If you've been keeping up with the news, you will probably know that members of the church have been organizing marches around the country to raise awareness about the Gender Policy.
They've gone to several corners of the country, and this weekend they will move to Dangriga.
Today, the organizer of the Dangriga Chapter of the march stopped by 7News to tell us why residents surrounding the culture capital should participate.
Dozie "Chicky" Ifeanyichineke – Organizer
"I am here this morning to inform that this Saturday coming, on July 13th, 2103 - there'll be the constitutional rally but long before this came up, I was already on the idea of and I was going around informing, doing educational forms and I was thinking about a rally that I had dubbed, 'Awareness Rally' and I just happened to hear about what was going on and so, same term but the idea is still the same. It's about educating people so I am here just to inform the residence of Dangriga and surrounding villages from the Valley right down to Independence coming up this weekend to inform you about the rally and we will start tentatively from 3:30 and the Drums of Our Fathers Monument.
We will go through Havanah Street, St. Vincent Street, Commerce Street, Court House Road into BTL Princess Royal Park where we will arrive, where the official ceremonies for the event will start. The guest speaker is, no other than, Attorney and Community Activist, Ms. Audrey Matura Shepherd. The unique thing about this rally folks, is that, it is two things; informative and educational, so what Ms. Audrey will do is that she will look at the legal and the constitutional aspect of the Gender Policy 2013 - so she will explain all that to us - then she will take the 2002 Agenda Policy and the 2013, the current one and compare the two.
Other speakers include, Mr. Louis Wade, Patrick Menzies, we have cultural performances by Mr. Adrian 'the Doc" Martinez. It is my sincerest hope that the over tone of this gathering will be again one of that will be educational and that it will be informative, because walking around Dangriga, it is clear from everybody that I've spoken with, and I've been walking the streets, trust me, that people are really concened; about the policy, they want answers, they want things to be broken down to them, they want things to be explained to them. Nobody so far has been able to explain things to us; like this thing is just been forced down our throats, so to speak, that is the sentiment that I get from the people in Dangriga."
And if you are wondering if this show of strength has swayed the Prime Minister about his position on the Gender Policy, we asked him today about it.
Via text message he said, quote, "My position on the Gender Policy remains the same: it is not to be equated or conflated with the LGBT agenda and is something completely different. It is a good and necessary policy that Government will not jettison. But we remain open to making all changes, after we receive the submissions of the churches, that might be necessary to clarify or better explain matters." End Quote
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