Local Pastor, Alson Ebanks, has re-stated his objections to gay marriages in the Cayman Islands as part of a Cayman Ministers’ Association (CMA) “awareness campaign” in the first of a series of audio recordings.
Cayman Marl Road received the standalone audio recording in which Pastor Al of the Church of God and CMA Vice-Chairman re-affirms their position of the traditional orthodox Christian view of marriage solely between a man and a woman.
The minute and fifteen-second-long audio begin by encouraging people to stand up instead of being concerned about media influences and obtaining likes on Facebook. He states that:
“I can easily sympathize with persons who don’t feel like putting themselves in the public spotlight where they are vilified and made the target of hate filled comments from those who hide behind the curtain on anonymity on social media and other electronic blackhole.”
He calls the legal challenged mounted by Cayman Chantelle Day an attack on the constitution and marriage laws and that persons with a
“misguided view of human sexuality dictate the cultural narrative about sex and its role in human relationships.”
This statement almost one month after Chief Justice Anthony Smellie approved the application for judicial review of the General Registry’s refusal to issue two women a marriage license. The first legal challenge of its kind, this landmark human rights case has already caused waves in the local community on both sides of the same-sex debate.
When CMR pressed Pastor Alyson for an understanding of what this campaign was all about he clarified that:
“To be precise, it is an initiative supported by the CMA at the moment. An official CMA statement will be released as soon as we have a clear understanding of the position that the Hon AG’s Office and the Constitutional Commission are taking. We have reason to believe the AG’s office will take the logical stand to defend the Constitution and the Marriage Law, but think it is only fair to get that word officially.
As the Chairman of the Constitutional Commission is still off island, we must await his return before we can offer any opinion on their position. But one assumes that they will do the obvious.”
Chantelle Day, Caymanian and her British partner which to relocate to the Cayman Islands with their adopted daughter and have expressed their desire to be able to do so after marrying in Cayman and have it legally recognized. When contacted by CMR Day noted that:
“The marriage law is not compatible with the Constitution and discriminates against same sex couples on the basis of sexual orientation. It’s not acceptable to deny our right to marry based on the religious beliefs of others, while our own beliefs are being denied. The secular institution of government must not without valid justification direct the way in which a citizen may manifest his or her beliefs. Our JR application is supported by existing legal precedent from Bermuda and the UK, to the European Court of Human Rights and the US Supreme Court.I urge Caymanians and residents who have so kindly been supporting us to continue to vocally do so – it doesn’t go unnoticed and demonstrates a change in the social acceptance of equality for the LGBTQ community on our Island, which is long overdue.”
Cayman has now seen several Caymanian men hold same-sex civil ceremonies on the island with one stating “we hope that Caymanians will accept that love is love.”
The audio ends by stating that “Silence is not just golden it can be deadly”.
The full audio can be listened to here.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
