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| Prof. Bain (HT: J'ca Observer) |
Yesterday, according to a Gleaner report, UWI terminated Dr Bain's contract as head of CHART.
As was discussed yesterday here at KF blog, professor Dr Bain was under pressure from the homosexualist lobby because he pointed out on evidence that changing the buggery law in Belize was unlikely to address root causes for the spreading of HIV/AIDS among especially male homosexuals.
Instead, in his expert testimony based on thirty years as a pioneer in dealing with the region's HIV/AIDS epidemic
-- BTW, the testimony is now hosted online by the Gleaner, here (I suggest that all interested parties download and save it immediately, before it "disappears" under pressure from the activists who will likely falsely label it hate speech and bigotry equivalent to racism . . . here is my OCRed copy ) --
. . . he counselled:
. . . a major argument that has been posited by some experts is that the current [buggery] law impedes access to HIV prevention, care and treatment services by men who have sex with other men (MSM), thus jeopardizing their health and threatening premature demise . . . . The threat of illness and premature death from HIV infection has undoubtedly generated fear for persons in the general society and particularly for persons whose sexual choices put them at greater than average risk of acquiring HIV . . . . As a physician and Public Health practitioner, one of my responsibilities is to assess behaviours for their impact on health and wellbeing . . . when something is harmful, such as smoking, overeating, alcohol or drug abuse, and unsafe sexual behavior, it is my duty to discourage it. Together with promoting individual responsibility, it is clear that enviromnents that enable individuals to make and practice safe and healthy choices must be provided at family, community and govermmental levels.
Another of my responsibilities as a Public Health practitioner is to assess the cost of behaviour, not just to the individual ‘actor’, but also to the community . . . [T]here are instances in which private behaviors result in considerable public cost due to illness, with accompanying loss of productivity and social disruption and the prospect of premature death. The public cost of these private behaviours must be acknowledged and actively reckoned with.
This report shows that the relative risk of contracting HIV is significantly higher among men who have sex with other men (MSM) in Belize than in the general population. This is also true in several other countries for which data are available, including countries that have repealed the law that criminalizes anal sex and countries where the law still applies . . . .
HIV should not be the only consideration in relation to the matter at hand. Available data from several parts of the world indicate that the relative risk of acquiring and spreading other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and cancers is unacceptably high among MSM when compared with other men and women . . . .
Factors associated with the high relative risk of STIs [=HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmissible diseases] and cancers in affected persons are interactive and include: (a) choosing a sexual partner whose sexual history is unknown; (b) being part of a sexual network, including having multiple partners and a high rate of changing partners [--> which, unfortunately, is highly typical of especially male homosexuality and is apparently reflected in how, e.g. in Jamaica it seems that 32 percent of the male homosexual community are reportedly HIV-infected and 4.6% of prostitutes]; (c) having unprotected sex; and (d) having a repertoire of sexual behaviours that includes actions that carry a significant risk either of causing physical trauma [= tearing, abrading, cutting etc] or of allowing contact with faecal material [= human solid wastes] — these behaviours include, but are not confined to, penis-anus intercourse. Therefore, even when certain behaviours are done in private, they turn out to have serious deleterious public consequences.On the strength of this and other supportive argument and evidence, he advised:
All sexually active persons [--> notice, this is across the board] must be urged to take responsibility for private and public behavior change [--> note the implication, that we do have capability to choose what we do, and how we behave as a result] as part of a comprehensive national approach that includes individuals delaying their sexual debut, reducing the number of their intimate sexual partners, getting tested for HIV and other STIs in relation to known risky exposure, learning and practising assertive skills in order to avoid coercive sex, disclosing the presence of an STI to prospective partners, using approved barrier protective devices, avoiding the use of mind-altering drugs -- especially during or in temporal proximity to intimate sexual activity, and eliminating behaviours that carry the highest risk of coming into contact with infections. Successful programmes to stem the tide of HIV infections and other sexually transmissible illnesses must be comprehensive rather than piecemeal. In this approach, public and private health and education authorities ensure that everyone in the nation has accurate information and is supported and enabled to take responsibility for the health and safety of self and others.
A comprehensive approach calls for honest collaboration rather than confrontation.Glorified common good sense, backed up by decades of experience and research, counsel and advice that should be unobjectionable to a reasonable and reasonably informed person.
One wishes that the plea in the last line had been heeded.
Instead, we see the UWI's rationale for the firing as reported by the Gleaner:
In a statement issued this afternoon, the UWI said it had become increasingly evident that Bain has lost the confidence and support of a significant sector of the community, which the CHART programme is expected to reach.
Bain's termination came after he provided a statement in a high-profile case in Belize, in which Caleb Orozco, a gay man, challenged the constitutionality of an 1861 law [--> Section 53, the buggery provision of the Belize Criminal code . . . ] that criminalises men having sex with men (MSM) [--> More specifically, Bain counselled that penis anal intercourse and oral-anal contact, among other sexual activities, are particularly dangerous behaviour in an era of HIV/AIDS and that decriminalisation of buggery, on statistical evidence does not change the painful fact that men who indulge in these behaviours are particularly prone to contract and spread HIV/AIDS, other STI's and also cancers]. . .But, that desired fairness, frankness, willingness to face unwelcome truth and willingness to respect different conscience and evidence informed views seems to be what is so plainly in doubt today, on the part of both radical homosexualist activists and too many of our region's decision makers.
So, today, across our region, the bullying, destructive nature of the homosexualist lobby and its power and intent to intimidate and attack any and all who fail to toe their partyline as it moves down the items on the homosexualist agenda, lies nakedly revealed.
The question is, will we wake up and challenge the leadership of UWI, CARICOM, and Prime Ministers who are implicated in the propagation of this partyline?
As a first step, we the concerned parents, potential students and concerned public across our region should demand of UWI's leadership an accounting of their action, and that a clear policy be put in place that protects Christians and other people of conscience from harassment and intimidation by homosexualist bullies.
The letter by the Jamaica Association of Evangelicals to Vice Chancellor Harris, is a good start-point:
Failing a reasonable and sound response to this, we should remove our children from that institution, and we should demand that governments cease from funding what is threatening to become a radical agenda driven indoctrination centre operating under false colours of being an institution of higher education.It has come to our attention that the University is planning to remove Professor Bain from his leadership position at CHART in response to demands from certain lobby groups. It is our understanding that these calls have arisen because Professor Bain submitted to the Supreme Court in Belize a document in which he stated his private professional viewpoint as it relates to HIV and its impact on men who have sex with men (MSM). We regard this demand as a case of viewpoint discrimination.
We ask that you demonstrate your unequivocal commitment to human rights, In particular freedom of speech and freedom of expression, by resisting the call for his removal and that you implement a UWI- wide policy which protects all employees and students from discrimination. Already we can tell you of cases of intimidation at Mona which have affected both students and employees because of their viewpoint on these issues . . .
If we continue to send our children to such an institution, we invite the consequences of subjecting them to years of indoctrination, intimidation and demands to toe and parrot the latest partyline.
In any case, it is clearly high time for us to develop and support a network of viable alternative institutions of higher learning in our region that will reflect our conscience based values and which -- by simply being there as an alternative -- will serve to curb the sort of excesses that have now hit our headlines.
Enough is enough.
Let us again ask: if not now, then when? If not here, then where? If not us, then who? END
