Dear Editor,

“Fear not,” Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith says – about to sign the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP)-European Union (EU) agreement. But should we be concerned about it?

To put it frankly, this partnership agreement is a global poison pill for truth and family aimed at forcing destructive European ideas around sex, abortion, and gender identity into the schools and legal structures of 79 African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries under threat of economic sanctions.

Legally binding for 20 years, this agreement would hold Jamaica to poorly defined human rights principles, placing us culturally and ideologically under the rule of the EU. It is, therefore, most appropriate for a sovereign nation like ours, which holds its culture and values in high esteem, to delay the signing of this dangerous partnership agreement indefinitely.

In September 2022, concerning the ACP-EU agreement, the minister without portfolio with responsibility for information Robert Morgan said, “Jamaica is not going to be party to anything that will influence our children in any such way.” Fast-forward to November 10, 2023, Minister Johnson Smith noted that “we are satisfied that the final agreement reflects language that does not supersede Jamaica’s domestic legislation” before stating that the Government will not sign the agreement on November 15.

That delay was encouraging to those of us who are concerned about the imposition of anti-family and anti-God ideas on things like the school curricula of our children. In this regard the Government was wise to listen to these concerns, which are representative of the concerns of over 80 per cent of Jamaicans who wish to retain the law against buggery and the 66 per cent who wish to retain the law against abortion.

No poll has been done on whether same-sex marriage should be taught as being normal in schools, but the result of that hypothetical poll seems obvious. But there is nothing to fear the minister says. Is that so?

It is no surprise that some people in Jamaica want the Government to sign the ACP-EU agreement. So when a group comprising a flurry of gender activists, pro-abortion individuals, and pro-LGBT organisations came out pushing for the Government to sign the document, it was no shock. Their position, though, was quite interesting. These LGBT, transgender, and abortion activists all came together with urgency to state in the most emphatic terms possible that the Government should sign the ACP-EU agreement as it would not promote homosexuality, transgenderism, or abortion. What a strange and illogical position to hold.

The reality is that the dramatic interest of all the premiere pro-LGBT and pro-abortion individuals and organisations working frantically, shouting as loudly as possible, advocating as fervently as they can to get the Government to sign the agreement means that this document is guaranteed, 100 per cent, to advance the pro-abortion and pro-LGBT position in Jamaica; otherwise, why would they care?

To paint the picture clearly, what we have now is eight Christian non-governmental organisations, which, for over two years, have been sounding an alarm that the ACP-EU partnership is dangerous to our children, family structure, and sovereignty, representing the vast majority of Jamaicans who want our laws to remain as is. On the other hand, we have 15 pro-LGBT organisations and 21 pro-LGBT individuals who have been lobbying for the last two weeks, representing a minority of Jamaicans who want our laws to change to turn Jamaica into a homosexual and abortion paradise. And in the middle we have the Government of Jamaica who can no longer say the ACP-EU agreement will have no effect on our laws and the future of our children, because why else would the Christian groups and the LGBT groups be at odds about it?

It now remains for the people to hold them accountable, and with a fervency equal to the weight of 61 years of Jamaican laws, values, and culture which hang in the balance.

If the Government signs it as is, they are a pro-LGBT Government and should be treated as such. If they refuse to sign or enter a reservation protecting our laws and sovereignty from European influence, then they are a pro-family Government and should be treated as such.

Dr Daniel Thomas

President

Love March Movement