Hall: Homosexuals must not be demonized
By Royston Jones Jr
Guardian Staff Reporter
royston@nasguard.com
Baptist Bishop Simeon Hall said yesterday that homosexuals ought not to be demonized by homophobic clergy, but they, like anyone else, should be invited to the church to, “experience the transforming power of God.”
“Over the last three days, three young men contacted me since I made this statement to all those with a sexual orientation to seek help,” said Hall at a Rotary Club of West Nassau luncheon at Graycliff.
“One of these men came to my office on Tuesday evening, the other on Wednesday and the other has an appointment.
“Their painful and sordid stories were frightening, but my response to them was pastoral.” In a statement on Monday, Hall urged homosexuals to seek help to turn away from their “non-productive and deadly practice”.
Hall said yesterday, “I do not demonize anyone, their sexual preference notwithstanding. “But what I find disturbing is men absent, men unable to take care and provide for their families, men dying and leaving children to fend for themselves and men infecting their partners with HIV/AIDS.
“All this negatively contributes to a society already on the edge of disintegration.” Hall claimed that the sexual practice of men who have sex with men (MSMs) is negatively impacting the growth and development of The Bahamas.
“If this sexual practice [has led] to an increase of 14 percent of our men contracting HIV/AIDS, then it is clear that this practice, which, by the way, can produce nothing, is now...deadly and is a threat to our national infrastructure.”
Hall released his statement on Monday in response to a Nassau Guardian article that revealed that the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in The Bahamas among MSMs is near 14 percent, which is nearly double the eight percent documented in 2008 by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
“All over this nation leaders are crying about the absence of men; the church, the schools [and] young women looking for strong male men to marry them,” Hall said yesterday.
“My appeal, therefore, is to the homosexual community to seek help so that they can play their God ordained role in our communities already distressed with crime, social distress and disorder.”
The Government of The Bahamas is co-sponsoring the 2011 Caribbean HIV Conference at Atlantis
Resort. The conference opens today and ends Monday.
Nov 18, 2011
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