gene and thus the “rightsâ argument for sodomites is debunked. It is such a shame that even heads of states today equate it with the struggle for civil rights of black people. The world is in perilous times but there is hope in God, to help the sodomite to change and become loving, respecting of his fellowmen’s rights and freedoms and to love himself away from the risky, unsafe and unhealthy behaviour of sodomite ‘sex’.

Anesia O. Baptiste