Pastor Victor Gill says yesterday’s ruling on sex between two consenting males did not strike down the buggery law and the church should be thankful to God for that.
Gill, who led the protests by the group TT Cause following an earlier ruling by Justice Devindra Rampersad in April, said he was in court for the ruling and having spoken to Fyard Hosein SC was satisfied that despite the judge’s ruling the buggery law was not struck down. “The law is still on the law books,” Gill, who has since tweaked TT Cause to TT Response, said.
He said he was pleased to hear Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi say the ruling will be appealed.
“It has to go to the Privy Council. The AG is going to appeal, it could take years we don’t know. It would have been better if we did not have this development but we still have reason to rejoice. It was not struck down,” Gill said in a telephone interview.
In his 14-page ruling yesterday, Justice Rampersad modified sections 13 and 16 of the Sexual Offences Act, making it legal for two consenting adults to engage in anal intercourse.
The ruling came six months after Rampersad’s April ruling that the rights of persons who wanted to engage in anal sex and serious indecency in private were being infringed. That ruling in April prompted protests by religious leaders led by Gill.
Yesterday, Gill said, “I am of the opinion, along with ministers of the gospel, that the demonstration led by TT Cause and the voices of others who have written to the media has helped to cushion the impact of this thing and curtail whatever might come out.
“We don’t know what the Privy Council will rule and what the legislature will do. I would like to say to the nation that what we set out to do is to bring public awareness and that was accomplished and it has slowed down the process of this thing being struck down. With one statement we accomplished that. I believe it’s a reason for the church to be thankful to God.”
Several attempts to reach Roman Catholic Archbishop Jason Gordon were unsuccessful yesterday. But Monsignor Christian Pereira said the Archbishop had “already spoken very clearly and extensively about that and his thoughts remain as valid now as they were when he first made public statements on the matter.”
In April following the High Court ruling in the Jason Jones matter, Gordon acknowledged that “buggery is a serious moral offence,” but said it should not put someone in prison for 25 years.
The Archbishop referred to the Vatican’s statement at the 63rd Session of the United Nations in 2008, which said, “The Holy See continues to advocate that every sign of unjust discrimination toward homosexual persons should be avoided and urges states to do away with criminal penalties against them.”
But while the church has taken an open stance on the issue of buggery, Gordon made it clear, “We will oppose same-sex marriage in every way possible.”