In a published letter, the Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops is calling on the government to act responsibly by making a formal protest to the US government in response to recent actions and statements by US Ambassador James Brewster. In the letter, the bishops say the ambassador is abusing his power, displaying a lack of respect for Dominican customs, and violating the Constitution and the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.
The bishops expressed their objection to visits made by Brewster and his husband Robert Satawake to schools and youth events. “They are trying to confuse our young people by presenting a distorted model of the family, defying the authority of the law.” The bishops pointed to the Dominican Constitution, saying that it establishes that a family is formed by a man and a woman.
They criticized the ambassador for stating during a recent American Chamber of Commerce event that anyone who does not like the way that the US representative behaves in the country could return their US visa. The priests described this as “a violation of freedom of speech.”
They also criticized alleged US support for gay politicians, as announced during the LGBT Summit by the USAID director, although the US Embassy later clarified that this was not the case. According to the embassy, some media reports misrepresented what was said about supposed funding for LGBT political candidates. He said the US Embassy did not channel government funds to any political candidates anywhere.
Speaking the day before the note was published in the media on El Dia TV show, Ambassador Brewster highlighted that the DR has to gain from his efforts to create better Dominican linkages with the international LGBT community. In his support to the LGBT Chamber of Commerce in the country, he argued that the LGBT market was worth US$13 trillion, representing a trade opportunity for the Dominican Republic.
The US Ambassador addressed one of the interviewer’s observation that his visits schools with his husband, Bob Satawake are viewed as a novelty, because traditionally, diplomatic wives have accompanied their husbands during formal events of this type. Brewster said that the reason is that they came to the country as a married couple and both as representatives of the United States, with “100% support” from their President. Satawake added that a greater concern was “the vulgar language used by those who protest against them, which does more harm to children than anything we have done.”
The ambassador went on to address the perception that the US Embassy is making LGBT issues a priority. Brewster said: “We are here to promote love and respect for everybody,” he said. He said that the objective of US Embassies worldwide was to promote equality, adding that it is the media that has fuelled all the LGBT controversy. He said they have rarely called the media to highlight LGBT issues. He mentioned the case of US Embassy support to programs like 911, anti-drug trafficking measures, immigration, combating sexual trafficking, have not received the media attention.
He said that they had met with President Medina to discuss programs to protect women who are victims of domestic violence. Ambassador Brewster also spoke about other US-supported initiatives such as combating Medfly and the pre-clearance facility at Punta Cana International Airport. The diplomats said the media was behaving irresponsibly by not covering positive issues such as medical missions to help people from low-income households and rather giving priority to LGBT issues.
Brewster denied that people who did not share their views would have their visas revoked.
http://hoy.com.do/videos/todos/eldia11-03-2016
http://www.elcaribe.com.do/2016/03/15/obispos-dicen-embajador-eeuu-abusa-dominicanos
