BARBADOS: Gay 'Relief'
by TONY BEST
NationNews.com
http://www.nationnews.com/story/289184702061123.php
4/7/2007
NO TO LEGALISING prostitution; yes to decriminalising homosexuality.
That seems to be the emerging position of the Anglican Church in Barbados and the rest of the Caribbean.
Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the West Indies Province and a former bishop of Barbados, has rejected any idea of the church supporting an attempt to legalise prostitution in various islands, Barbados included, but said he could back the decriminalising of homosexuality among consenting adults, purely on human rights grounds.
He remained opposed to the practice of homosexuality but supported a change in the law that would end discrimination and violence directed at gay people because of their lifestyle.
"Several countries in the Caribbean have already decriminalised homosexual practice between consenting adults in private," he told the SATURDAY SUN in an interview from his home in The Bahamas.
"That is in response to the human rights issues that have arisen. I would find it difficult not to support that from a human rights perspective, while at the same time disagreeing with the homosexual lifestyle and its agenda. I don't feel they should be harassed and persecuted," he added.
The archbishop disagreed with officials and experts who linked decriminalising prostitution and homosexuality in order to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS, saying that while sex workers had chosen a deliberate way to make a living, the same couldn't be said for gays.
"I wouldn't put them in the same category," he said. "Prostitution is definitely a chosen field of action that people enter into and I would see no need for the church to change its position in any way in respect of that. I would not support the decriminalisation of prostitution.
"However, I would support the decriminalisation of homosexuality among adults on the grounds of human rights," he added.
The archbishop's position was in step with the attitude of the church in England officially adopted several years ago.
END
| Poster | Thread |
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| Climacus | Posted: 2007/4/9 23:25 Updated: 2007/4/9 23:25 |
Just can't stay away   Joined: 2007/2/19 From: Boston Posts: 89 |
 Re: BARBADOS: Gay 'Relief'Any thought I may have entertained about the reasonableness of legalizing homosexual practices between consenting adults on the basis that it really isn't a criminal matter or 'any of my business' has recently been refuted by my wife's recent exposure to HIV through a patient she was treating in her hospital. In six months we'll know if she has contracted the virus. In short, illicit and immoral sex acts, homosexual or otherwise, do indeed have an effect beyond the two (or more) people involved. Indeed, it can mean life or death for innocent bystanders such as my wife, and we have painfully learned that seemingly private matters can indeed become pressing public business. I can now say that legalizing homosexuality will no doubt hurt more people than the sinners it benefits. Sex outside of heterosexual marriage should be banned.
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| Cennydd | Posted: 2007/4/10 0:47 Updated: 2007/4/10 0:47 |
Home away from home   Joined: 2005/10/30 From: Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin Posts: 7352 |
Re: BARBADOS: Gay 'Relief' BINGO!! Any way you cut it, homosexual practices are a deadly sin, and should most definitely be outlawed for the protection of ALL of society....regardless of country!
Cennydd |
| Joe of the Mountain | Posted: 2007/4/10 1:27 Updated: 2007/4/10 1:27 |
Home away from home Joined: 2004/1/3 From: Posts: 3472 |
Re: BARBADOS: Gay 'Relief' Climacus, I will pray for your wife and your family.
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| Cennydd | Posted: 2007/4/10 2:38 Updated: 2007/4/10 2:38 |
Home away from home Joined: 2005/10/30 From: Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin Posts: 7352 |
Re: BARBADOS: Gay 'Relief' Count me in, too, Climacus!
Cennydd |
| ZachD | Posted: 2007/4/10 4:44 Updated: 2007/4/10 4:54 |
Home away from home  Joined: 2005/11/10 From: Posts: 1812 |
Re: BARBADOS: Gay 'Relief' Climacus' story is a tragedy. We pray for its 'negative' outcome.
I (recently) worked a shift on an 'addictions' unit in a large core area hospital in my city. Although alcohol abuse remains the cause of the typical admission to such a unit, many IV drug abusers end up in such a ward, for observation and stabilization. Protocols for treatment being what they are, my eye came across two coil-bound notebooks marked, "HIV Testing", amid a slew of other reference materials. They contained patient names and dates of all HIV testing on this acute and volatile patient population. I scanned hundreds of names and outcomes. All, without exception, were marked "negative". I relate this story to emphasize that it is very DIFFICULT to contract HIV infection (even among hookers that I have cared for). Not impossible to become infected, but difficult. Those who counsel high-risk patients will know this to be true. Everyone will agree that those who are positive with a form of hepatitis, HIV, or other STD, have been found criminally responsible for deliberately placing people at risk through unprotected sex. But more to the point of this article, I truly wish that more priests, teachers, coaches, and physicians, would be held accountable for their sexual exploitation of those committed to their care. Thinking mostly of priests, who from my perspective, have gained the most from a swept-under-the-carpet-and-transfer mentality of priests and bishops. The abused and their families suffer terribly at their hands. This is all part and parcel of the "gay plague" among us. "Human Rights Tribunals" have been established by the 'loon left' in governments and lobby groups, to serve societal groups "that have historically suffered discrimination" at the hands of the 'majority' of society. When the balance of power shifts from the 'majority ' to the 'minority' pro-gay club, there will be NO similar protections available to the newly persecuted. We see the proof of this, already. |
| iceworm | Posted: 2007/4/10 6:44 Updated: 2007/4/10 6:44 |
Home away from home  Joined: 2004/3/21 From: Anchorage, Alaska US Posts: 153 |
Horrified! It appears to me the Archbishop blinked. Selfish and stupid behavior is not a(n human) right. Any government has the right and responsibility to attempt to eliminate anti-social activity. Clearly, from all the studies, my personal observation in excess of 50 years, and comments on VoL's many threads, homo-eroticism is anti-social.
I don't know which way my parish is going to jump as our diocese sinks further into apostasy. I will not support having Bishop Gomez as leader. Bishop Akinola's missionary bishop in the US, Bishop Minns of CANA, is one whom I can support. |
| Chris2 | Posted: 2007/4/10 13:01 Updated: 2007/4/10 13:01 |
Just can't stay away Joined: 2005/7/20 From: Posts: 135 |
Re: Horrified! Remind me, what are bishops good for?
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