Dangerous Liaisons
Losing at home, U.S. religious-right groups are working furiously to keep gay sex criminalized in Belize and beyond
BELIZE CITY, Belize鈥擳he air in the tropical lowlands of Belize is alive with wild parrot squawks and the briny scent of the country鈥檚 aqua Caribbean waters. Known to most Americans only as a humid cruise ship stopover, Belize is most often visited for its stunning coral reefs. But what tourists likely don鈥檛 know is that this tiny country has become Ground Zero in the latest international battle over the criminalization of LGBT sexual relationships.
For three years, a ferocious legal battle has been waged in this nation of some 356,00 people over a criminal statute that can land men and women in prison for engaging in private acts between consenting adults of the same sex. What鈥檚 more, the fight over the constitutionality of Section 53 of Belize鈥檚 criminal code, which prescribes a 10-year sentence for 鈥渃arnal intercourse against the order of nature with any person or animal,鈥 has been joined by hard-line U.S. religious-right groups seeking to keep gay sex illegal in as many countries as possible.
This legal contest is only the latest in a wider struggle that is simultaneously being waged in Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America and elsewhere. But it is a key battle, and the stakes are high. Overturning Section 53 in Belize could lead to the upending of similar statutes in a dozen countries that also belong to the Commonwealth of former British colonies, particularly those in the Caribbean, where several countries are part of a single legal system that culminates in the Caribbean Court of Justice. It is also part of an even larger international battle, with the United Nations increasingly pressuring nations including Belize to live up to commitments under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a treaty that took effect in 1976 and outlaws discrimination of many kinds.
But the exact meaning of that treaty remains in dispute 鈥 it does not specifically mention sexual orientation or gender identity 鈥 and anti-gay religious groups are fighting hard to deny any 鈥渟pecial鈥 rights to LGBT people. A large number of these groups are based in the United States, where the Christian Right is increasingly losing its battle against gay rights, especially since the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas Supreme Court case decriminalized gay sex. As discriminatory policies in the U.S. military and elsewhere are discarded and a rapidly increasing number of states legalize same-sex marriage, disheartened U.S. activists are taking their battle against the 鈥渉omosexual agenda鈥 to places where anti-gay hatred thrives.
And Belize is just such a place. The government is blatantly hostile to LGBT people and is vigorously defending Section 53 in court. Violence aimed at gay people is endemic, according to reports, including one issued this March that also charged that much of that violence comes from police. The country鈥檚 immigration code specifically bars LGBT people, along with prostitutes and the mentally ill. The editor of the country鈥檚 largest newspaper recently editorialized that he could think of 鈥渘o more obscene, disgusting, wicked or perverted act鈥 than male gay sex.
The situation is so bad that Caleb Orozco, the LGBT activist who formed the United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM) and is the plaintiff in the Section 53 case, lives and works out of a fortified office. At a court appearance in May, he was protected by armed guards hired with funds provided by foreign sympathizers. On the road, his car is met with shouts of 鈥渇-----鈥 and a hail of garbage, and he has been threatened with death and assaulted in the streets. He is so vulnerable, in fact, that his lawyers worry openly about having Orozco as the only plaintiff in their civil case 鈥 they need a back-up in the very possible event of his assassination.
The Case
The challenge to Section 53 was filed on behalf of Caleb Orozco and UNIBAM by the University of the West Indies Rights Advocacy Project, with the support of the International Commission of Jurists, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association and the London-based Human Dignity Trust, in September 2010 in the Supreme Court of Judicature, Belize鈥檚 highest national court. Orozco鈥檚 lawyers argue that Section 53 violates provisions of the Belizean Constitution that recognize individual rights to human dignity, to not be subject to arbitrary or unlawful interference with one鈥檚 privacy, and to equal protection under the law.
In the May hearing before Belize鈥檚 chief justice, one of Orozco鈥檚 lawyers, Trinidadian Christopher Hamel-Smith, argued that Section 53 presents a man like Orozco with 鈥渁n intolerable choice, which no citizen should ever have to make, to live as a law-abiding citizen by suppressing his sexuality, or abandon all hope of ever living as a law-abiding citizen.鈥 Orozco and his lawyers also have argued that Belize鈥檚 anti-LGBT laws are simply leftovers from the laws against 鈥渂uggery鈥 (anal sex) that were imposed by the British. In essence, they are saying that anti-gay legislation is a remnant of colonialism unrelated to Belize鈥檚 native culture.
