At the last sitting of the House of Representatives (HofR), on November 12, 2024, the Minister of Human Development, Families and Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Honorable Dolores Balderamos Garcia, interrupted her presentation on the amendment of the Marriage Act (which increases the legal age for marriage between a male and a female to 18 years) to opine on the Equal Opportunities Bill (EOB), a matter which is of great interest to people living with disabilities, and probably even greater interest to people in the LGBT community. Minister Balderamos Garcia said that, speaking for herself only, emphatically not for the government, she wanted it on the record that she believed “that it is time that our country pass the equal opportunities legislation.” Sections of the EOB that pertain to disabilities have wide support, but it’s not smooth sailing for some of the sections that promote LGBT rights.

The EOB actually has bipartisan support. On September 15, 2020, a couple months prior to the November 2020 General Election, the UDP Cabinet announced, with deep regret, that it would not be proceeding with the EOB, whose intent it said was to “promote equal opportunities and to address discrimination, stigma and violence … promote the core Belizean values of fairness, respect, and justice.” That release said the government never intended to pass the EOB without it being properly ventilated, and that the government saw very good elements in it. Fast forward to November 12, 2024, and we have Minister Dolores declaring her support for the Bill, but not getting encouragement from her party to table it.

There is a story behind the hesitation, which is that there is strong resistance to the Bill from a force outside the HofR that is running full throttle to block it. This force, which comprises mostly Belizeans with a religious leaning, fears that the EOB would open a path for aggressive LGBT citizens in professions where they could influence the vulnerable young; and that it would open the door to same-sex marriage, gays adopting children, and gay extroverts “flexing” on the landscape.

In 2016, the Supreme Court knocked down Section 53 of the Criminal Code of Belize, which outlawed sexual activities between individuals of the same gender. The Evangelical section of the Christian community stood firm in defense of Section 53; while the leading Christian group in the country, the Catholics, although being an “interested party” in the defense of Section 53 when the case went to court, wasn’t extremely vocal in its opposition, and after filing an appeal of the court’s decision, it withdrew it in 2018. Leaders of the Methodist and Anglican congregations weren’t displeased with the court’s decision.

The ink on the ruling hadn’t dried before one of the lawyers for the group that challenged the constitutionality of Section 53, Ms. Lisa Shoman, called on the lead advocate of the LGBT community, Caleb Orozco, to go for the whole yard—lobby for more.

Same-sex marriage is the ultimate prize of the LGBT, and it is a tide that has swept through Europe, and many countries in our region. In South America same-sex marriage is legal in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, French Guiana, and the Falklands. All the countries in North America—Canada, USA, and Mexico—have legalized it. In the Caribbean, same sex unions are legal in Cuba, and in islands that are affiliates of the USA, the Netherlands, and France. In Central America, same sex marriage has been legal in Costa Rica since 2020, and Panama flirted with it until its Supreme Court decided against it in 2023.

If the LGBT community was accorded rights that naturally accrue to others, it would be good for business in the tourism industry. The majority of visitors to Belize come from countries where gays have full rights to express their lifestyle, and inviting gay cruises to come to Belize, as former tourism minister Henry Young did some years ago, would increase the market for our product. But tourism will have to wait; there is only one loud “aye” for the EOB in the House. If the government decided to push ahead, the backlash from religious groups could be severe, as severe as it was when the first (and last) gay ship came, and that could lead to boycotts and other confusion in the industry.

Before gay and women’s rights became a “fashion”, Belize was way ahead of the rest of the world. The Father of the Nation, George Price, was a celibate who did not discriminate in his friendships or the people he worked with. Price elevated women, both the educated and the uneducated, to positions of leadership; and in his circle there were gentlemen, macho men, and non-shrinking gays. In Mexico, where gay marriage is legal, their football fans are notorious for chanting gay slurs at big matches. In Belize, homosexual slurs have never featured at high-profile events.

The resistance to the EOB is greater than what was mounted to defend Section 53. The Catholic Church, which meekly went to court to respond to the challenge to Section 53, sponsors a weekly column in the Reporter in which it expresses the dangers it sees in the Bill, specifically in respect to the forwarding of the LGBT agenda.

The Evangelical community has suggested that the EOB be put to a referendum. Recently, the anti-marijuana lobby was able to muster the 20,000 or so votes needed to trigger a referendum on a law the House had endorsed. The government put a hold on the law, citing the cost of holding a referendum. Attaching the EOB to the general election wouldn’t cost the public purse more than the price of the ballots and the counting. Surely, supporters of the EOB can find the votes to get it on the ballot. But the LGBT lobby behind the Bill isn’t eager to try that route.

Based on the way countries are toppling before the gay agenda, it seems inevitable that our day of reckoning, our day to join the parade, is just over the horizon. This generation says, dehn noh ready fu dis.

Next door, in Guatemala, their present president, Bernardo Arévalo, and his left-leaning party, Semilla, are not antipathetic to the LGBT. But Arévalo’s party holds a miniscule 12% of the seats in their Congress, which is dominated by right wing parties. UNE, the party of Ms. Sandra Torres, whom Arévalo defeated at the polls by a 20% margin, actually holds more seats in Congress. During the presidential race in Guatemala, Torres, while declaring that she wasn’t homophobic, was firmly against gay marriage.

With thousands of Central Americans in the economic powerhouse USA illegally, political leaders in Central America are nervous about the recent victory of the presidential candidate of the Republican Party, Donald Trump, because of his threat of mass deportation of individuals who don’t have their papers. But the Trump victory is a small mercy for legislators everywhere who don’t favor the LGBT agenda, or find themselves, like some of our legislators here, with Bills like the EOB which are difficult to handle. With the Republicans at the helm, come 2025 no pressure is expected on any country to forward the LGBT agenda.

Those in the trenches fighting what they see as an “invasive” EOB are breathing a lot easier since the election in the USA. They didn’t think it farfetched that had the candidate of the Democratic Party, Kamala Harris, been victorious, pressure would have been brought on Belize’s legislators to pass the Bill. Understandably, this group is euphoric at the thought of slowing, or turning back, the pride tide. As for Minister Dolores, her “aye” might stand alone for a while yet.