[5][6] When a proposal came before the California legislature in April 2004 to legalize marriage for same-sex couples, Adventist church members were urged to contact their representatives and voice their opposition.
[12] On December 17, 2012, the Ugandan daily newspaper New Vision published an article reporting that the regional president of the Adventist Church for Eastern and Central Africa, Blaisious Ruguri, had delivered a speech at the Mbarara Church in which he declared that Adventists "fully" supported the government's "Anti-Homosexuality Bill" (which criminalized same-sex intimacy with lengthy prison terms and demanded the death penalty for repeat offenders.
The article, which includes a photo of Ruguri standing alongside state MP Medard Bitekyerezo, quotes Ruguri saying: On December 19, the president of Kinship International, Yolanda Elliott, sent a letter to Adventist Church's global leader, President Ted Wilson, and to the Church's top public relations officer at the time, Garret Caldwell, that read in part: On December 21, the global Adventist Church's news agency, ANNissued a press release saying that the New Vision article did not "convey an accurate representation of his [Ruguri's] intentions or the voted position of the denomination regarding homosexuality."
The release quoted Ruguri declaring he had no knowledge of the contents of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill and that the newspaper had misrepresented his actual views: In July 2012, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Jamaica's newly elected Prime Minister, Portia Simpson-Miller, urging her to take stronger action than her predecessors to protect the basic human rights of homosexuals in the country.
"[17] Jamaica is widely described by rights organizations as among the most dangerous places in the world to be a homosexual, with the authorities often turning a blind eye to assaults and murders of gays, lesbians, and their allies.
Holness, by contrast, made clear that he would not permit homosexuals to serve in his government as long as the public remained hostile to gay rights.
In a November 2012 address, he urged his countrymen to follow the example of the biblical prophet Nehemiah, who demonstrated "zero tolerance of corruption and determined action to stamp it out."
The trend began with the banning of prayer in schools and later, in state institutions in the former bastion of Christianity, the USA, under the banner of freedom of religion."
He continued, "There is mounting pressure on states such as Jamaica to recognize specific rights for lesbians and gays, with even threat of withholding financial assistance from those who do not."