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Daniel Ortiz reporting
This morning at 9, the Christian activists gathered near Berger Field on Vernon Street, to prepare themselves for quite a long trek through the city on a hot Tuesday morning.

A head count we did put their numbers at around 350 participants who showed up, a decent turnout given that it was a Tuesday.

15 minutes later they moved off traveling through Vernon Street, Central American Boulevard, around the Belcan Roundabout, then unto Freetown Road. The group then moved unto Mapp Street, then North Front Street, over the Bel China Bridge, back unto Vernon Street, then into Johnson Street. From there, they moved all along Cemetery Road, Orange Street, Albert Street, Regent Street, over the Swing Bridge, back on North Front Street, where they finally ended at Memorial Park.

The Council of Churches has distanced itself from the Constitutional Marches, but at the rally in the park today, Catholic Bishop Dorick Wright, who is also a member of the Council, blessed the proceedings.

Bishop Dorick Wright - Catholic Diocese of Bze City - Bmp
"So we ask Lord to form the minds and the hearts of the our leaders so that they will change their minds even though it's been said that nothing on this earth will change their minds. Lord, we know that You can do it and we ask You to change their minds."

The President of the Belize Association of Evangelical Churches told us that this is a clear sign that they share similar thoughts on this issue.

Pastor Eugene Crawford - President, Belize Assoc. Of Evangelical Churches
"As you see, people would say 'is the church divided' the church is not divided, there are also members of the counsel of churches that are out here, I would say that maybe there's not a full understanding throughout the entire counsel, but by and by we are not divided. My presence here really is very profound, because it shows a support to unity with the Aliansa, the spanish arm of Evengelical churches which are a part of the association. It's a march, that is saying, 'we are tired of the viscous attack against our constitution that has been happening for the past two or three years right now.' We've been on the defensive, fighting case after case, you know the UNIBAM case is in court, against the abortion act, it has been happening in a very fast pace. We know that there will not be a total withdrawal of the Gender Policy, but the PM has opened the door for dialogue and we are preparing a document right now to take back to him. It wouldn't be different documents, it will be a document that will be vetted, it will be discussed by both associations and then one presentation, we're hopeful that one presentation be made."

There have been several criticisms of the constitutional marches, the first being that the Gender Policy and the LGBT Agenda which continues to be lumped together with it is too small an issue when compared to the other social ills of the Belizean society. The second is that even though the leaders of the marches have repeatedly condemned signals of hate and discrimination in their marches, there are still trace elements of it. The leaders of the church who participated responded to those criticisms.

Pastor Eugene Crawford
"I think we've been very silent, the church has been working all the time, and the other social ills are being addressed, it hasn't been a upfront case as this one is but it's not to say that we are not doing anything. We have been working. The church gets out there and be blowing a trumpet all the time they do something is not the correct way to go but yes I would agree, I would concede to the fact that the church needs to be more visible and I think that the sleeping giant has awaken. You'll be seeing that and hearing a lot from the church after this"

Reporter
"Now there are some people who have pointed out to hints of hate and homophobia in some of these marches, some of these demonstrations, in fact, in PG there was an effigy labeled UNIBAM hung on a noose."

Pastor Eugene Crawford
"That was never the intention of this group, but you realizing, dealing with a mass amount of people, and especially when they were not so well informed. There are some that may still tell you that it is a protest, which it is not, it's just to get the proper understanding and the philosophies of what is behind all of this."

Pastor Scott Stirm - Jubilee Ministries/Belize Action
"I would say for the church, if we've been quiet on those issues, we are quietly working because, I agree with something I heard Keneth Flowers say one time, when Ernesto Vasquez was trying to throw rocks at the church and Keneth Flowers brakes him right there and said 'Ernesto, stop, stop, stop" he said 'if everyone was doing what we are supposed to be doing, what we are teaching in the church, what would our nation be like' and so I would have to say that if we're quiet on some of those issues and I've said this before, 'if the murderer were organizing to change our murder laws, if adulterers were organizing to change those laws, if pedophiles were organizing to change those laws, you would see us on those issues as well, and so there is a very insidious intent to change laws and even to change the constitution so this is preemptive to say no way."

But whatever the public sentiment is, the leaders of different groups who made an appearance today say that the people must be allowed to speak their minds.

Pastor Eugene Crawford
"People need to exercise their democratic right, they have been very silent for a long time. They have representation, they come under the association because they are actually Evangelical churches but now they have rose up and say, listen, we are a part of this, we need to have a voice, we want to see these things curbed."

Geovanni Brackett - President, COLA
"I have friends who are gay, who are lesbians, we don't hate people and we don't hate them, we hate the action, we don't like the action but at the same day, I would never see a person who's a homosexual on the street and leave them for dying, you understand?, but this here represents one thing, it's about democracy, people have the right to advocate and we must allow them to advocate."

With all the media coverage that the members of the Evangelical Association of Churches have received so far, the Women's Issues Network releaseD a statement this evening. It says categorically that they contacted their member organizations who all reached a consensus of full acceptance of the Revised Gender Policy.