Don’t Vote for Jowelle
Mrs. Jowelle De Souza, recipient of the Humming Bird Medal, Bronze
By Akilah Holder
April 30, 2015 – newsday.co.tt
Religious leaders are objecting to transsexual Jowelle de Souza’s bid to be elected to public office, saying her policies would seek to advocate the lifestyles of non-heterosexuals, which they see as immoral.
De Souza, a hairstylist and animal rights activist, plans to run as an independent candidate for San Fernando West in the general election, and launched her campaign in March and last held a cottage meeting in the southern city on April 16.
She is the first person in Trinidad and Tobago to have undergone a sex change, doing so at age 19 when she went from being a man to being a woman.
For this reason, her candidacy is not welcomed by several leaders of Christian and Hindu faiths.
While religious leaders affirm that De Souza, who received a Hummingbird National Award for community service at last year’s Independence Day celebrations, has the right to exercise the rights and privileges accorded her as a citizen, they do not believe someone who leads a gay or transsexual lifestyle should be in public office.
Agenda driven is what these candidates are about. They are forever pushing their agenda.
We are all hypocrites before Almighty God so who am to judge where sits in our society. Jesus Christ says to us “Judge not lest you be judged”. Jesus Christ once said “he who is without sin, cast the first stone”. Since I am NOT without sin I cannot cast any stone. Jesus Christ also said ” Father forgive them as they know NOT what they do” This is a God-made-man who was nailed to a cross for 6 plus hours after which He said this – he was also scourged and carried the same cross he was nailed to for several hours before He was nailed to this cross. Can I now judge her?.. no. Do I agree/disagree with what she chooses to do with her live? …not for me to decide. If I was living in San Fernando West, would I vote for her? ..that depends on if I felt she could fulfill the needs of an MP there….has nothing to do with a sex change. As for me this a non issue…her sex.
Thanks for your discourse on humanity and our fragility. I am sure this woman is far better looking that you. She has obviously cross many barriers to get where she is today. The salient point in democracy is ones ability to choose. She is free to run in an election but the press and various pressure groups make her identity an issue. It is call sensationalism. She gets free press coverage.
In Canada the Premier a position akin to Prime Minister is a lesbian with a gay partner in the most economical strong province Of Ontario. She is in a majority position as leader of her party. This September the schools will be changing their Sex Ed carriculum to a more gay friendly agenda. The schools will be required to teach six genders rather than the two genders we all grow up with. In many schools as you enter there is a poster saying “it’s okay to be gay”. Of course people are outraged but not a dog bark. The gay agenda is bold and in your face and they use the courts under equal rights to promote it. That is why people get nervous about this whole issue. Children should not be confused about their gender identity
I could not agree with you more, Jerry Lewis Hussane…and to think I was ready to write you off!
Then you should agree that we should rid us of the bastard government of today in T&T. Or is it the money they are paying you to BIG THEM UP is too sweet to lose. This is my problem with the both of you….give a Maracas dog a bone and he will keep coming back for more.
I think she should be given the opportunity based on her accomplishments, not on her personal choice. Not because he is now a she means that this is what they will push.
It says a lot about the people who are saying these things about Mrs Dr Souza. I’m not surprised at the Christians, but the Hindus? Lord Shiva is Half Woman Half man!
This is sheer ignorance, get over it.
Lord Shiva portrayed as half woman half man, c’mon that’s symbolism, for God sake think.
It never ceases to amaze me of the CRAP that attributed to Christ Jesus may GOD be please with him and other religious figures. Human beings judge each other every day and why not. If God created us in his image and after his likeness we are certainly charged with the responsibly to judge, the SATAN( the wicked minded people want you to believe this crap that you are not to judge so that they can establish their WEAK WORLD.
You get it all wrong. God made us in HIS IMAGE AND LIKENESS…God does not have a physical form …He is a SPIRIT. Hence when He breathed life in us, He breathed His spirit in us. We are part of Him always. But because He gave us a free wiil to choose we can and sometimes do kill that spirit in us so to speak. Of course we could never kill a spirit but we can render it useless until God touches us and He does at different times in our lives but most of us are blind and dumb to that touch especially when SELF takes over. Nevertheless the physical form means nothing to God. That is why we need to follow the moral values, the ethical ways, lead by example with LOVE in our hearts NOT BETWEEN THE SHEETS. Everything we do or say must come with that spirit. That is why we must follow Jesus instructions designed to school us i.e.His sacraments, God’s Commandments etc. Jesus Christ said the greatest commandment is that of LOVE….LOVE not sex conquers ALL things.
Everything of interest to God comes from within us…..not from the physical form that we put more emphasis on or the consumerism or the material gains in life. We die and leave all that behind. Our spirit is the part of us that live on…like God that never dies.
Who is talking about physical form maybe you with your small mind, I certainly did not state his image and likeness in a physical sense. And who is this God of which you speak I pray it’s not Christ Jesus the prophe that you are referring to as GOD.Once again some of the NONSENSE SOME OF YOU WHO CALL YOURSELVES CHRISTIANS ATTRIBUTE TO CHRIST JESUS is utter nonsense.Remove all racial images from worship that attempt to portray DEVINE.
DISRESPECT FOR OTHERS GETS YOU AND YOURS NO WHERE IN LIFE. HISTORY OF THE WORLD SPEAKS FOR ITSELF.
Religious leaders should lead the movement to uphold the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people internationally.
Do they not believe that the rights of all people should be respected equally, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity?
They should focus on cleaning their own houses of hypocrisy, intolerance, bigotry and discrimination of all types before commenting on the suitability of political candidates.
These religious leaders in T&T should be trying to fulfill the social and religious mandates of their various churches and stay out of political commentaries.
Everyone is quoting the bible willy-nilly. Let’s complete it. “Christ loves the sinner not the sin.”. Give Jowelle a chance and let her exercise her civic duty. Mahatma Gandhi stated clearly ‘politics and religion are inseparable’.
De Souza is a human being. We should not prevent any human being from exercising their rights in our country. Jesus saw people as people. We should too.
The world around us is changing and very rapidly at that. Most of what we term ‘development’ today was borne out of mankind’s desire for greed and competition. That kind of behavior just does not lie only with our thirst for wealth and fame, it is also in our desires to look and feel differently. Sexuality is no less desirable than fame and fortune, so, while it appears to be more prevalent today, it may have always been part of the anomaly of man’s physical evolution that our spirituality have taught us to reject. With religion taking such a prominent part in our virtues, this behavior will take some time to accept, but it is with us to stay. When we elect people to be leaders, their sexuality should not be part of our reasoning. Alexander the Great was a great leader, but was also bi-sexual. Most of our leaders who consider themselves god-faring today practice with a good amount of subjective motives and forget the reason why Christ died for us.
Who is this us that supposedly Christ Jesus died for? Certainly not me and hundreds of millions around the world.The biggest fabrication ever perpetrated on the ignorant of this world is John 3:16,the writer of this scripture was cautious in 9saying whomsoever believeth in him SHOULD not perish, he hedge his bet and protected himself.SHOULD denotes a possibly WOULD is definitive.
I do not see how certain people of a certain skin colour should be allowed to lead this country. Or is it a certain race or maybe it is a certain religion or maybe a certain gender or a certain facial look. We are the lowest thinking people in the world. And when we thought it couldn’t get lower – BAM in your face – it gets lower.