Guyana’s 1998 Policy Statement on People Living With HIV/AIDS Adequately Addresses Non-discriminatio in the Health Sector

Post Date: May 24th 2008
Original location: http://www.scribd.com/doc/3038085/Guyanas-1998-policy-statement-on-people-living-with-HIVAIDS-adequately-addresses-nondiscrimination-in-the-health-sector

Dear Editor,

I refer to a letter by Joel Simpson et al (SN 5/17/08) advocating “anti-homophobia” training and would appreciate the opportunity to rebut. The letter is disturbing in many of the issues it pretends to raise.

A phobia is defined as an “irrational fear”, and the Christian community in Guyana and elsewhere have spent a considerable amount of time and effort advocating that opposition to the issue of homosexuality, and moreso of gay militancy as prescribed by Simpson, Kissoon and Sasod, is anything but irrational. Simpson’s last letter cited above represents another opportunity to provide the police, judiciary, national library and health workers with a body of knowledge that will inform a holistic appreciation of the issues.

It is training about the realty of the GBLT lifestyle, rather than “anti-homophobia training” that needs to be promoted. It is the truth that will set persons free, not a generous dosage of deception.

First, no less a person than the very liberal Hon. Mr. Justice Michael Kirby AC, CMG, President of the New South Wales Court Of Appeal, Sydney, Australia, during an address to the First South African Conference on Aids and the Law, 25th June 1992) seems to have been misled according to Simpson’s arguments, when he said: "But the paradox is: if we are serious about the containment of the aids epidemic, we must enter their individual minds and get them to change their behaviour which seems central to them to the definition of their being". The issue, we should remind care-givers and health workers, should remain “behaviour modification” rather than “accommodation”. We have addressed some of these issues and arguments in the online summary “A Response to Vikram Seth’s Open Letter” .

Secondly, we should lament the casualness with which Simpson, and apparently (sic) the WHO, alludes to the removal of homosexuality from the list of mental disorders. Our previous efforts have ensured that Simpson is fully aware of the impropriety and downright falsehood that this statement represents. Again, we point the Commissioner of Police and the Minister of Health to Dr. Joseph Nicolosi’s introductory treatment in the article “The Removal of Homosexuality from the Psychiatric Manual” (http://www.catholicsocialscientists.org/Symposium2--Nicolosi--mss.htm ) and Dr. Ben Kaufman’s illuminating law review “Why NARTH? The American Psychiatric Association’s Destructive and Blind Pursuit of Political Correctness” (14 Regent U. L. Rev. 423 (2002) (http://www.regent.edu/news/lawreview/articles/14_2kaufman.doc ). Both persons, and hopefully by now the WHO, seem to agree that all three great pioneers of psychiatry … Freud, Jung and Adler … saw homosexuality as disordered.

Yet today, homosexuality is not to be found in the psychiatric manual of mental disorders. How did this happen? Simply through gay-militant advocacy of the sort that Simpson/Kissoon/Sasod is advocating.

As with the dispensation of medicine, Psychiatry performs an essential function in the health sector, and is good that Sasod, Simpson and Kissoon must now confront the fact that the entire premise upon which they triumphantly cite the (sic) WHO decision has no basis in health science.

Thirdly, we are not so long down the road from the grisly events of the past year in which several schoolboys at a local school were sexually molested, while yet another establishment in proximity to another high school in the centre of Georgetown promotes same-sex pornographic film “festivals” to students and public alike.

It therefore came as no surprise when, deep in Simpson’s/Kissoon’s letter above, we found a thinly-veiled “appeal” to address “male rape” and “consensual same-sex” in the Ministry of Human Services’ pending “Stamp It Out” legislation. We have addressed the folly of this endeavour in the online recommendation to the Minister, the Opposition, the Church and the Press labelled “An Initial Assessment of the Stamp It Out Consultation”. Good law is based on good information, not duplicity or ambivalence.

Guyana’s 1998 Policy Statement on PLWHA adequately addresses non-discriminatory practices in the health sector, and the Ministry of Health would be ill-advised to accommodate Simpson’s and Sasod’s obvious attempt to confuse the legitimate medical needs of PLWHA with their own gay-militant attempts to infiltrate and control health-sector policy.

Yours faithfully
Roger Williams

May 24th 2008

Bounty Killer and Movado Were Easy targets for the Minister

Publish date: May 5, 2008

Original location: http://www.scribd.com/doc/2898330/Bounty-Killer-and-Movado-were-easy-targets-for-the-Minister

The areas highlighted in gold were deleted by Stabroek News

Dear Editor,

Guyana’s newest season of madness is at hand. How long will the brightest minds among us be silent? The noble aspirations of a maturing democracy are being sacrificed on the altar of less-than-subtle anti-Christian political positions and gay militancy!

Guyana’s Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, is unenvied in this mission. It must be no joy to find yourself catapulted to the dizzying heights of de-facto point-man for the effort.

