‘We are not an enemy of the Church’

More churches have become accepting of persons who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual, and queer (LGBTQI), a paradigm shift from the decades-old complaints about a culture of vengeful condemnation and stigma.

That’s the observation from Glenroy Murray, interim executive director of Equality for All Foundation Jamaica, a rebrand of J-FLAG.

Murray told a Gleaner Editors’ Forum on Wednesday that the change in mood has been widespread, noting that safe spaces can be found in a majority of churches in Kingston.

Meanwhile, he has urged society to steer away from a “church vs gay dichotomy”, explaining that there are LGBTQ+ people who are religious and worship, trusting in the salvation of Jesus Christ.

“We are not here to attack the Church, to dismantle the Church ... . We are not an enemy of the Church,” Murray said, emphasising that his organisation wants LGBTQ+s to be recognised as members of society rather than vilified as outcasts.

More traditional denominations in Jamaica, such as Roman Catholics and Anglicans, have been viewed as less vocal in their opposition to the inclusion of members of the LGBTQ+ community in society and in church spaces, Murray said, suggesting that the sea change was an index of progress.

The Rev Newton Dixon, outgoing president of the Jamaica Council of Churches, told The Gleaner that while he did not agree with the position of the LGBTQ+ group, clergymen should engage affiliated persons with respect.

“I may not agree with their choice, but I affirm their humanity. They are, as the scripture says, made in the image and likeness of God,” said Dixon, adding that their sexual orientation was contrary to the laws of God. That view, however, should not be used as ammunition to ostracise those groups.

Dixon is of the belief that there are still factions of hostility in the Church sowing seeds of discrimination and stigma.

Those cabals of ultra-conservatism have spread their tentacles, causing blunders, in some instances, in the delivery of counselling services, especially to young people.

That concern is borne out in a February study published by Dr Kai Morgan and Tiffany Palmer titled Audit of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Services and Needs for LGBTQ+ Persons in Jamaica.

From a sample size of 380 LGBTQ+ persons, 220 of whom filled out the survey assessing their mental-health needs, 35 per cent utilise private care facilities and a small portion identified other sources of health support such as the Church. No data were given for that subset.

The experts found that many mental-health practitioners were unable to put their religious beliefs aside when caring for patients, seeking, instead, to convert them to Christianity.

Dixon acknowledged that this conflict has always existed as “there’s no denial that biases come out in the treatment of LGBTQ+ young people”, he told The Gleaner.

But he is of the opinion that Christian counsellors have been making progress in dealing with “this kind of human situation”.

The Rev Alvin Bailey, pastor of the Portmore Holiness Christian Church, hews to the hardline dogma that defines much of the rhetoric of local evangelicals. He calls LGBTQ+ sexual practices an abomination, holding to the view that they are more a chosen lifestyle and not inherent sexual orientation.

“We definitely don’t support the established organisations of support to homosexuality, and we are against all their proposals and their recommendations for legalisation, anything that has to do with the advances of the practice of homosexuality in Jamaica,” said Bailey.

Jamaica’s buggery law, a carryover colonial legislation, has been criticised as archaic by lobbyists for its repeal, but its retention remains a bulwark of fierce advocacy among many Christians here.

Bailey argued that opposition to LGBTQ+ sexual practices does not necessarily fuel societal rejection of the minority group, saying that Jamaicans have been very tolerant as persons are “not being seen stoned in the various spaces in where they are found”. He also stated that there are no vigilantes targeting gays.

“The church facilitates homosexuals but abhors and condemns the practice of homosexuality on a biblical basis,” said Bailey, adding that he has opened the doors of his church to members of the community who wish to worship. That accommodation, he said, would not muzzle clerics from denouncing homosexuality.

Murray has warned that pastors should avoid using the pulpit of power and influence to incite division and disharmony, arguing that such rhetoric suggests “that it is okay to discriminate, that it is okay to kick out members of your family ... because they are going to hell”.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com