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Topic of same-sex marriage ‘frustrating a lot of people’– Cindy Rosan

-says ‘breaking point’ will eventually come & UK will make ultimatum on subject in OTs
Talk Show host and political candidate for the upcoming 2023 elections in the Virgin Islands (VI), Rosemary Cindy Rosan says the topic of same-sex marriage in the VI and UK’s position continues to frustrate a lot of people. Photo: VINO/File/Internet Source
Rosan made the comment while sitting as a co-host of the July 12, 2022, edition of
Rosan made the comment while sitting as a co-host of the July 12, 2022, edition of "Da International Morning Braff" radio show on Tola Radio 100.5 FM. Photo: Facebook
FAT HOGS BAY, Tortola, VI – Talk Show host and political candidate for the upcoming 2023 elections in the Virgin Islands (VI), Rosemary Cindy Rosan says the topic of same-sex marriage in the VI and UK’s position continues to frustrate a lot of people.

Rosan made the comment while sitting as a co-host of the July 12, 2022, edition of "Da International Morning Braff" radio show on Tola Radio 100.5 FM.

People frustrated with topic – Rosan

“At the end of the day, if we are talking about the same-sex marriage and I think that is frustrating a lot of people… the UK has made it clear on many occasions that they will not be forcing it on their overseas territories, it has come up over and over,” she added. 

‘Cindy’ was at the time reacting to the Premier’s Dr the Hon Natalio D. Wheatley’s (R7) comments that the VI can make its own laws regarding the same-sex marriage bill that some United Kingdom (UK) parliamentarians are seeking to force upon the British Overseas Territories.

The bill was on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, introduced in the House of Lords to legalize same-sex marriages in British Overseas Territories, including the Virgin Islands, where they’re currently banned.

Gay rights pioneer Lord Michael M. Cashman put forward the private members’ bill, which is a bill introduced by MPs and Lords who are not government ministers.

Rosan reminded, however, that the bill was done by a private member of the House, rather than by the UK Government and as such, is not the UK forcing the matter on OTs.

VI can make its own laws – Premier

Rosan added, “I’m sure as some point, some government will come in and say we got to protect everybody’s rights and so we got to review this and give them (OTs) the opportunity to make the decision or we will make the decision.”

Addressing the topic, Premier Wheatley told Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) on July 11, 2022, that he is not in favour of legislation being forced on the VI. 

“I do not agree for any legislation to be imposed on the people of the Virgin Islands from the United Kingdom parliament. We have our own parliament, and we can make and amend laws for ourselves,” he said.

 

28 Responses to “Topic of same-sex marriage ‘frustrating a lot of people’– Cindy Rosan”

  • Undecided (16/07/2022, 18:11) Like (21) Dislike (17) Reply
    Cindy Rosan you frustrating me with the current issues. One time you are up the other time you are down then you are neither up or down. Now it would appear that you are picking a fight with the Governor. Can't you just stay focused for one day?
    • @undecided (17/07/2022, 00:07) Like (6) Dislike (2) Reply
      Nah cause both sides won’t always be right… You gotta understand that.. You not gonna accept everything just because.
    • Greg (17/07/2022, 08:57) Like (8) Dislike (2) Reply
      @ undecided. Cindy is correct anf you are not. How can she focus on only one topic when there ard so many that has to be addressed? If the other political officials tackled all of the issues going on here, we would have strength in numbers to fight the UK who are trying to force things on our people because they feel they can because we won't fight for ourselves. The pastors here have to decide whose side they are on while they are preaching from the pulpit. The bible talks against Sodomy, so which Pastor will be a hypocrit and perform these same sex ceremonies and making their parishiners leave the church. Pastors cannot preach one thing but do the opposite, which should prove they are FAKE PROPHETS!
  • Barry Say You Will Learn (16/07/2022, 18:25) Like (29) Dislike (11) Reply

    Cindy need to sit her crazy a$$ down. How much attention can one individual want? No wonder Ba**y left her..

