THE Association of Christian Communicators and Media (ACCM) has expressed concern about what it says is a renewed push by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) activists and others to force changes to the Jamaican Constitution as it relates to the buggery law and the prohibition of abortion.

The Christian advocacy group, which compromises media workers and owners from across the region, asserted that repeal of the buggery law and legalisation of abortion in Jamaica will undermine the family, endanger the nation’s children and attack “godliness”.

The ACCM will be hosting an information forum on Good Friday, April 7, under the theme: ‘Man + Woman = God’s Perfect Plan’.

The forum will be held at 4:00 pm at the Freedom Come Tent on the Spanish Town Bypass in St Catherine. The event will also be aired on MTM TV and streamed on online platforms.

According to ACCM First Vice-President Reverend Basil Hanson, it is now common for people who renounce or oppose the LGBTQI lifestyle to face backlash or be blacklisted.

He argued that the Christian community should remain resolute in its stance that homosexuality is an abnormal behaviour.

“God made man and woman, male and female, and that is what we are promoting and we stand by that,” said Hanson as he noted that there has been a growing acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle globally.

Jamaica is one of six countries in the Americas and the Caribbean which have not legitimised same-sex sexual activities and according to ACCM, the country has been coming under immense pressure from gay rights activists to repeal the buggery law, despite several polls indicating that Jamaicans are not in support of such a move.

The overwhelming majority of Jamaicans polled by Bill Johnson in the two latest polls commissioned by the Jamaica Observer said that the law making sex between two men punishable should not be changed.

Strong support for the buggery law emerged from the polls conducted March 12-15, 2020 and July 9-12, 2020 by the veteran pollster among 1,200 voting-age Jamaicans across the country.

The polls had a sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 per cent. The March poll was not published due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the island.

Section 76 of Jamaica’s Offences Against the Person Act makes buggery punishable across the board, with a penalty of imprisonment for up to 10 years, with hard labour.

When the pollsters asked Jamaicans to state whether the law should be changed or not, 93 per cent of respondents in both polls said no.

Support for amendments to the law totalled a mere three per cent in the March poll and five per cent in the July survey.

Against that background, the ACCM said, “We will not relent from our principled position that our children will not be coerced into accepting these practices as normal. Our very vulnerable education system is a prime target for this anti-God lifestyle. We are firm in our resolve that this must be resisted by the Christian Church through the power of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.”

Hanson believes the church community should be more vocal in asserting its stance, which is based on the Word of God. He is also concerned that more people of affluence and influence are adopting the secular view that an individual’s gender can be neutral.

“We have to save our children, because if we allow this to begin to permeate in the schools, we are in big trouble. We would have failed the next generation,” he stated.

He called on religious leaders to make their voices heard outside of the four walls of the church halls as the family comes under attack.

“Most people will not say anything, even though they do not agree with it, but the truth is, if you do not say anything, you are quietly supporting it, even though you are not,” said Hanson.

According to the ACCM, the forum is intended to provide vital information about the advance of the LGBTQI agenda and the efforts of foreign governments and international organisations to influence the policies of the Government of Jamaica. The organisation will also celebrate the family as the divinely created order established by the Creator.

The forum will also address the issue of abortion, which remains illegal in Jamaica except in some cases of medical emergency.

According to Section 72 of the Offences Against the Person Act, anyone found guilty of having or facilitating an abortion could be arrested. However, there have been calls in recent times for the abortion laws to be relaxed.

The ACCM is calling on the Christian churches to be united and stand together for righteousness and the ultimate prosperity of the Jamaican people and the nation.