Religious political party potentially ‘problematic’

While the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) is open to dialogue with recently formed religious parties, the human rights organisation believes that it would be “problematic” for a religious party to evenly represent the interests of all Guyanese.

At least two religious-based parties – the People’s Republic Party (PRP) and the Kingdom Liberal Movement (KLM) – have been formed recently hoping to contest the March 2020 elections with key support from their church members. On Wednesday, the KLM met with SASOD with the intention of demonstrating the inclusiveness of the movement and its openness to meet with people and groups who possess different beliefs and culture.

KLM described the engagement as meaningful, noting that it affirmed its belief that God has designed sex to be solely between male and female and the party is deeply concerned about the hearts and souls of those who identify themselves as LGBTQ. “We continue to stress that KLM is a people movement and people, irrespective of race, colour, class, identity, or whatever persuasion or belief are a priority to the God we serve,” the party stated.

“We believe that it’s the work of any civilised government to govern in a fair way for all its citizens and therefore should be considerate and open to meeting people’s basic human rights. When it comes to extra-rights that’s something different.”
Founder and Managing-Director of SASOD, Joel Simpson, on Friday confirmed that the meeting was fruitful and one which his organisation is willing to see continue. However, he said that several issues with regard to human rights and inclusivity can arise from a case whereby a religious party enters government.

“What we made clear to them is that Guyana is a secular democracy and that the presentation of any political party as religious and the representation of a particular religious faith is problematic, because we are not a theocracy. We are a diverse society made up [of] multiple religions and also people who don’t hold any religious affiliation,” Simpson reasoned.

The KLM had told this newspaper previously that while its logo depicts a golden crown, synonymous with the Christian religion, it is open to members from the Muslim, Hindu and Rastafarian communities. “Even though I said it’s made up of mainly pastors, this is just at the forefront. In no way we want to characterise our brand, the movement, as a party who endeavours to Christianise Guyana,” KLM Campaign Strategist Apostle Y Abernaty Jeune had said.

Simpson stated that while the KLM claimed that it could provide secular representation in parliament, it is still unclear to SASOD how this would work out, being that party’s values are unlikely to change and remains highly religiously motivated.

He said that the deliberations they shared saw SASOD stressing that political parties should push for ethical values instead of Christian, Muslim or Hindu values as being ethical; and having integrity is not limited to those who associate themselves with a religion.

“We felt that the fact that we’re having this dialogue – it was first time that we are meeting – that we should continue the dialogue particularly after the March 2 elections,” he said.
KLM stated that through the dialogue it understood that, unlike the common belief that SASOD’s agenda is to have same-sex marriages legalised, this is a separate issue to the body.

“We’re interested in the decriminalisation of same-sex intimacy which is currently criminalised under the Criminal Law (Offences) Act,” Simpson confirmed. He explained that its focus is more on protecting persons from discrimination. Additionally, the KLM told this newspaper that the Guyana National Service (GNS), another party contesting the 2020 elections, has signalled its interest in a coalition with the KLM through its presidential candidate, Oral Semple.

The KLM said: “KLM has accepted Mr Semple and GNS and we are in the process of further engagement and discussions.”