  • Native Senior Citizen of the British Virgin Islands (16/07/2022, 20:38) Like (18) Dislike (11) Reply
    Cindy Rosan, you just want to be heard and seen.
    You are disgusting. You are one of the person's that causing others getting feeling of frustration on this same sex marriage issue. On this issue you need to let it rest. The people of the British Virgin Islands Islands are apoximately least 95% probably as much as 98% against same sex marriage. Stop your continuing barking on this issue.
    • BuzzBvi (18/07/2022, 06:41) Like (1) Dislike (0) Reply
      And where does that data come from? Same place as the data saying VIslanders want independence now?? Where you getting this "info"??
    • hmmm (18/07/2022, 20:51) Like (2) Dislike (0) Reply
      She gotta have a say in EVERY SINGLE THING! Let things slide nuh B! Every thing she got to have a bloody say in sickening man
  • LilyAnn (16/07/2022, 20:52) Like (25) Dislike (7) Reply
    Cindy just needs to simmer down sometimes. Jumping from lilipad to lilipad without truely fixing an issue !!! This Braff show has become an Entertainment portal more than a useful platform to get things done. Not even the politicians are taking this platform seriously, and majority of the issues involves them and the way they steer the country !!! I've stopped listening to the show since this whole Gay topic starts to takeover, because it just boils my blood to see soo many vi landers are supporting this bs. No wonder the country can't see headway. Because they praise God with their mouth, and telling their children they can love eho they want to love. Highest level of hypocrisy if u ask me !!!! Jesus frowned upon Gay and sodomites, so don't bother come under my post talking crap Christians should accept these type of people !!!! Modern Society really did a number on yall !!!!!
    • @lilyAnn (19/07/2022, 07:34) Like (1) Dislike (0) Reply
      You’re making stuff up. You are telling us with great certainty that the fairy-tale central character of a story forced on your ancestors by white people hundreds of years ago, definitely hated gay people.
      Rrrrrrrright.
  • asking for a friend (16/07/2022, 23:12) Like (10) Dislike (4) Reply

    Where is the news that Vance win her crazy @&& in court?

    • Am interested (17/07/2022, 09:24) Like (1) Dislike (1) Reply
      What is this all about? Cindy no talk bout it on her Facebook.
  • Stop worrying about things you cannot change (17/07/2022, 09:00) Like (0) Dislike (5) Reply
    Let's focus on what God wants us to do: LOVE, RESPECT and HUMBLE OURSELVES. Once we do that God will take care of all we cannot change.
  • Real Talk (17/07/2022, 09:24) Like (9) Dislike (4) Reply
    Cindy you make the dog sick iam getting to the point where you are just like being constipated.
  • Thomas Famous (17/07/2022, 11:15) Like (2) Dislike (4) Reply
    The UK Gov will get single members to propose legislation that they themselves want to propose.

    Rule number one is to know how your opponents operate.
  • Hmm (17/07/2022, 12:30) Like (5) Dislike (1) Reply
    I would like to hear kishma's opinion on this.
  • miserable woman yo too miserable (17/07/2022, 13:19) Like (4) Dislike (6) Reply
    I will never vote for dem so
  • Native Senior Citizen of the British Virgin y (17/07/2022, 14:44) Like (2) Dislike (1) Reply
    Seeing that the dislike vote against the 95% to 98% of the people of the BVI is a wrong estimate, I have come to the conclusion that there are many more Spiritually and socially immoral minded people living among us that I thought. No wonder why are country' is so devided, and we are in such the mess that we are now in. A rerun of Sodom, Gomarroa, and Pompei lifestyle is fastly becoming one of the BVI sexual preference nowadays, even among self proclaimed Christians church regular attenders. Maybe this is the main reason why Cindy Rosan won't easyly let go of this issue. However, I know that the majority of the BVI people are overwhelmingly opposed to the idea of same-sex marriage. Amen.
    • NoSense (19/07/2022, 07:56) Like (1) Dislike (1) Reply
      Why does two people of the same sex loving each other cause you so much pain and anger?
      What is it about the oppressed Caribbean culture that makes us shout and scream about the immorality of slavery and yet be so cold blooded, cruel and inhuman about this kind of love?
      Especially you church people. Many of you are so sure you are right that any inhumanity toward gay people is not just fine, it is something to celebrate and promote.
      Just like many Europeans were 100% certain that Africans were chosen by god to be slaves and cruelty towards them was righteous and to be promoted.
      And the same people imposed their own made up God-stories on the slaves to help control them. And now the slaves descendants promote the same cruelty to others.
      And besides, are you not aware that same sex marriage is a legal thing? Not a Church thing. It just gives rights to couples so they can have things like inheritance and other spousal rights in certain situations (eg hospital visits, next of kin, etc).
      And has it occurred to you that their actions will not in any way affect you? You can live your life without even knowing two people are legally married. It won’t change your life at all but will make a positive difference to them. But you don’t want that. You want hate.
      You all so Godly. You need to sit under a big tree for a moment and contact the higher power. Nothing in the universe gives you the right to mistreat fellow humans.
      You know this because you use this argument all the time when you talk about colonialism. If you have any real morals they should apply here, too.
  • My girl (17/07/2022, 19:15) Like (12) Dislike (3) Reply
    We don’t want it here. We have enough immorality as it is. It’s against nature for men to lay with men and women with women.
  • curious ... (18/07/2022, 08:22) Like (4) Dislike (0) Reply
    What is her stance on this? In favour or nah?