On the other side is the government, including both the prime minister and the attorney general, and an alliance called Church Interested Parties (CIP). CIP includes the Roman Catholic Church in Belize, the Belize Church of England Corporate Body and the local Evangelical Association of Churches.
Ranged alongside those pro-criminalization forces are U.S. groups and individuals that have rushed to join the fight. A local group, Belize Action, is headed by Waco, Texas-born Christian missionary Scott Stirm, who has railed against the 鈥渦nacceptable鈥 gay lifestyle, attacked alleged LGBT efforts to 鈥済o into the schools and teach our kids their lifestyle,鈥 and claimed that gay tourists come to Belize for 鈥渁 new exotic location in which to corrupt local youth for a dollar or two.鈥
Belize Action鈥檚 website links to various American anti-gay groups. Most remarkable is its citation of U.S. 鈥渞esearcher鈥 Paul Cameron, who has produced a series of defamatory and entirely bogus 鈥渟tudies鈥 that purport to show the depravity, violence and disease associated with homosexuality.
Another U.S. group, Extreme Prophetic Ministries of Phoenix, lists support for Stirm鈥檚 Belize Action as one of its projects. Led by Patricia King, the ministry has been known to pray in mortuaries in an effort to raise the dead. One of its ministers, Caleb Lee Brundridge, reportedly traveled in 2009 to Uganda for an anti-gay conference that helped foment a proposed 鈥渒ill the gays鈥 law there.
Both groups declined to discuss their activities.
Representing the Haters
Other U.S. groups appear to be taking an even more active role, supporting Section 53 by providing American lawyers. Belize Action鈥檚 website has repeatedly said that attorneys supplied by the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and the New York City- and Washington-based Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-FAM) have joined the court fight. 鈥淭he Christian Community has obtained the legal services of int鈥檒 attorneys Terry McKeegan [of C-FAM], Piero Tozzi and Brian Raum [both of ADF] from CFAM and ADF, International catholic [sic] and evangelical organizations that assist in fighting abortion and homosexuality cases internationally,鈥 said one such post.
ADF and C-FAM did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
But there is plenty to back up Stirm鈥檚 claim that the ADF has been active. The ADF sends out regular E-mail 鈥淎lliance Alerts鈥 updating the battle in Belize. Last December, it highlighted a rally by Belize Action under the headline, 鈥淐hristians 鈥楽tand Firm鈥 Against UNIBAM.鈥 On its website, the ADF says it does international work because 鈥渞adical international allies鈥 of groups like the ACLU are working to foist a 鈥減ro-homosexual agenda鈥 on a variety of countries. It complains that these groups are pushing for 鈥渞adical new 鈥榬ights鈥 that will advance the homosexual agenda, destroy marriage and undermine religious freedom.鈥 In response, the ADF says, it 鈥渃oordinates, funds, and litigates important cases with our global allies that have the potential to set legal precedents that could silence and punish Christians.鈥 The ADF鈥檚 most recent available tax returns show it spent $65,000 on 鈥渉uman rights legal work鈥 in Central America and the Caribbean in 2009 and 2010.
Moreover, the ADF is on record backing criminalization. It submitted an amicus brief in the 2003 Lawrence case supporting the U.S. sodomy laws that were ultimately struck down. The same year, ADF President Alan Sears wrote a book, The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today, that complains that 鈥渙nce one state law protecting marriage and regulating sex is found to be unconstitutional, all others are fair game, such as laws against pedophilia, sex between close relatives, polygamy, bestiality and all other distortions and violations of God鈥檚 plan.鈥 It described gay sex as 鈥渄eviant behavior.鈥
The ADF didn鈥檛 change its tune after the Lawrence decision. An ADF 鈥淎lliance Alert鈥 in 2011 lauded the passage of a Nigerian law that punishes any LGBT advocacy with 10 years in prison.
