Western Jamaica churches stand up for Professor Bain.....yesterday protested against the University of the West Indies' (UWI) recent sacking of Professor Brendan Bain as head of the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training Network.

 BY HORACE HINES Observer staff reporter hinesh@jamaicaobserver.com  Tuesday, June 03, 2014   

 MONTEGO BAY, St James — Several church groups from western Jamaica yesterday protested against the University of the West Indies' (UWI) recent sacking of Professor Brendan Bain as head of the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training Network.

Representatives for churches in western Jamaica demonstrating
outside the UWI Mona Western Jamaica Campus on
Queen’s Drive, Montego Bay, yesterday.

Placard-bearing members of the group of demonstrators, clad in black and with masking tape over their mouths, started gathering at the entrance of the UWI Mona Western Jamaica Campus on Queen's Drive, Montego Bay, from 8:30 am.

Some of the placards read: 'Free Speech Is A Right Not A Privilege'; 'Do Not Change The Buggery Law'; and 'Keep Us Free From Evil Powers'.

They got support from horn-tooting motorists as they drove by.

The UWI sacked Professor Bain following concerns from gay advocacy groups across the Caribbean about his expert testimony given in a Belize court case seeking to challenge laws criminalising buggery.

Several critics, including church leaders, said the professor's dismissal was the university's giving in to pressure from gay rights groups.

Supporters of the academic, one of the region's leading authorities on the HIV epidemic in the Caribbean and one of the pioneers in clinical infectious diseases, last week protested outside the gates of the UWI's Mona Campus in Kingston. Protests, in support of Bain, were also held in Belize last week.

Chairman of the St James Ministers' Fraternal Rev Glendon Powell, who was among the demonstrators yesterday, said the groups wanted justice for Professor Bain. more