THE University of the West Indies (UWI) yesterday announced that it has sacked Professor Brendan Bain as director of the Regional Co-ordinating Unit of the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training (CHART) Network, echoing a view by gay and human rights activists that he has lost the confidence of the programme's target community.
The UWI publicised its decision two days after the Sunday Observer reported that a coalition of 33 lobby groups from across the Caribbean had been advocating Bain's removal because of expert testimony he gave in a constitutional challenge brought by a gay Belizean man against that country's criminal code in September 2010.
Caleb Orozco had argued that the code, which states that "every person who has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any person or animal shall be liable to imprisonment for 10 years", violates his right to the recognition of human dignity, to personal privacy and the privacy of the home guaranteed by the Belize constitution.
In August 2012, Professor Bain offered expert testimony in the case on behalf of a group of churches seeking to retain the 1861 law.
Bain, regarded as a pioneer in clinical infectious disease practice in the Caribbean and a leading medical authority on the HIV epidemic in the region, pointed out in his testimony that the risk of contracting HIV is significantly higher among men who have sex with other men (MSM). more
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