Like the ADF, C-FAM is heavily focused on global anti-LGBT work, charging that international law is advancing a 鈥渞adical social agenda鈥 that needs to be stopped. It has claimed that UN efforts to further LGBT rights will lead to 鈥渉ate crime charges being brought against Christians鈥 who oppose 鈥渢he homosexual agenda.鈥 In 2012, its president, Austin Ruse, attacked a UN global study of anti-LGBT violence, saying it was a 鈥渄ishonest鈥 ploy to legitimize homosexuality. The group also has lauded Scott Lively, an American who is infamous for the claim that gay men orchestrated the Holocaust, and who went to Uganda to speak against homosexuality, lending support to the 鈥渒ill the gays鈥 bill there.
The Echo Chamber
One of the more remarkable aspects of the battle in Belize is how closely the anti-gay rhetoric employed there resembles U.S. activists鈥 propaganda.
In its amicus brief in the Lawrence case, the anti-LGBT American Center for Law and Justice argued there is 鈥渁n extensively documented health risk of same-sex sodomy鈥 and added that a ban on sodomy 鈥減ermissibly furthers public morality.鈥 The ADF鈥檚 Jordan Lorence, in that group鈥檚 brief, said the 鈥渢rue objective鈥 of the plaintiffs in the case was to clear a path to further gay rights, such as adoption. Groups including Liberty Counsel depicted LGBT people as diseased, promiscuous and self-destructive. The Family Research Council and Focus on the Family, two of the largest Christian Right heavyweights in the United States, argued that criminalizing gay sex was a good way to protect marriage. 鈥淪tates may discourage the 鈥榚vils鈥 鈥 of sexual acts outside of marriage by means up to and including criminal prohibition,鈥 their joint amicus brief said.
Many of these U.S. groups have also argued that gay sex is essentially the moral equivalent of incest, bestiality, and pedophilia. They say gay people will live short lives, and that they molest children at rates way out of proportion to their numbers (a particularly egregious, and false, allegation). They claim that school anti-bullying programs are subterfuges for LGBT people to 鈥渞ecruit鈥 new partners. And, basing their argument on the idea that being gay is a choice, they assert that because gay people cannot 鈥渞eproduce鈥 biologically, they must go out and convert straight people to homosexuality to maintain their numbers.
All of these arguments are alive and well in Belize.
An ad published this May in Belize鈥檚 largest newspaper warned that overturning Section 53 would result in moral decadence, same-sex marriage, and the loss freedom of speech and religion. The ad was paid for by the Militia of the Holy Spirit, run by Belizean evangelical and anti-gay activist Louis Wade Jr.
The CIP, the alliance of Belizean churches, has circulated a pamphlet contending that gay people are 鈥渁fter the kids,鈥 and want to 鈥渓ower the age of consent鈥 for sexual activity. It also reiterated the longstanding U.S. argument that 鈥渉omosexuals cannot reproduce; therefore, they must recruit.鈥
The Rev. Canon Leroy Flowers, president of the local Council of Churches and head of the Anglican church in Belize, made similar arguments at a 2011 forum put on by Belize Action, according to Amandala, Belize鈥檚 main newspaper. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e after the kids,鈥 he said. 鈥淭he UK [United Kingdom] approved same-sex marriage years ago; now they鈥檙e having court battles to lower the age of consent.鈥
In documents filed in court by the CIP, homosexuality is described as 鈥渕orally repugnant,鈥 鈥渟ocially undesirable,鈥 and akin to 鈥渋ncest, prostitution and drug use.鈥 And then the CIP makes an argument that clearly originated elsewhere 鈥 that the whole Section 53 case is part of an assault by 鈥渃ultural Marxism.鈥
The irony is rich. The vast majority of Belize鈥檚 population is not white. Yet the idea of cultural Marxism was cooked up by American white supremacists to describe a convoluted leftist conspiracy to manipulate white-dominated societies into expanding rights for people of color, women, LGBT people and others.
