7 News Belize

A Protest For Professor Bain
posted (May 23, 2014)
Jamaican Professor Brendon Bain is probably the very first CARICOM national to be the subject of virtually simultaneous protests in Belize and Jamaica. That's because the University of the West Indies Professor - who also headed the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training Initiative was sacked for his deposition in the UNIBAM Case in Belize. He provided expert testimony to say that men who have sex with men have a higher rate of HIV Transmission. That stirred outrage from pro-gay - and HIV awareness organizations throughout the Caribbean. 32 of them protested to UWI that he had to go - and go he did. Now, his supporters, and others are saying it is unfair - and today in Belize City, that meant a protest, with potent visual imagery. Daniel Ortiz was there:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
Today's protesters held up signs and plaques which had conspicuous phrases like "Look who's discriminating now?", and "Bullying is Terrible! Unless the LGBT Does It!", but probably the most provocative display in support of Professor Brendon Bain, was the taping of each protester's mouth with the slogan for the demonstration, "Freedom under Attack". It's a powerful message meant to depict that Professor Bain was supposedly punished for his "anti-gay" remarks, but local Gay Right's activist, Caleb Orozco of UNIBAM, mockingly took that power away by wearing the metaphorical muzzle himself.

Pastor Scott Stirm - Belize Action
"There is definitely a silencing of free speech and I mean we saw that with Doctor Bain. He spoke from a professional opinion based upon statistical information and 30 years of experience and was canned from UWI."

Caleb Orozco - Executive Director, UNIBAM
"My opponents have every right to create their own facts. My opponents have every right to throw temper tantrum for the public to see. I have no other response to that."

Pastor Scott Stirm - Belize Action
"The main thing that we felt is we didn't want for this week to leave without us sending a loud statement of: 1) support for Doctor Bain and 2) to decry the bigger picture of what this means because even if the Prime Minister said the culture wars have come to Belize and this is it, this is the beginnings of what these guys are wanting to do."

Caleb Orozco
"For Professor Bain to submit a document on behalf of the churches which believes in not decriminalizing the law, it goes against the grain of public health policy. It also suggests or in this case, it is the basis of why civil society which has traditional worked with CHART has lost confidence in the effectiveness of his leadership."

Reporter
"This protest or this display doesn't have any casual effects when it comes to the case with Professor Bain because he has been fired."

Pastor Scott Stirm
"I understand. There is nothing we can do about that. He has grounds for a lawsuit to pursue, I am not sure of he is going to do that or not, but nevertheless we need to send a loud statement that no way we are not going to stand for this kind of stuff. This is bullying, its victimization."

Caleb Orozco
"There is no issue with Professor Bain information regarding that there are high rates of men who have sex with men population. Th issue is he undermine his own position by submitting a document in a court case which goes against the grain of his majority of his colleague work with HIV. Is he inadequately framed the information he presented? More precisely the message was clear when he chose to submit a document to report on behalf of the churches that supported the reinforcement of barriers to a public health policy issue which many of his colleagues do not agree with."

Reporter
"Have you gotten in contact with Professor Bain himself? Does he know that this is happening in his name?"

Pastor Scott Stirm
"I believe that he does. We've been touching base on a number of the different ones that have been a part of the legal team have kept him up to date. He is very grateful and we want to say to Doctor Bain and to everybody that's out here, we want to say to Doctor Bain that we love you, we support you, you are a man of truth., you spoke the truth and you have pay a heavy price for that but we are standing with you. We are not going to sit back and allow these things to happen."

An important issue surrounding Professor Bain's termination is that of the 33 Advocacy organizations which pressed UWI to remove him, only 6 of them are Gay Rights Entities, the others are vulnerability outreach entities who work in the field of HIV and its effects in different populations.

Daniel Ortiz
"So it's a bit unfair to say that a gay rights push was what caused Mr. Bain to be removed from his post. The figures are 6 of the 33 or 32."

Pastor Scott Stirm
"I think the media reported that there were 32 other gay organizations. Regardless, we are seeing this happening all over the world. Anybody that speaks out anything against what the LGBT stand for, just like what happen to Audrey Matura who is out there standing on the side of the road together with us right now. She didn't even say anything derogatory towards and boom, the mobilization to get this person canned, so it victimization, its bullying and one of our signs that's out here today is bullying is terrible except when it's done by the LGBT."

Reporter
"Does this bring back memories the Professor Bain case, does it bring back memories to you?"

Audrey Matura Shepherd - Demonstration Participant
"It does because what it says and I said it then that those people are vindictive and spiteful, but when I say those people have to make it very clear that by do not want people to make the error of lumping everybody who claims to be LGBT together because it is only a few extremist who are doing these extreme things."

And Matura-Shepherd says that singling out Professor Bain for whatever agenda is equivalent to witness tampering, because he was a expert witness in a Supreme Court case.

Audrey Matura Shepherd
"I want people to know that what happened to Professor Bain too is a direct form of witness intimidation and in the courts of law that's not allowed. The same way they say that the criminal come and target the guys so that they don't come and speak about any murder they saw, this is what UNIBAM and the whole 36 of them and all the entities funded by US agencies have done. You have pick out a witness who is an expert and you've decided you will attack and you will go at everything against him."

Caleb Orozco
"Again my opponents have every right to create their own facts and that's their job to propagandize issue and misinformed the public. Lying is part of my opponents' history, it will continue and I have much respect for their consistent lying to the public. Going to back to your inquiry, they can say whatever they want. At the end of the day it was public held policy issue responding to an issue around HIV, not what he said in the court."

Jason Patrick Andrews - Demonstration Participant
"I am here today to stand in solidarity with Doctor Bain. I believe that we have a doctor who have put forth scientific data and evidence on behalf of the court case as it relates to UNIBAM and section 53 and I believe that it was clearly unjust for any man regardless of their political affiliation, regardless of their ideologies'. When scientific data is being presented, I do not see any basis or reason for a man to be victimize by the UNIBAM organization here in this country and I believe that if I don't take a stand now I might be next and so might as well I stand up now."

Caleb Orozco
"I believe my opponents have had two and a half years of speaking crap, not only about me but to the general public about my community and I don't believe we've issued any lawsuit against them for liable positions, for misinformation , for outright lies to the public. I have every excuse more than everybody else to lay liable suits against quite a few places including a couple newspapers. One, I believe was labeled me once "Caleb the traitor" which I did not find funny at all. But In the spirit of the date and constructive dialogue I personally have let those issues slide because we have to establish at some point a mature understanding of what the issues are."

Bain's termination came a few days after the Jamaican press started reporting on the matter, and so, the toughest critics in that country have suggested that the administration of the University was "Spineless" for caving to the outrage of the gay lobby outrage which was pushing for Bain's removal.

But according to the Vice-Chancellor of the University, that's not how it really went. He granted an interview to our colleague at Nationwide News in Jamaica, and explained that there were months of consultation before Bain was terminated as the head of the CHART initiative.

Professor E. Nigel Harris, Vice-Chancellor - UWI "This matter as you know has generated considerable controversy and of course the popular belief - not popular, but there are those who are saying that we are spineless or basically taking the view that we simply gave him to the demands of the gay community, but in truth we came to this position after several months of discussion with many groups."

Vice Chancellor Harris said in that interview that it was a very difficult decision to terminate Bain.

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