Intolerance on display

THE EDITOR: As the debate rages over our nation’s sodomy laws, last Friday saw two groups clashing outside the International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain. On one side, a group of Christians who has vowed to protest weekly to uphold the existing anti-buggery law and preserve “the natural family.” On the other, LGBT rights activists and members of the gay lobby CAISO (Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation), who appeal to the pastor and his followers with signs saying to “Keep Calm and Share the Nation.”

I have one question: why are we sharing our country with these people? What they’re saying is not just unnatural but flies in the face of all religions, not just Christianity. Their message is poison in the ears of our children, teaching them to accept not just an unnatural order but a flagrantly dangerous set of ideas about what is right and what is wrong.

This should not be allowed to stand. Their message runs counter to all the ideals of our nation and the idea that we should passively sit back and share our country with this group should anger every right-thinking citizen.

No matter what God you worship, you know the importance of loving your neighbour. This is an ideal that has been instilled in everyone since childhood with the golden rule to do unto others as you would have them do unto you being taught so ubiquitously in school that even our youngest citizens understand the value of being kind.

The pastor and “Christians” who are protesting are therefore behaving like schoolyard bullies as they try to marginalise and hurt our LGBT neighbours and we cannot allow this to stand. What message does it send to our children when they see adults protesting against the rights of others?

Furthermore, tolerance is one of the cornerstones of our society and even found in the watchwords upon which our country was built. I see no tolerance in how the Christian protesters have been behaving. They are filled with hatred and a need to attack those who are different from them, but this is the exact opposite of our Trinidadian values.

Our country is a melting pot and only strengthened by the very diversity that they seek to destroy with the upholding of these discriminatory laws. To proudly call our people a callaloo but then turn around and scorn the peppers for being more colourful than you removes a vital element from our society and weakens us all for no good reason.

The world around us is changing rapidly and the international community has begun to take notice of TT’s backwardness when it comes to LGBT rights. We have to adapt and make strides towards equality in order to progress as a country.

So once again I ask: why must we, the members of the LGBT community and sane Trinidadians, share a nation with these people? They are hateful bullies and pseudo Christians who contradict themselves with their every action.

If they cannot bear to share a nation with LGBT people because they claim they are unnatural and that their actions are harmful to the children, then why should we suffer to share a country with them when they do the very same. What is more unnatural than scorning your neighbour? What corrupts children more than growing up around anger and hate?

We cannot just accept that members of our society would destroy the root of our strength with their harmful ideology. Instead, we must all stand up and fight back against the intolerance that would divide us and prove to the world that Trinidad is not an uncivilised nation where brother hates brother but rather a land where every creed, race and sexuality is given an equal place.

SHANNON CAMPS via e-mail