American Religious Right & Criminalization of Homosexuality in Belize
A report called “Dangerous Liaisons: The American Religious Right and the Criminalization of Homosexuality in Belize” was released today via teleconference to the local media. According to the report, “religious-right groups that have spent years demonizing LGBT people are focusing their attention – and propaganda – on a legal battle over the criminalization of LGBT sex in Belize, the outcome of which could affect criminal statutes in as many as a dozen other Caribbean countries.” The report commissioned by the Southern Poverty Law Center discusses the case of Caleb Orozco and the decriminalizing of section fifty-three of the Criminal Code. It also discusses the involvement of U.S. Christian Rights Groups in providing legal support for cases in Belize and the Caribbean. News Five spoke with Director of the Intelligence Project, Heidi Beirich, who says that the report is highly critical of the involvement of religious groups outside the U.S. where there are tests to keep the criminalization of gay sex in the books.
Via Phone: Heidi Beirich, Director, Intelligence Project, Southern Poverty Law Center
Heidi Beirich
“The report of course goes into depths about section fifty-three case in Belize. It talks about the connections between local Belizean folks like Scott Stirm, by way of Texas, but he runs Belize Action, and American Evangelical Groups who are trying to keep section fifty-three on the books, keep it legal. It also talks about these American groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom, who have become involved in Belize have been injecting extreme anti-gay hatred and propaganda into your country. So they have been passing on defamatory material that they’ve used for years in the United States like alleging gay people molest at higher rates or they want to steal your children—really crazy stuff. They have been taking that and introducing that into the Belizean society and from our position that is just injecting American-born hate into other countries and completely unacceptable. That is also documented. We also have an interview with Caleb Orozco in the report. The Alliance Defending Freedom is a major legal outfit for the Christian right in the United States…they have over a thirty million dollar year budget and they have wears in many, many countries, part of the European Union and other areas; in fact, one of their lawyers is on the fundamental rights board for the E.U. And usually what they do is that they function under the guise of saying that they are doing work to protect families or for religious freedom and for human rights. But clearly by providing legal advice which is what Belize Action says the A.D.F. has done in Belize, for cases that is going to throw people in jail for private sexual acts, is not promoting human rights. So at the same time that they may be doing some work on religious freedom, they are also doing this really ugly work in which they are supporting the most extreme anti-gay measures imaginable.”
These religious crazies from the US are looking for a new home.
Things are working out for them so good in the US.
Belize is perfect: the government is corrupt and the people are uneducated.
Hezbollah, fascist Christians, and murderers; not much different.
We must welcome our new citizens coming to rule us.
We can’t think, just do as we are told, so we can be rich and cheat the other guy.
Keep your sin to yourself and stop trying to push it on other people in other words mind your own damm business .
SHUT UP!!!! Get out!! GET OUT!! Get out of our country, you FOREIGN UNCLEAN ANIMAL!!! JUST LEAVE!!! You are the ones injecting Satans venom into our society, THE U.S. OF A!!! You are doing the ugly work. When has there been victimization of gays in BELIZE..? NEVER! Now, you are creating a problem..You make a problem from scratch, thats what it is. There was NO PROBLEM before this crap came up. The gays have been, are doing, and will be doing the garbage they wanna do, with or without de-criminalization! What are you screaming about? Immoral stuck up, selfish, AMERICANS, FULL OF GREED, SPITE, DISDAIN, CONTEMPT, And worse of all, STICK-YOUR-NOSE-IN-OTHER-PEOPLES-BUSINESS- lifestyle!!
Everybody is saying the other one is the real devil, lol!!!
Also, each party is saying that the other side is being funded with ‘billions’ of dollars from an outside groups and that my side is local genuine free and has no outside funding.
So UNIBAM gets Lord Peter Goldsmith, the International Commission of Jurists, the Commonwealth Lawywers Association, Chris Hamel-Smith, the Human Dignity Trust, the US Embassy, UK, EU, UN, all to help them legitimize their perversion with their anus, and that’s not a conspiracy? And not the pushing of foreign values into Belize? And two attorneys from ADF & CFAM come to help with legal strategy, as people who believe in traditional family values, faithfulness, raising our children and concern about our nation’s children, and they want to call that a scandal? Red herring, red herring, red herring
The Southern Poverty Law center is an extreme Left Wing group who likes to demonize their opposition. The truth is that it is actually the American Left who has targeted Belize. The right doesn’t even know this conflict is going on.
Why does the opposition call opposition to homosexuality (and trangenderism) hatred. I hold no hatred towards homosexuals,. I just have pity.
They are the ones who have acted with hatred towards those who have opposed them injecting their lifestyles into the larger society in my country.
@ Stand Up…that is precisely the point…that Belize Action claims they are solely ‘standing’ on local support and pursuing what THEY believe to be true; but the truth is Belize Action’s work is FOREIGN-funded and foreign-based too!!! You guise your bigotry and fascism as attempting to uphold ‘traditional family values’, but that tradition has been riddled with adultery, infidelity, abuse, domestic violence, neglect…. you are standing up for hypocrisy and misguided beliefs. The fact is, all of us have gays in our families, social networks, and they deserve respect and dignity like everyone else. Your duplicity is the true danger to Belize.
Live and let live. there are bigger problems in belize that are REALLY affecting our society and children with and i do not see the church involved. Gays will liive their lives and have their rights and believe me nothing will happen but coexist in peace. There are already a lot of powerful gays in all walks of our society doing very welll economically and helpiing build this country.. My Sisiter is one of them. Our children of tomorroww arre more tolerant to what lies in the futuree and this gay issue is one of them. Its us the old people that have the problema and refuse to change and the world changes. and in the end nothing willl happen like the endd of beelize like crazy scott stirm would like you to think.
go crawl back under rock where you came from..don’t forget that you guys introduce us to coke crack and met..
have been injecting extreme anti-gay hatred and propaganda into your country. So they have been passing on defamatory material that they’ve used for years in the United States like alleging gay people molest at higher rates or they want to steal your children!
Beirich, you know you are the first person bringing up this kind of thought into this country, in an effort to bring credibility to what you are saying. How sick is your mind? We do not condone or
want hate in this country. Don’t spew this kind of thought, just because you want to appear to be a real good person. It’s sick joke!
( for cases that is going to throw people in jail for private sexual acts, is not promoting human rights. So at the same time that they may be doing some work on religious freedom, they are also doing this really ugly work)
Heidi You are a wicked, wicked, wicked person for making a statement like this! Lies do not sit well with us! You are devious. In an effort to win our sympathy, you have turned us off completely by insulting us, and perpetuating lies beyond belief. How far will you stoop, in an effort to convince us of this deep rooted hatred you are carrying around in your heart. Mr. Scott have been doing good things for the people of Belize for more than thirty, and the only one who have seen or know anything about this invisible anti-gay hatred and propaganda is Heidi, cause Scott can’t bring that here. Belize is too small, everyone know everyone! You are dangerous Heidi!
The religious nut case- more so the foreign nut case who come here under the guise of doing god’s work are to be expelled immediately. They want to recolonized us once again with their Truly foreign agenda. Let god be the judge don’t push things down our throat and tell us he have a mandate from the most high. America needs u more than we do. Go and save Waco .
If america wants to fight the right of all B@%$^man in Belize, then take all your queer folks and ship them to the US, we don’t need them here. Take them to your paradise..