In January 2007, Rohee accused Christians (yes, Christians en mass!) of being a “threat to national security” because of their open and clear opposition to casino gambling. The day after a local newspaper published a rebuttal and clarification to the effect that his claim was ridiculous, that newspaper had its quota of government advertisments withdrawn. Coincidence? The withdrawal has never been explained outside of peripheral references to “circulation” and no evidence in that regard was offered. The reinstatement appears to coincide with a new and very militant editorial policy at SN. In what direction? To what end?

Not to be outdone by his efforts of a few days earlier, Rohee thereafter joined his parliamentary colleague Desiree Fox in making the most atrocious statements against Christians in Parliament. A private Presidential “apology” and promise to the heads of the Christian Community that it would not happen again did not erase the refusal of both parliamentarians to apologize for their ridiculous statements. The comments still remain on the official record for parliament.

Gay militancy has in the past launched an unprecedented attack on Black artistes visiting Guyana, the clear message being that their opposition to homosexual criminality and deathstyle (see the law review “Child Molestation and the Homosexual Movement”) is to be silenced. This has usually meant that artistic licence has to be silenced, and Rohee has just accommodated that endeavour. The lesson of Stephanie Phillips’ article “How Britain is turning Christianity into a Crime” is ignored. And Ted Byfield’s account of Canadian Richard Kempling’s trial by terror in the name of human rights (“Only a few Defended the Teacher”) in of all places Canada falls on deaf ears. The story of Buju Banton (“Boom Bye Bye’s Inconvenient Truth Part 2”) is a local illustration of the technique. Jamaican reggae superstars seem to be the only ones who dare to confront gay militancy these days!

Minister of Human Services Priya Manickchand in her otherwise noble effort at the “Stamp It Out” campaign against domestic and sexual violence, refuses to acknowledge the role that homosexuality, prostitution and pornography play in the violence against women and children. The Ministry considers these fundamental issues “too complex”, and apparently ignores the evidence of the vulnerability of Guyanese children at two local schools in the online article “An Initial Assessment of the Stamp It out Consultation”.

Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is forced off Guyanese television after six socially positive years of broadcasting to Guyanese, and its rival Daystar follows a similar fate a few months after. Paradoxically, the Inter Religious Organization makes no comment denouncing the move, apparently accommodates and approves the most riotous music in its stead being played at this hour on STVS 21/72, and a querulous IRO-Chairman at a meeting called at Red House claims “not to see the relevance of an IRO statement for the reinstatement of TBN”. In the meantime, the same person is appointed to the executive of an “Inter Religious TV Channel”, following a “Presidential” direction. This is folly and recklessness inhabiting the same space.

The air is thick with rumour that a very public Christian Good Friday event in the centre of Georgetown’s business district was paid for by cheques issued from the Office of the President. Who organized this event? Who spoke at that forum? Can someone clarify /verify this?

Now Movado is accused of being a “security threat” for absolutely no reason, much as the church was in 2006, and Bounty Killer is vilified in the by now very pro-gay inserts and letter-licences in, of all newspapers, the Stabroek News.

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee on April 29 announces that “Bounty Killer is banned from the jurisdiction”. He offers no formal written statement for us to dissect, but leaves the justification for the obvious sabotage of Bounty Killer’s Ignition Concert is in no other place than the staff writers of Stabroek News, who unwittingly intertwine gay militant explanations to the unfortunate events of a night of sabotage amid lax security. They even manage to include the troubled Black village of Buxton in the concoction, blaming it on Bounty Killer even after we know it was the local DJs that mouthed those unfortunate words.

Astonishingly, there is no public reprimand for the Police who fired shots into the air to make an already bad situation worse. No attempt was apparently made to arrest the bottle-throwers who were venting at the malfunctioning audio set.

The Stabroek News’ “The Scene” article of April 26 then relegates the press release by the promoters correcting the obvious inaccuracies in their previous report to pages 6C and 8C while its derogation of Bounty Killer gets Page 2C bold-face billing and cartoon. Is this the new direction of Stabroek News?

And 56% of the population still doesn’t get it! And the brightest and best in our country continue to say nothing!

And it’s all being done in the name of gay militancy! And Rohee offers himself up as chief facilitator to the feeding frenzy that will now follow. The Minister’s was an incredible (but by now familiar) over-reaction that pandered to the sentiments of the gay lobby. They will now claim to own his actions … and words.

And you will find no local newspaper editorial, or “The Scene” article, advocating the online law review “Child Moleststion and the Homosexual Movement”, or advocating that it is child molestation, pedophilia and pornography that need to be banned in Guyana. The Home Affairs Minister does NOT list these as the crimes against that Guyanese people that he is working on. Now gay militancy leads worldwide efforts in this regard.

Bounty Killer and Movado were just easy targets for the Home Affairs Minister, much as the church was in 2007.

Yours faithfully

Roger Williams

May 5th 2008

Banning Bounty Killer and Movado: Season of Madness in Guyana

Publish Date: May 8, 2008.

Original location: http://www.scribd.com/doc/2811353/Banning-Bounty-Killer-Movado-Season-of-madness-in-Guyana
The highlighted gold text shows the parts of the letter that were deleted by Stabroek News.

Dear Editor,

Guyana’s newest season of madness is at hand. How long will the brightest minds among us be silent? The noble aspirations of a maturing democracy are being sacrificed on the altar of less-than-subtle anti-Christian political positions and gay militancy!

