Up Front
Church Ministers Appeal forPopular Support for Petition
At Tuesday's briefing are from right front: ReverendNicholas Sykes; Rev'd John Jefferson; Pastor Winston Rose; andRev'd Tom Goodman. Seated at the back are, from left, Rev'd JohnCase; Rev'd Leon George; Rev'd Bob Thompson; and Rev'd WilliamPeguero. At the podium is Pastor Al Ebanks.
Since announcing on Monday, 29 January theirintent to appeal the imposition of the Order in Council legitimisinghomosexual acts between consenting adults in private, the CaymanMinisters' Association has now decided to go one step better andseek to enlist the help of the public in reinforcing their stand.
Explaining the group's action at a press conference on Tuesday,30 January at the Agape Family Worship Centre on Fairbanks Road,CMA Chairman, Pastor Al Ebanks said: "The Cayman MinistersAssociation has made the decision that we are going to be puttingthe petition before the public of the Cayman Islands, asking theirassistance in signing this petition..."
There to lend their support were CMA Secretary, the Reverend NicholasSykes of the St. Albans Church of England; Rev'd John Jefferson,of the Weslyan Holiness Church in George Town; Pastor WinstonRose, of the Bodden Town Church of God; Rev'd Tom Goodman of theFirst Baptist; Rev'd John Case, of the Wesleyan Holiness Churchin West Bay; Rev'd Leon George of the Church of God Holiness inSt. Croix; Rev'd Bob Thompson of the Red Bay Holiness Church;and Rev'd William Peguero of the North Side Church of God.
Noting that they intended to present the petition to his Excellencythe Governor, Mr. Peter Smith and possibly the Members of theLegislative Assembly and the British Government, Pastor Al said:"We want to ask the public for their full support in signingthis petition."
"We believe that this is a very important step. Our own governmenthas decided not to take the position of removing this piece oflegislation from our books," he added.
Continuing, he said that granted that the UK government had theright to make the decision it did, "we as a people in thiscountry who strongly disagree with this position, want our voiceto be heard and to make it clear to all that we disagree verystrongly with the position that has been taken and the rules thathave been made."
The group proposes going about gathering the necessary signaturesfor the petition, which has already been drafted and being circulated,by using the considerable influence the Church has within theCayman community and each pastorate's own individual congregation.
"Our first objective, obviously," Pastor Al explained,"is to go to our own people and explain and encourage them,through our contacts, to work in that particular area."
"We are also hoping that some of the business people, thefamily members in our community who are concerned about theseissues will get involved. This petition will be made availableto any and everyone who will be interested in helping us to achieveour goal of getting as many signatures as possible," he said.
He said that while the group has not set a specific target interms of the number of signatures it hopes to garner or a deadlineby which they should be in, it would please them immensely ifthe same close to 10,000 persons who supported the 'Yes To KingJesus (Y2KJ)' crusade two years ago could lend their support tothis cause.
"We would like to invite those 10,000 people along with anyoneelse that is interested to sign this petition, and even if ourviews are not accepted, we are going to send a clear message tothe UK and to the world that we are able to think for ourselves,believe for ourselves and stand up for what we believe is right,"Pastor Al said.
Asked exactly what it was about the Order in Council, throughwhich the decriminalising of homosexual acts in private betweenconsenting adults was made Law, the group was opposed to, PastorAl, who carried the briefing throughout, said it was the mannerin which the matter was handled.
"...as we said in the petition," he further explained,"against the wishes of the people of the Cayman Islands,and the inaction of our own government in legislating this matter."
"We also believe," he said, "that the action thatis taken is a clear violation of any terms of partnership thatthe 'White Paper' espouses to maintain.
"The people of the Cayman Islands, as well as other OverseasTerritories, have made it abundantly clear what our position ison this matter, and the UK government has gone against those wishesto impose this Order in Council. We believe that that violatesthe principle of partnership(re: the 'White Paper'). I don't knowof any partnership that could survive on the basis of this kindof one-sided relationship."
As to what was hoped to be achieved, in light of the fact thatthe UK is not likely to change its mind and rescind the Order,Pastor Al said that while the group has no pretensions to beinglawyers or politicians nor fully understood the full ramificationof what all this meant for them, what it does know is that therehas been a lot of talk and debate lately within the Cayman communityabout the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD) and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) initiatives.
And, as far as they knew, he said, "our government has goneback to these organisations and talked to them; entered into dialogueand discussion with them about things that they see as being detrimentalto the survival of our community financially."
He reasoned that in the same way the FATF and OECD initiativeshave affected the government, so has the British Government'sOrder in Council.
"We believe it's issues like this," he said, "thatare detrimental to our community and our families [and that] atthe very least, we should enter into and continue to dialoguewith the people in the UK with regard to this matter".
Pastor Al said it was the CMA's intention also, though no directcontact has yet been made officially with the other five Caribbeanjurisdictions the Order has adversely affected, to contact theirfellow ministers and brief them on what they are doing here inthe Cayman Islands.
Should they choose to do something similar, he said, the CMA wouldbe only too happy to give them whatever support and help it canand encourage them to take a similar stand.