Belize Court of Appeal’s pro-gay ruling a ‘dangerous precedent’ and threat to democracy, warns regional Christian alliance

That’s the view of Christian alliance – Caribbean CAUSE – a regional group consisting of individuals and groups from 14 Caribbean territories including Belize.

In a media release today the group said it “note with alarm that the Appeal Court of Belize has supported Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin's unilateral alteration of the content and intent of the Belizean Constitution in changing ‘sex’ to ‘sexual orientation’”.

Belize Supreme Court Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin in 2016 ruled that that country’s sodomy law is unconstitutional after prominent LGBTQ activist Caleb Orozco challenged Section 53 of the country’s Criminal Code that specified a 10-year prison sentence for buggery.

The Belizean government challenged aspects of Justice Benjamin’s ruling, but the Court of Appeal upheld it.

“I have proven as a citizen that our fundamental rights have value and can be upheld by our courts, and that any alienated section of society can stand on principle and can go to court and use the fundamental rights to ensure that the state leaves no one behind,” said Orozco afterwards in a statement as carried by the Washington Blade, an LGBTQ news website.

In wake of this latest development, Caribbean CAUSE its own statement, contends that “the court in Belize has taken to itself powers that it does not have and is setting dangerous precedent that is a threat to our democracies.”

“Caribbean CAUSE has previously communicated its concerns about the obvious judicial activism in the original ruling in both a press release and in letters to the heads of government of 12 Caribbean territories which was supported by groups representing tens of thousands of concerned Caribbean citizens,” it said.

“The conduct of the judges in this matter has led to a crisis because the courts are seeking to make our democracies into ‘juristocracies’ – a position that is wholly untenable and cannot be allowed.

“No judge must be allowed to unilaterally alter the content and intent of the Constitution of a democratic society.  This function is the prerogative of the people and their duly elected representatives only.”

The highly influential Christian group said it has submitted a “second communiqué” to regional heads of states for them to “speedily address these instances of judicial activism and to put mechanisms in place to prevent future occurrences in order to protect us, the citizens of the Caribbean, from the tyranny of activist judges”.