To some Belizeans, the derivation of this rhetoric is obvious. 鈥淭his is all a foreign influence,鈥 said the head of a local foundation who did not want to be named. 鈥淭hese arguments are not from here. They start with pedophilia, and then, 鈥楾hey are coming after your kids.鈥 It鈥檚 just about instilling fear about gays.鈥
Fear and Loathing in Belize
The more terrifying fear in Belize is that experienced by LGBT people.
According to a 2011 local news report, almost 90% of 鈥渕en who have sex with men鈥 say they do not receive equal legal protection. Another report, this one released in March by the Chicago-based Heartland Alliance, found that LGBT people in Belize are routinely subjected to violence, some of it coming from law enforcement officials. It cited the bludgeoning death of an openly gay Guatemalan doctor and the murder of a politician鈥檚 gay brother.
The country鈥檚 leading newspaper, Amandala, has played a particularly noxious role. In May, Editor-in-Chief Russell Vellos wrote that 鈥渉omosexuals prey on children and teenaged boys鈥 and went on to describe the 鈥渆vil鈥 acts that 鈥渙ne man could do to another.鈥 鈥淕et up and help fight this evil in our midst,鈥 Vellos said. The paper鈥檚 comment section echoed Vellos鈥 fury at gay people. 鈥淟et them burn!鈥 one poster said. 鈥淟et the sharks eat their body parts,鈥 said another.
As the latest hearing in the case opened this May, Amandala ran a screaming front-page headline that played off UNIBAM鈥檚 name: 鈥淏AMers go to bat today.鈥 The headline was an ugly joke. The phrase 鈥渂atty boy鈥 is often used in Caribbean countries as a slur for gay men.
The Internet, too, is alive with calls for Orozco鈥檚 assassination and other threats.
The idea that a killing could be provoked by such talk is not so far out. After all, it happened in Uganda, where a similar battle over the criminalization of homosexuality has been raging for several years. In 2011, a newspaper in Uganda published front-page photos and the home addresses of gay men, including LGBT activist David Kato, under the words 鈥淗ang Them.鈥
Twenty-three days later, Kato was murdered in his home.
There is virtually no sign of official concern for the fate of Orozco or other LGBT people in Belize. Prime Minister Dean Barrow has vowed to defend Section 53 and slammed President Obama for opposing the criminalization of gay sex. There is not a single major political party or political figure that has come out in favor of overturning or even moderating the country鈥檚 draconian statute.
The tone of Section 53鈥檚 defenders has been hair-raising. Louis Wade Jr., who runs the Militia of the Holy Spirit and is a close ally of Texan Scott Stirm, said in a May video that the case was about opposing the 鈥渇alse god of carnality.鈥 鈥淢ark my words, it starts with one lawsuit鈥 . If they get their way 鈥 the final set of mass litigation will be against people who stand up and say that this 鈥 is wrong.鈥 Stirm was blunter, saying the case is part of 鈥渁n orchestrated plan of demonic darkness to dethrone God from our constitution and open massive gateways to demonic influences and destruction.鈥
Through it all, the UN has been paying attention. This March, the UN鈥檚 Human Rights Committee called on Belize to review its constitution and legal code 鈥渢o ensure that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity are prohibited.鈥
The global debate over the criminalization of gay sex is increasingly splitting conservative U.S. Christians, who as a group say they are espousing a theology of love, not hate. Many Christian groups, like the ADF, are becoming increasingly hard-line, albeit it only out of the public eye. Others have moderated, although even some of those seem torn. Focus of the Family, for instance, has noticeably moderated its anti-gay rhetoric in recent years, and yet the group鈥檚 vice president of government and public policy, Tom Minnery, sits on the board of the pro-criminalization ADF.
In Belize, the debate is not academic. Caleb Orozco is hunkering down, awaiting a court ruling that is expected in August, though there is much to suggest that he will lose the case. If so, he says, he and his lawyers intend to appeal it to the next level and, ultimately, to the Caribbean Court of Justice. The hope, perhaps forlorn, is that the Belize case will become a landmark.
鈥淓veryone in the Caribbean is watching the case closely,鈥 Orozco said. 鈥淥ur LGBT friends want to know how to succeed.鈥
