Anyone who calls the Ugandan Government "level-headed" in its treatment of gays must surely be misinformed. When that person is a self-appointed leader, surely he must be misguided. And when that person stands on the media stage, surely it must spell misfortune for the whole society.The "democratic" Ugandan Government (whose President has ruled since 1986) sought to pass a bill that would legalise the execution of gays. Promoting the effort to outlaw "Western values," a Ugandan newspaper named "Rolling Stone" published front-page photos of people it said were gay under the headline "Hang them!" Afterwards, a gay activist was murdered.
Earlier this month, a Pentecostal "senior pastor, apostle and doctoral candidate" of an "international ministry" headquartered in the backroads of east Trinidad was yet again featured in the newspapers. From this backroad perch, he ridiculed the United Nations, praised Uganda and, for not the first time, laid plain his obsession with gays.The "apostle's" online biography reads: "I founded this ministry in 1991 and has (sic) been the senior pastor for the past 16 years."In his article, he used big, four-syllable words like "consternation" and "surreptitious" to argue that it was not wrong to be homophobic, but right.
With his degrees in hand, one of which would qualify him to be a very good farmer, he sophisticatedly likened the decriminalisation of homosexuality to bestiality. Mentioning one pro-gay newspaper editorial, he wondered how "media ethics" could allow "promotion" of "new politics" against our "precious young minds" and "tertiary scholars (sic)."His many YouTube videos mention that "God spoke to him" and told him to build a "city." So the "apostle" is currently building a 5,000-seat hall and a five-star hotel. His church is today "debt-free." In his article, he invoked his biblical interpretations as the unconditional basis for civil law, as the basis for democratic governance.There is no pulpit in the Red House, but maybe John F Kennedy was an idiot.
Religions agree?
The "apostle" has plenty company. There have been numerous commentaries and paid ads by Christian and Muslim organisations recently. Hindu-cum-Christian Subhas Panday challenged another senator asking for death benefits for same-sex partners of Public Service workers by mentioning sections of Leviticus that do not exist.Indeed, we should not expect much else from our leaders. Pastors are among the wealthiest in our society. Politicians have gone to court for physical fights with each other. A former prime minister was jailed, the brother of the Bible-quoting Hindu mentioned above.
Like many other Trinis living abroad, I am asked almost daily to talk about T&T. Americans think of "steel drums" playing in a beautiful, though backward, island paradise. In contrast, I tell them about our first elected woman prime minister, about the high-school classmates enrolled in nearby Yale and MIT, about the burgeoning energy sector.I tell them that mine is not a society where the women braid the tresses of tourists on the beach. It is one that has spawned Nobel laureates and top scientists, where beauty queens are lawyers and mas' men get crowned by the Queen of the Netherlands. But I know that I am lying.
Backroad values
The "apostle's" article received 112 "likes"on Facebook. Commentators recalled the vulgar stories they heard as children, about how gays are nasty and evil and sick. They quoted "scientific studies" from American church organisations. They spoke about an unconditional morality that applies to all "creeds and races," which stems from their version of Christianity.
When I was at UWI, a tide was building up. It was a push for T&T to become a critical-thinking society, starting with those young people like me studying for degrees soon to conquer the world. Today, everyone who qualifies for a university education can have their tuition paid for, and university enrolment is at its highest.And yet we are an unthinking people. T&T is overflowing with uneducated leaders braying on the radio and TV, on the pulpit and in Parliament. They bray with big, uncouth mouths, shouting as if to wayward children.And we listen. Then we talk with a false sense of intelligence. We think without critical analysis. It is as though we never grew up.
The research on homosexuality not being a choice is exhausting, on the children of gay parents being just as well-adjusted, on gay parents being just as fit. No country has descended into anarchy as a result of decriminalising homosexuality, legalising same-sex marriage or granting equal civil rights-like health insurance and death benefits for same-sex partners, redress for unfair employment termination, calling it a hate crime instead of a mere "beating."
The only anarchy is the protests and intolerance and violence precipitated by religious organisations. The only vice is their obsession with controlling other people's lives, restraining civil governance and becoming "debt-free" in the process.One day, when someone asks me about T&T, I'd rather not lie. I'd rather tell them that T&T is a progressive, educated nation, where social values, human regard and civil law stem not from a backward society, or from the backroads of east Trinidad.