    I didn't listen to the show but it doesn't say in the article!!

    Yes or no, Cindy?

    Just curious
  • l (18/07/2022, 08:56) Like (1) Dislike (5) Reply
    Kisma..so gay

  • Str8 (18/07/2022, 15:35) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    With all the ungrateful ones you all let in this country come say development, and still have to wonder where the numbers are… they are in England packing their vacation cases.
  • lol (18/07/2022, 20:21) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    BVI was against removing bans on rastas and hippies a couple years ago as well
  • W.E. Man (18/07/2022, 21:36) Like (1) Dislike (0) Reply
    If you are a free person you need protection under the law. Former descendants of slaves should understand that more than anyone. Bunch of bigots and hypocrites in the place.
    • Excatly (19/07/2022, 08:54) Like (1) Dislike (0) Reply
      Well said, W.E. Man.
      Should know better? Should?
      People here knows better. Of course.
      But people here like to pretend they have principles and morals. But they just dress up in fine clothes on Sunday and proceed to be greedy, abusive and cruel for the rest of the week.
  • Oh dear (18/07/2022, 22:31) Like (1) Dislike (0) Reply
    In June, Botswana overturned colonial-era laws which criminalised homosexuality, with the judge, Michael Leburu, declaring that “the anti-sodomy laws are a British import” and were developed “without the consultation of local peoples”.

    It was viewed as a massive success and a historic moment across the continent. Despite this the more than half of the countries in Africa outlaw homosexuality, with four enforcing the death penalty. At a time where we see more and more countries worldwide becoming progressive with regard to LGBT rights, why does Africa still maintain their anti-LGBT stance? Is homosexuality, rather than homophobia a “western import” as claimed by Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni?

    Of course not. There is a direct correlation between countries which belong to the Commonwealth, and therefore have previously been under British rule, and countries that still have homophobic biphobic and/or transphobic legislature in their constitutions. 25 per cent of the world’s population (2.4 billion people) currently live in a country belonging to the Commonwealth, however they make up a disproportionately large 50 per cent of countries that still criminalise homosexuality.

    But this phenomenon is specific to those under British rule. By the 13th century in France, punishments for male homosexuality include castration for the first offence. But the French repealed their anti-sodomy laws after the first French Revolution in 1750, two centuries prior to the British in 1967. This is then echoed in La Francophonie nations; out of 54 member states, only 33 per cent of these criminalise homosexuality, in comparison to 66 per cent of Commonwealth nations.

    Prior to European colonisation, throughout the African continent we see far different, more relaxed attitudes towards sexual orientation and gender identity. As far back as 2400 BC tombs have been excavated in ancient Egypt with two men’s bodies Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep embracing each other as lovers. In addition to their acceptance of same sex relationships, Ancient Egyptians, similar to other civilisations at the time not only acknowledge a third gender, but venerate it. Many deities were portrayed androgynously, and goddesses such as Mut (the goddess of Motherhood; lit. translation Mother) and Sekmeht (goddess of war) are often depicted as women with erect penises.

