Jamaica’s Appeal Court overturns interim order granted to gay pride group

(Jamaica Gleaner) Stung by defeat after a weeklong legal battle with the St James Municipal Corporation, gay rights lobbyist Maurice Tomlinson has vowed to reapply for permission to host a controversial forum after losing on a “technicality.”

The Court of Appeal on Friday overturned an interim injunction granted by the Supreme Court in favour of the LGBT-rights organisation Montego Bay Pride.

The court, on Thursday, heard arguments to determine whether to reverse Monday’s interim order by Supreme Court judge Justice David Batts, allowing the organisation to rent the Montego Bay Cultural Centre in St James so as to host a forum on same-sex marriage.

It is understood that after booking the cultural centre, which is managed by the Montego Bay Arts Council, a permit has to be sought from the St James Municipal Corporation.

Tomlinson said that he respected the court’s decision and would follow the procedure insisted on by the municipal authorities.

“We hope we will not be prevented this time. All we want to do is have a public forum where everyone is free to air their views. Why is this controversial?” he said in a statement on Friday.

Tomlinson has maintained that on the previous occasions when Montego Bay Pride staged events at the public facility, it had never needed to apply for any permits.

“The court’s decision to lift the injunction was based on a technicality. Amazingly, the municipal corporation has now argued that they never made a decision to revoke our access and that we did not apply using the ‘proper procedure’ - even though we have staged events there in the past three years using the same process,” he said.