Guyana’s Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, is unenvied in this mission. It must be no joy to find yourself catapulted to the dizzying heights of de-facto point-man for the effort.

In January 2007, Rohee accused Christians (yes, Christians en mass!) of being a “threat to national security” because of their open and clear opposition to casino gambling. The day after a local newspaper published a rebuttal and clarification to the effect that his claim was ridiculous, that newspaper had its quota of government advertisments withdrawn. Coincidence? The withdrawal has never been explained outside of peripheral references to “circulation” and no evidence in that regard was offered. The reinstatement appears to coincide with a new and very militant editorial policy at SN. In what direction? To what end?

Not to be outdone by his efforts of a few days earlier, Rohee thereafter joined his parliamentary colleague Desiree Fox in making the most atrocious statements against Christians on the casino gambling issue. A private Presidential “apology” and promise to the heads of the Christian Community that it would not happen again did not erase the refusal of both parliamentarians to apologize for their ridiculous statements. The comments still remain on the official record for parliament.

Gay militancy has in the past launched an unprecedented attack on Black artistes visiting Guyana, the clear message being that their opposition to homosexual criminality and deathstyle (see the law review “Child Molestation and the Homosexual Movement”) is to be silenced. This has usually meant that artistic licence has to be silenced, and Rohee has just accommodated that endeavour. The lesson of Stephanie Phillips’ article “How Britain is turning Christianity into a Crime” is ignored. And Ted Byfield’s account of Canadian Richard Kempling’s trial by terror in the name of human rights (“Only a few Defended the Teacher”) in of all places Canada falls on deaf ears. The story of Buju Banton (“Boom Bye Bye’s Inconvenient Truth Part 2”) is a local illustration of the technique. Jamaican reggae superstars seem to be the only ones who dare to confront gay militancy these days!

Minister of Human Services Priya Manickchand in her otherwise noble effort at the “Stamp It Out” campaign against domestic and sexual violence, refuses to acknowledge the role that homosexuality, prostitution and pornography play in the violence against women and children. The Ministry considers these fundamental issues “too complex”, and apparently ignores the evidence of the vulnerability of Guyanese children at two local schools in the online article “An Initial Assessment of the Stamp It out Consultation”.

Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is forced off Guyanese television after six socially positive years of broadcasting to Guyanese, and its rival Daystar follows a similar fate a few months after. Paradoxically, the Inter Religious Organization makes no comment denouncing the move, apparently accommodates and approves the most riotous music in its stead being played at this hour on STVS 21/72, and a querulous IRO-Chairman at a meeting called at Red House claims “not to see the relevance of an IRO statement for the reinstatement of TBN”. In the meantime, the same person is appointed to the executive of an “Inter Religious TV Channel”, following a “Presidential” direction. This is folly and recklessness inhabiting the same space.

The air is thick with rumour that a very public Christian Good Friday event in the centre of Georgetown’s business district was paid for by cheques issued from the Office of the President. Who organized this event? Who spoke at that forum? Can someone clarify /verify this?

Now Movado is accused of being a “security threat” for absolutely no reason, much as the church was in 2006, and Bounty Killer is vilified in the by now very pro-gay inserts and letter-licences in, of all newspapers, the Stabroek News.

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee on April 29 announces that “Bounty Killer is banned from the jurisdiction”. He offers no formal written statement for us to dissect, but leaves the justification for the obvious sabotage of Bounty Killer’s "Ignition Concert" is in no other place than the staff writers of Stabroek News, who unwittingly intertwine gay militant explanations to the unfortunate events of a night of sabotage amid lax security. They even manage to include the troubled black village of Buxton in the concoction, blaming it on Bounty Killer even after we know it was the local DJs that mouthed those unfortunate words.

Astonishingly, there is no public reprimand for the Police who fired shots into the air to make an already bad situation worse. No attempt was apparently made to arrest the bottle-throwers who were venting at the malfunctioning audio set.

The Stabroek News’ “The Scene” article of April 26 then relegates the press release by the promoters correcting the obvious inaccuracies in their previous report to pages 6C and 8C while its derogation of Bounty Killer gets Page 2C bold-face billing and cartoon. Is this the new direction of Stabroek News?

And 56% of the population still doesn’t get it! And the brightest and best in our country continue to say nothing!

And it’s all being done in the name of gay militancy! And Rohee offers himself up as chief facilitator to the feeding frenzy that will now follow. The Minister’s was an incredible (but by now familiar) over-reaction that pandered to the sentiments of the gay lobby. They will now claim to own his actions … and words. And you will find no local newspaper editorial, or “The Scene” article, advocating the online law review “Child Moleststion and the Homosexual Movement”, or advocating that it is child molestation, pedophilia and pornography that need to be banned in Guyana. The Home Affairs Minister does NOT list these as the crimes against that Guyanese people that he is working on. Now gay militancy leads worldwide efforts in this regard.

Bounty Killer and Movado were just easy targets for the Home Affairs Minister, much as the church was in 2007.

Yours faithfully

Roger Williams

May 5, 2008