BELIZE CITY, Mon. June 13, 2016–“I know people will hate me for this, but I believe the killing of 50 last night in Florida is justified,” Raynard Humphreys, a pharmacist at Buttonwood Bay Medical Center, said on his Facebook page Sunday—sparking a social media backlash as well as termination from his job at the Buttonwood Bay Medical Center in Belize City today.
The international news has been dominated by reports of this weekend’s mass murder at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando, Florida, although there are questions over how many, if any, of those persons were killed by what has been termed “friendly fire” from police who engaged in crossfire with the Islamic extremist shooter, identified as Omar Mateen. The reports say that according to Mateen’s father, he had become angry some months ago after seeing two gay men openly kissing and touching each other in front of his family.
Humphreys further wrote, “Seeing two men kissing irritate the s*it outa me too. The only thing that keeps me from acting out is the fact of punishment our society would give me if I acted upon it.”
“I’m proud a moral psychopath (if that exists) [speaking of Mateen] took the first stand to act out against the REAL evil that’s plaguing our society now in 2016,” Humphreys said.
In the emotionally charged post, Humphreys goes on to question: “Gay rights? What happened to the rights of straight people? The right that gives me the opportunity to live and raise my children in a moral society.”
Prominent members of the LGBT community who have been challenging both Belize’s immigration laws and sodomy laws shared the post, and some from within the community condemned Humphreys’ stance. Others suggested a boycott of the medical center or that his employer should take action, sparking a public statement from the medical center.
The management of the Buttonwood Bay Medical Center quickly distanced itself from Humphreys’ comments, then immediately posted to their Facebook page clarifying, “that the views expressed are solely that of the employee and not in any way associated with our institution.”
Their post further stated: “Please be assured that this matter is being given our highest consideration and will be handled under due diligence and by the Laws of Belize.”
Humphreys later apologized: “I need to apologize for the confusions caused by my posts earlier today. This has gone way too far. I’ve lost my job, my business and received death threats.….”
He ended his post saying, “Again, I do apologize for posting such status in the manner I did.”
We tried to reach Raynard Humphreys for comment but he has since deactivated his Facebook profile and friends have been unwilling to share his cellphone number with us.
Those friends of the now controversial Humphreys have taken to social media to express that while he should have never made such statements, he was simply sharing his opinions. However, they say, there are more newsworthy issues of national interest than Humphreys, including the recent continued aggression by Guatemala.
One friend told Amandala, “I understand fully why his workplace took action, because it can affect their customers.”
However, he suggested that the same gay people bashing Humphreys for his purported “hate speech” are the same ones now sharing hateful posts about him on Facebook. “How comes they didn’t lose their jobs because of the straight community?” the friend questioned.
“What happened to equality,” said the friend of Humphreys.