By KARL E CUPID Tobago Bure Friday, March 30 2007

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MR AND MR JOHN: Sir Elton John (right) and his companion David Furnish. THA Chief Secretary Orville London has backed Sir Elton to perform at the Plym...

TOBAGO House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Orville London yesterday broke his silence on the controversy surrounding gay pop superstar Sir Elton John’s appearance at the Plymouth Jazz Festival.

London made it absolutely clear that the THA would not support any effort to discriminate against the world renowned singer and musician over his sexual orientation. Within the past few weeks, there has been a call by a minority group of clergymen in Tobago to ban Sir Elton’s performance at the Jazz Festival on moral grounds.

The clergymen declared that Sir Elton, a self-confessed homosexual, should not be allowed to enter Tobago to perform at the Jazz Festival where he is billed as the headline act.

In backing Sir Elton, London said, “The state and church are partners but they are not identical twins.”

“basically one has got to understand that this should not be about Orville London’s personal opinion, it is the assembly’s position. As I indicated to the (protesting) pastors the position church leaders take does not necessarily have to be that taken by the State or the assembly,” London said.

“I also want to make it very clear that as far as I am aware and I have had discussion with a number of church leaders, even within the church itself, there is no consensus, no unanimity in relation to this particular position. But we in the Tobago House of Assembly are very clear that we do not support any ban on any individual on these grounds, including Sir Elton John,” London declared.

“Sir Elton John is coming here to do what he does best and that is, to entertain the people of Trinidad and Tobago and therefore we would not support any effort to discriminate against him or any effort to embarrass him.”

London recalled an incident where, in the middle of the raging debate, his 11-year-old daughter told him, “That is not fair, it is not fair for them to have us singing the man’s song and the man cannot come here to sing his own song.”

He stressed this was a particularly profound statement which should “force all of us as Tobagonians and human beings to question ourselves. What are the lessons to be learned from this? And not only that, what is the position we are going to be placing ourselves in after Sir Elton John?”

He warned, “We have got to be very clear about the signals and the messages we send to people, we might be thinking about one side of the story but there is another side. I respect the rights of any individual to hold any position, but I am saying that as an assembly we have a responsibility to recognise we must manage diversity and govern in an environment where there are differences.”