Nadine Wilson-Harris
As the Christian community continues to celebrate the dismissal of the case that sought to challenge the country’s buggery law, one attorney who was involved in the legal challenge is urging believers to continue in prayer as the Satanic forces are angered and are likely to fight back.
Attorney-at-law Jamila Thomas, who along with Wendell Wilkins, appeared on behalf of the Lawyer’s Christian Fellowship, said she is expecting the claimant to appeal the ruling made by Jamaica’s Constitutional Court on Friday. The challenge to the country’s buggery law was launched by gay activist Maurice Tomlinson in 2015. Tomlinson challenged the constitutionality of sections 76, 77 and 79 of the 1864 Offences Against the Person Act (OAPA), which he stated criminalise homosexuality and breach the rights guaranteed to him by the constitution.
But the Constitutional Court has stated that the savings law clause in Jamaica’s Charter of Rights does in fact bar the courts from enquiring into whether the three provisions referenced under the sexual offences laws breaches the constitutional rights of homosexuals. The court ruled that the matter was one for parliamentarians to decide on and not the court.
Thomas said she has no expectations of the intervention of parliamentarians following the ruling.
“What I am expecting is for the claimant to appeal the decision,” she said before adding, “I think on this issue, the government would be more concerned about what the majority of Jamaicans think, because they are more concerned about the vote than anything else.”
The long-running constitutional challenge had many twists and turns, but throughout the process, attorneys for several faith-based organisations that sided with the government as interested parties in the matter remained firm.
“It was a lot of work [and] a lot of research and reading that went into it,” said Thomas.
“Keep the prayers going because, as far as I am concerned, this is the first part of the battle,” she urged Christians.
The Attorney General was listed as the defendant in the case, while the Churches, the Jamaica Coalition of a Healthy Society, Lawyers Christian Fellowship Limited, and Hear the Children’s Cry were listed as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th interested party respectively.
LGBTQ rights groups and their international funders have been earnestly seeking to rid Jamaica of its anti-sodomy law, which criminalises buggery. But the church has been pushing back through the organisation of mass protests, prayer vigils, town hall meetings, and strong messages to the political hierarchy that same-sex marriage will not be accepted.
The founder of the Joy Town Community Development Foundation, Major Richard Cooke, has rubbished the claim often made by LGBTQ sympathisers that what two consenting adults do in privacy should not matter to the government.
“The fact is, what is in the bedroom comes out of the bedroom, and it affects society. It never stays in the bedroom, and in fact, there is evidence to show that the homosexuals; those who have entered into indecent behaviour are so gripped by it that they seduce young boys and others into this lifestyle. They are not quiet about it. Not only that, they seek to change laws and put right thinking people who understand natural order into a position where they can’t express their own opinions; they can’t make their own choices; they are forced into a box where they have to accept and follow the homosexual dictates,” he said.
He is happy with the recent court decision, and while there is the possibility of an appeal, he is not fazed.
“If it had gone to the Privy Council, the Privy Council would have sent it back to the legislature, because they have recognised in the past that it is not the business of the court to make law, but for the actual legislature of a country. So in the case of the Cayman Islands, when they tried to overturn the Buggery Act there and it went to the Privy Council, the Privy Council did not stand with them. They said this is a matter for parliament and not for the courts,” he explained.
Bishop Omar Ricketts, of the Harmony Gospel Chapel in March Pen, St. Catherine, is happy with the decision that was made by the judges.
“I think it is a fair ruling. The law has been upheld and the people’s voices have been heard. It is hoped that there shall not be any further amendment to this law,” he said.
“We must as a church pray, that no other union will be recognised other than that which is recognised by the law, which is between a male and female,” added the senior clergyman.
Jamaica is one of six countries in the region that recognises that a legal union is between one man and one woman.