    This was not unique to Egypt or this time period. In the 16th century, the Imbangala people of Angola had “men in womens apparel, with whom they kept amongst their wives”. In contrast, King Henry VIII had just signed the Buggery Act in 1533 in England, which criminalised sex between two males. The last men to be sentenced to death by hanging in England were in 1835 for engaging in homosexual sex; whilst at the same time there was an openly gay monarch, King Mwanga II of Buganda (present day Uganda), who actively opposed Christianity and colonialism. The Igbo and Yoruba tribes, found mostly in present day Nigeria, did not have a binary of genders and typically did not assign gender to babies at birth, and instead waited until later life. Similarly the Dagaaba people (present day Ghana) assigned gender not based on ones anatomy, but rather the energy one presents. In the royal palaces of Northern Sudan, daughters were sometimes given slave girls for sex.

    For centuries, across the African continent there was a completely different attitude towards sexual and gender identities. Many African countries did not see gender as a binary in the way that their European colonisers did, nor did they correlate anatomy to gender identity. In no African country prior to colonisation do we see any persecution of LGBT individuals because of their sexuality, nor any anti-LGBT laws.

    So how, despite a very relaxed attitude towards homosexuality and gender fluidity for almost all its recorded history, has Africa become one of the most difficult continents to be LGBT?

    Colonisation and the spread of fundamentalist Christian attitudes from the British meant that much of Africa lost its previous cultural attitude towards sexual orientation and gender identity and were forced to adopt “new” values from British colonisers in the 19th and 20th centuries. Homophobia was legally enforced by colonial administrators and Christian missionaries. In 1910, Christians made up about 9 per cent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa; by 2010, the figure had leapt to 63 per cent. Anti-LGBT laws were not only written into constitutions, but also into the minds of many African people, and after the passing of several generations, this has become dogma.

    While many of the countries under British rule are now independent, the majority who still criminalise homosexuality, including Jamaica and Uganda, have carried over these laws from the colonial era. Generations later, many Africans now believe that an anti-gay attitude is one that is a part of their culture. So much so, that former Zimbabwean President Mugabe labelled homosexuality as a “white disease”.

    The association of homosexuality as something “western” is echoed throughout the ex-Commonwealth and particularly in African and Caribbean nations. For many who had their lives and cultures stripped from them by the British, western-ness is to be treated with suspicion and it’s essential to hold on to any part of themselves and their culture they can. This combined with the fact that western countries have threatened to deny aid to these countries unless they conform to their ideals has hindered the fight for LGBT rights in African countries. For instance, when ex-Prime Minister David Cameron threatened to withdraw aid from Uganda as they “were not adhering to proper human rights”, the presidential adviser responded with ‘But this kind of ex-colonial mentality of saying: 'You do this or I withdraw my aid' will definitely make people extremely uncomfortable with being treated like children."

    It is clear that top down reform, with the western world leading the way is not going to be the road that Africans take to change their anti-LGBT laws; scepticism towards the West and homophobia are far too closely intertwined. Rejecting pro-LGBT legislation is rejecting neo-colonialism and is in favour of African nationalism, self-determination and self-worth. Unfortunately, African homophobia is a tricky mix of anti-neo-colonialism, politics, and religion, made worse by the HIV/AIDS crisis. This crisis has led Africans to associate HIV/AIDS and death as a consequence of being gay, similar to American attitudes towards HIV/AIDS during the United States AIDS crisis of the 1980s.

    So what is the future for LGBT rights in Africa? In many countries, despite the legacy of colonisation, citizens are taking a more autonomous stance on LGBTQ+ legislature, with the queer communities taking the lead, instead of external pressures from the West. Across the world, countries that have improved their LGBT rights records have done so because of the hard work, organising and leadership of local LGBT groups and communities, and the case of Africa is no different. Enforcing top-down change from the West would do little to change the attitudes of Africans towards homosexuality; this is a struggle that must be led by local LGBT communities who know best what they need and how to fight for it.
  • ok (20/07/2022, 09:06) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    why you care what the next man do


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