The Bahamas Christian Council is up in arms over the University of The Bahamas' decision to host a Pride Week forum on the Oakes Field campus this week, claiming it is part of the "immoral indoctrination of our young people".
At a press conference at the campus yesterday, Christian Council President Bishop Delton Fernander said his group considers the event "an affront to our national values on the campus of a publicly funded institute of higher learning".
Fernander appealed to UB's board and acting president to cancel the event "by this special interest group and return the university back to the basic tenets of standard education and the decency of higher learning".
He noted that one version of a flier promoting the event was headed with the University of The Bahamas' logo.
It stated: "In celebration of the 4th Annual Pride Week the School of Social Sciences hosts Forward, Upward, Onward, Together, Road to Inclusion".
Fernander claimed another flier, which does not include the name UB or the School of Social Sciences, was released only after the Christian Council advised the media on Friday of its plans to hold a press conference on Sunday to address the matter.
Both fliers are trimmed at the top with a rainbow, which symbolizes LGBT pride.
"The Bahamas Christian Council, which represents Christian churches and its membership throughout the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, takes great exception to the decision by the university to allow a non-university special interest group with an expressed immoral agenda to stage what we deem as [an] event intended to attack the very moral tenets of our country as expressed in the preamble of our nation's constitution," Fernander said.
"The event is clearly promoting a so-called celebration of Pride Week, what we know to be a period set aside to promote and advance a homosexual agenda and the homosexual lifestyle. The flier also clearly features colors associated with the gay community and lists speakers identified as LGBTQ+ activists.
"It is our understanding the university was established as a place of learning, not a place for the immoral indoctrination of our young people with one-sided panel discussions. It is also our understanding that this event is not a UB event and it is also not part of a course offered by the university and is instead being hosted by a private group of special interest advancing a special agenda."
The university, however, showed no signs it intends to stop the event from taking place on the campus.
Asked for a response to the Christian Council's concerns yesterday, Allyson Maynard Gibson KC, who chairs the UB board, stated: "University of The Bahamas was established by University of The Bahamas Act 2016, which establishes a Board of Trustees ' ... which shall ... be free from undue influence from political, religious, or other external bodies and shall protect the institution from such influence.'
"The School of Social Sciences will host a forum entitled 'Black Bahamian Subject Formation: From Non-Subject to Subject Part II'.
"It is hoped that students and citizens will continue to engage with UB, the national tertiary institution, as it carries out its fiat, among other things, to encourage our students (and all Bahamians) to '... exercise critical thinking'.
"Forums such as this are the places where, as a part of UB's national development mandate, our national spirit will be enriched and developed, as people with differing views engage in civil discourse and our students and citizens develop a better understanding of different viewpoints."
But Fernander said at the press conference, "We do not believe that the university which is funded by our tax dollars should be the platform to advance a lifestyle and agenda that are in contradiction to our nation's constitution and the values, standards and morals of our country and its people.
"The University of The Bahamas was intended by its own charter and bylaws to be a safe space for higher learning and not a playground for an immoral homosexual agenda and LGBTQ activists.
"The bottom line is this event cannot be allowed to take place on university grounds so long as it's funded by Bahamian taxpayers' dollars, because it is in violation of the values and virtues of said taxpayers as outlined in the preamble of our nation's constitution.
"The facts appear to be that this is an outside special interest group with an immoral agenda that has been allowed access to the grounds, hearts and minds of our nation's university and students who attend."
Fernander said parents did not send their children to the University of The Bahamas to be "ambushed by a local homosexual special interest group, advancing a gay agenda disguised as one-sided educational discussion".
The event is set for Thursday at 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Michael Eldon Building, UB.
According to the flier, the keynote speaker will be Dr. Kreimild Saunders, assistant professor of sociology at UB.
There will be a welcome address by Dr. Richard Adderley, chair of Social Sciences.
The event's moderator is listed as Alexus D'Marco, pride coordinator and human rights defender.
Several panel members are also listed on the flier: Alicia Wallace, Tribune journalist and feminist activist; Erin Green, radio host and LGBTQ+ activist; and Helen Klonaris, adjunct UB professor of English Studies, novelist and LGBTQ+ activist.
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