Church protests against Mobay Pride
MONTEGO BAY, St James – Members of the Tarrant Baptist Church in Kingston yesterday demonstrated in the historic Sam Sharpe Square in Montego Bay, in support of the city’s Mayor Homer Davis and the St James Municipal Corporation who have refused to rent the Montego Bay Cultural Centre to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) group, Montego Bay Pride, for meetings.
On Monday, the Supreme Court granted Montego Bay Pride an interim order that allows the organisation to rent the facility.
Yesterday, assistant pastor at the Tarrant Baptist Church Margery Moncrieffe, who was among the placard-bearing protesters, told the Jamaica Observer that the outreach movement of the church came into Montego Bay to show support to the mayor and all Christians in the area.
“We have come today (yesterday) to stand with the mayor, to stand in support of all Christians in this community, to say no to unrighteousness and yes to righteousness. We are saying no to the gay agenda; while we do not hate the persons, the lifestyle is not of God and so we stand on the word of God. We stand with God our Father and we say, righteousness shall exalt Montego Bay, but sin shall be a reproach in Montego Bay,” said Moncrieffe.
“... I am just praying that the constitution of this nation will be upheld and that there be no changes to the constitution [to allow gay marriage],” said the churchman.
“And, I think that all good citizens, when we make decisions, we should not only think on a personal level, but we should think about generations to come,” she added.
Founder of Montego Bay Pride, Maurice Tomlinson, who was in the vicinity of the cultural centre during the protest, told the media that he was “asking for a balance as some people were using the matter as a political football to win votes”.
He took a swipe at the church, pointing out that “there are issues that they can’t control”.
“There is the issue of crime. There is the issue of corruption. There is the issue of children being raped. Those issues are too hard for them to control, but they go after gays because we are easy,” he argued.