Saturday, September 27, 2014 | 12:32 PM
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – The Roman Catholic Church has described as “totally false” any suggestion that it is leading a campaign to discriminate against gays, lesbians and bisexuals after Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar said that a gender draft policy had faced “tremendous opposition, especially from the Roman Catholic group”.
Prime Minister Persad Bissessar told a radio programme in the United States earlier this week that a gender policy drafted by the previous People’s National Movement (PNM) administration, has not seen the light of day because of the “tremendous opposition”.
But in a statement issued on behalf of Archbishop of Port of Spain Joseph Harris, the Church said it regretted the statement attributed to the prime minister.
“The alleged statement would seem to suggest that the Catholic Church in T&T is leading a campaign for the continuation of discrimination against members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. This is totally false.
“The Catholic Church is one of several faith communities in Trinidad and Tobago which has raised objections to the Draft Gender Policy, and this was done at meetings organised by the Ministry of Gender, Youth and Child Development in April and May 2013.
“Concerns about the Draft Gender Policy were raised at these consultations by representatives of various Christian denominations. Therefore, any singling out of the Catholic Church as an objector is most regrettable,” the statement said.
The Roman Catholic Church said that its position on homosexuality is also well known and that it views such acts as being “contrary to the natural law” and “homosexual persons are called to chastity.
But it insisted that the position of the Church is that “such persons (LGBT)” must be “accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided”.
Meanwhile, the Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO) has also condemned the statements made in New York by Prime Minister Persad Bissessar of the need for a national referendum on whether or not to decriminalise homosexuality.?
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Roman Catholic Church in Trinidad denies anti-gay campaign
