fact, human rights.

In almost every period of recorded history minorities have fought and died to win their rights. The Christians who oppose gay law reform seem to have forgotten that their believing ancestors were fed to the lions. The black ministers who oppose reform seem to have forgotten the black struggle for human rights. There were laws to destroy Christians. There were laws to keep blacks in slavery. There were rules to segregate Bermuda. The gay cause is no different. The human rights cause is the same, even if the literal Bible followers are today as blind as the slave masters.

One thing is certain. It is only a matter of how and when the gays will succeed because justice and right will prevail. Just like blacks, the gays will overcome. Some, like Martin Luther King, may die for the cause but that will only strengthen the cause.

A minority Christian group is attempting to have its will and its way of life imposed on the majority of this Country. That minority Christian group has a right to its beliefs and it has a right to follow a literal interpretation of the Bible but it does not have a right to force all of Bermuda to live by its beliefs or to follow its interpretation of the Christian Bible. Nor does a religious minority have a right to use its narrow biblical interpretation to continue a sodomy law which can imprison other people, gay and straight. We live in a democracy and not a theocracy.

The churches have had their say even if it was laced with prejudice and homophobia cloaked in Christian principle. But this is a democratic country run on democratic principles and composed of a wide spectrum of Christian believers and non-believers. Each is entitled to equality. Each is entitled to justice. Each is entitled to dignity. Each is entitled to human rights.

Therefore a minority Christian view must not be forced on the democratic whole, lest it poison our very democracy. That democracy is guaranteed by Bermuda's constitution which is already being violated. But more than that, rights are guaranteed by the wider network of free nations with whom we must coexist. We are not an island unto ourselves.

The important thing is that correct thinking Bermudians be sure that they are not swayed by those Bermudians who have been led astray. In all of history, the oppressors have ultimately been judged as wicked and the time has come to remove oppressive laws. We would not have Bermuda judged harshly because of the beliefs of a few.

Like the people, Bermuda's politicians have to be certain that they are not misled. Some churches have lost their way and are attempting to sway and even to threaten Bermuda's leaders from the paths of justice and righteousness but they must not prevail. If they do prevail, they will condemn Bermuda to a place outside the dignity of democratic nations. If they do prevail, they will brand Bermuda in the eyes of other countries as a backwater without justice.

Politicians must do what is right and just and good.