Board chairman of Moneague College in St Ann, Leon Gordon, has joined the debate on homosexuality, hitting out Sunday against what he terms the 'alien culture' of homosexuality.

He said Jamaicans should fight attempts at making homosexuality commonplace here. Gordon said the situation demands persons of high moral standing and persons who still respect the law to say no to the emergence of the culture.

"It is fashionable in some countries to have same sex marriage (relationships) and we have some persons who have become very vocal in Jamaica who are sneaking through the back door to have certain things that we abhor in this country.

You are going to have to account to the children in your classroom for these things that they hear," said Gordon, speaking to the college's 2003/04 batch of graduates.

"I'm calling upon all well thinking Jamaicans that this alien culture must not creep into Jamaica," he said to much applause.

The debate on homosexuality has raged in Jamaica for years but took added significance a week ago when the New York- based Human Rights Watch stirred up a hornet's by suggesting, among other things, that Jamaica repeal its laws against buggery and offer constitutional protection for gays.

In a report titled 'Hated to Death: Homophobia, Violence and Jamaica's HIV/AIDS Epidemic' the group also claimed that the police often instigate the abuse of suspected gays and further suggested that Jamaica's anti-gay stance has significantly affected its ability to launch an effective campaign against the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The group estimates that 1.5 per cent of the population, or 22,000 persons in Jamaica are affected by the virus.
But the group's report has angered several local interests.

Gordon told the graduating batch that they were leaving school at a time when Jamaica was in much turmoil, and unapologetically urged them to stand against homosexuality.

"I'm not going to be naïve to think that it doesn't happen but where it belongs is in the closet, not on the platform, and I feel very emotional about it and I feel very strongly about it, and you the graduates of Moneague have to stand for something," he said. Gordon charged that Jamaica was a country with too much free speech.

Said he: "Anybody who has anything to say anywhere, they come here and they say it."

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