The church community in St Vincent and the Grenadines is in a celebratory mood following the recent dismissal of a case filed by two gay men challenging the country’s buggery laws.
The country’s high court dismissed the case brought by Javin Johnson and Sean Macleish, who are Vincentian nationals currently residing overseas. The decision has created shockwaves in the region and internationally, as it represents a huge blow to the increasing efforts of LGBTQ activists to rid the Caribbean of anti-sodomy laws and make same sex relationships more widely accepted.
Mandella Peters, one of the attorneys who represented the 10 churches that were listed as interested parties in the case, told the Freedom Come Rain Newspaper that it was a matter of taking a righteous stance. Cheryl Bailey also represented the church, while Jamaican-born Meisha Cruickshank was their instructing solicitor.
“This [case] has encouraged the churches here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, that once we put God first and we make that stand in his name, that he is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we can ask or think,” said Peters, who represented the churches pro-bono.
“The churches are very happy with the ruling and we are very thankful to God for what he has done in winning the victory, and I give all glory and honour to God in terms of what he has done,” she said.
Johnson and Macleish had filed the claims in 2019, challenging the country’s prohibition of anal intercourse, with a sentence of up to 10 years, and the criminalization of public or private same-sex indecent practices. They both claimed that they were forced to leave the country as they openly identified themselves as gay, and has been exiled from St. Vincent and the Grenadines due to these laws.
High Court judge Justice Esco Henry, however, ruled that the men had no legal standing to bring the claims, in light of the fact that they live overseas and have not lived in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) for some time. The argument that they had been forced to leave SVG because of their sexual orientation was also dismissed. The High Court upheld the government’s argument that the laws are reasonably required for public health and morality.
“… to my mind, the thought of a public health crisis occasioned by an un-stemmed deluge of new HIV cases, is a real and serious concern which reasonably justifies a public health response of the kind embedded in the challenged provisions,” Justice Henry stated.
Peters believes the expert evidence provided by Dr Brendan Bain, a highly respected doctor with years of experience in the treatment and care of those living with HIV/AIDS, had contributed to the final decision.
“The judge didn’t go through her entire judgement, so I haven’t seen what her comments were with respect to his evidence, but for me speaking personally, his expert report and even his testimony during the trial in my own opinion, was compelling,” she told the Freedom Come Rain newspaper.
Dr Bain was fired from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, in 2014 for making statements that HIV/AIDS was significantly higher among men who have sex with men (MSM), while giving expert testimony during a legal challenge to Belize’s Sodomy law, mounted by the United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM). Dr. Bain was the Director of UWI’s Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training Network at the time. In 2017, the highly respected physician emerged victorious in a lawsuit against UWI, as Jamaica’s Supreme Court ruled that his termination was in violation of his right to freedom of expression. His termination sparked widespread protest by members of the local Christian community.
Peters noted that the church’s effort to join as interested party was vigorously opposed by the claimants, but was thankfully approved in November 2019. As such, they were able to make oral and written submissions. The fact that the case to get rid of the country’s buggery laws was brought by persons not living in St Vincent, has strengthened her suspicion that the international community is primarily behind the push for the acceptance of the same sex agenda in the Caribbean.
“Don’t let them fool you. It is a hidden agenda. The LGBTQ lobby is a minority political agenda and with homosexuality, they are also promoting transgenderism so that you are a boy, but if you feel that you are a girl, you are a girl or if you are a girl, if you feel like a man, you are a man,” she said during a rally at Heritage Square, which was carried by Iwitness news.
“Changing the norms of society; bringing confusion to our children. So that is why we have to take a stand now. The same arguments that are used to promote buggery — consensual acts and privacy — those same arguments can be used, legally, to bring other things on-board, including incest and paedophilia. So we have to take a righteous stand,” Peters told the hundreds of persons in attendance at the rally.
A number of Caribbean nations have recently repealed their buggery laws. They are Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Barbados in 2022, while Trinidad and Tobago did so in 2018.
However, along with St. Vincent and the Grenadines, five other English-speaking Caribbean nations have and continue to criminalize gay sex. These are Saint Lucia, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Jamaica, Guyana, and Grenada.
Jamaica’s Constitution Court rejected a challenge to the country’s buggery law last year October. The challenge, was brought by Maurice Tomlinson, a gay man now living in Canada.