Jamaica is notoriously referred to as one of the most homophobic countries, so it may come as a shock to find out that at least once every month, a gay church reportedly keeps service in Kingston.
While THE WEEKEND STAR was not able to find out the exact location of the church, evidence of one of their worship sessions was posted on popular video sharing site Youtube.com under the title 'Gays in Jamaica worship in underground church'.
The video which appears to be a special feature done on the church, was uploaded on November 11, by Worldfocus.org. The entity identifies itself as an international news source that, among other things, reports 'on events from around the world and cover the stories that don't always make the headlines'. Since being uploaded, the video has recorded approximately 4,000 hits.
worship in secret
The close to six-minute-long clip starts with the narrative: 'Jamaica is often said to hold the world record for the most churches per-square-mile. There's a public place of worship for almost everyone, unless you're gay. If you are, you must worship in secret. Reverend Robert Griffin, a gay-American minister flies to Kingston once a month to lead this underground service ...'
Midway through this introduction, the clip shows the male members of the church and Griffin, the head, singing a song Welcome Holy Spirit with eyes closed and hands lifted as if in deep meditative worship.
Throughout the video, the males, whose faces are blurred, are seen holding hands, resting arms around each other, playing tambourine and singing lively choruses, clapping and even taking communion.
While speaking to the interviewer, Griffin said the church had to operate underground because of the "hostility towards the gay and lesbian community here in Jamaica." The minister said going public would "invite harm (and) danger to the congregation."
The pastor said that there was no physical church building or tent but that everything needed to keep the services, bible, communion condiments and tambourines, were kept in boxes until the appointed time.
During a section of pastor's sermon to his gay gathering, he was heard telling the church: "God loves us because, guess what? God created us. And God did not create us just to sit around and hate us because we chose to love someone of the same gender."
Towards the end of the video, Griffin chided local ministers for what he described as their messages of hate and violence towards gays in Jamaica and called for an end to such practices on the part of the local clergy.
Head of the Kingston-based Faith Cathedral Deliverance Centre, Bishop Herro Blair, was interviewed by the news agency in the video and he spoke on the behalf of the local religious leaders.
Blair stated that Jamaica was a homophobic society that grew up to dislike homosexuals and to hate homosexuality. He said that God's concept was an Adam and an Eve for the continuity of the human race and that homosexuality in and of itself, has the potential to hinder that God-intended process.
When contacted by THE WEEKEND STAR yesterday, Blair said that he was interviewed over a year ago but he had never seen the taping since.
He said that he did not know if the gay church was still active as he never made any checks on it.
As for the request that the gay pastor made in the video for local ministers to stop preaching against homosexuality, Blair said: "To do that would be a compromise of our faith ... If they have a right to be wrong, then we have a right to be right."
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Labour Minister Pearnel Charles has served a stern warning to sexual predators that he could push for legislation to impose criminal sanctions on persons who knowingly spread HIV/AIDS.
"There are some serious people who don't care how they destroy others," declared Charles, as he made his contribution to a debate on the report of the parliamentary committee which examined the proposed National Workplace Policy on HIV/AIDS.
Charles, however, told the House of Representatives that the Government would initially be pursuing the educational route to prevent the spread of the disease, as well as reduce stigmatisation of infected persons.
"But if it becomes necessary, then this minister will make recommendations for serious sanctions," Charles warned.</div></div>
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">However, as parliamentarians stepped up their agitation for greater attention to be accorded to infected persons, Opposition Spokesman on Health, Dr Fenton Ferguson, has raised concern about the high percentage of homosexual men with the virus.</div></div>
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Ferguson said 31.8 per cent, or one in three homosexual men, have contracted HIV/AIDS.
Ferguson added that a similar percentage of the prison population was found to be infected with the disease.</div></div>
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