Global agency names Jamaican pastors pushing LGBTQI agenda
An international LGBTQI funding agency has revealed that several Jamaican pastors have been secretly involved in pushing the gay lifestyle in the local church community.
The agency, a well-recognised global body, has publicly recognised the Baptist Church in Jamaica for being “LGBTQI allies.”
According to the Arcus Foundation, a mapping exercise that was conducted over a four-month period in 12 Caribbean countries in 2020 also showed that “the Anglican church and Anglican clerics were frequently reported as supporting LGBTQI human rights throughout the region.” Other LGBTQI allies in the region are the Methodist and Lutheran churches in Guyana and Suriname, as well as the Presbyterian Church in Trinidad & Tobago.
“Interviews and research revealed that some clerics covertly support SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) advancement by providing pastoral counselling services and family mediation and even participating in LGBTQI community discussions. But they take a professional risk since their advocacy is not usually sanctioned by the religious officials. Faith leaders said that when they show support for the LGBTQI community, they are usually ostracised by their contemporaries and receive pushback from their congregations,” the Arcus Foundation reported.
LGBTQI respondents had identified the faith leaders who they considered allies for the sexual orientation movement. The group said it could not list all of the faith leaders but did mention a few of the popular clergymen and women who they said were public in their advocacy for LGBTQI interests. Jamaica had the most LGBTQI-friendly clerics when compared to the other countries listed. Of the five names mentioned, two are Baptist parsons, while two are Anglicans.
The LGBTQI rights group noted that it was unable to identify “any structured and deliberate faith-based efforts that specifically address SOGI rights in the Caribbean; however, its consultants were able to identify pockets of improvised interventions by individual faith leaders.”
Listed among the faith-based LGBTQI initiatives in the region was the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC) Mapping Exercise of the HIV & AIDS response among Faith-Based Organisations (FBOs) in Jamaica (2015). This project focused on social service resources offered by FBOs to people living with HIV and the production of a directory of services that are HIV-positive-friendly and open to members of the LGBTQI community. The United Theological College of the West Indies (UTCWI) was also listed for its “Theology of Inclusion.”
The JCC announced in an advertisement in October 2023 that it was seeking a suitable programme specialist to coordinate the implementation of all the stigma and discrimination and human rights interventions among faith-based organisations and targeted communities. It highlighted the fact that it had received a portion of a grant that the Global Fund had provided to the Government of Jamaica through the Ministry of Health and Wellness. The grant was given to support the National HIV/AIDS response in Jamaica. Of note is the fact that both the Baptists and Anglicans are members of the JCC.
According to the advertisement by the JCC, they and the UTCWI have successfully implemented the HIV response programmes in partnership with Christian Aid, UNAIDS, and the World Council of Churches (WCC). However, the organisation noted that “despite these and other interventions, stigma and discrimination remain a challenge to efforts geared at reducing new infections as the rates of HIV infection among key populations remain unacceptably high.”
Spokesperson for the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society Philippa Davies told Freedom Come Rain at the time that the project being promoted by the JCC seemed like a revival of the PANCAP programme, which enlisted the help of faith-based groups to help repeal the buggery law.
“Stigma and discrimination are known euphemisms for any objection to the homosexual lifestyle that is Biblical-based, and sensitisation can be attempting to normalise homosexuality and tear down Christian objection,” she said, while adding that while the Church should treat all people with dignity as Jesus does, sin should not be excused. She also pointed to the fact that sponsors for the project are groups that are known to promote LGBTQ ideologies.
General secretary of the JCC Rev. Newton Dixon told Freedom Come Rain at the time that the JCC has been supportive of the national HIV/AIDS response in Jamaica for several years now. He cautioned against holding the view that one’s sexual orientation is the only cause of the transmission of HIV/AIDS.
“The connection between the moral position that was traditionally held by our forebearers with regards to sexual orientation and the occurrence of AIDS is, in our view, something that needs to be explored because we do not think that there is a direct causation between morality and HIV occurrence,” he insisted.
“At the moment, all of the member bodies of the Jamaica Council of Churches are in full support of the initiatives to address the HIV issue from the different angles from which it is being addressed, whether it is from the enabling environment, where we provide spaces for persons with or affected by AIDS. HIV and AIDS can be treated without the stigma and discrimination that is often a part of that lived experience,” he said.
But the Arcus Foundation has listed the PANCAP programme as one of two faith-based LGBTQI initiatives that were implemented on a regional level. It noted that it was a Global Fund initiative to reduce the stigma and discrimination faced by people living with and affected by HIV.
“Respondents considered most of these initiatives successful because of the bridge-building benefits and short-term feelings of optimism among the LGBTQI community. But the lack of human and financial resources to support planning, mobilising, and implementation made these achievements difficult to repeat. Clerics said they have received negative attention from members of their faith communities whenever they have demonstrated support for SOGI advancement,” the group said.
The Arcus Foundation concluded that the visibility of the LGBTQI community has been steadily growing and challenging Caribbean societies to reconsider issues of discrimination, rights, faith, and inclusion. However, the journey for both the faith community and LGBTQI activists has been painful and lacks guidance and strategy.
“In terms of faith-based and SOGI collaboration, many respondents identified priests, pastors, and the media as proponents of homophobia. They admitted that politicians and media publishers were highly influenced by the voices of faith leaders in maintaining the culture of hostility and ostracism, using Biblical passages and developed world prejudices as reasons for maintaining the status quo of discrimination and exclusion,” the group wrote.