LGBT ‘hate’ speech not criminal, says CoP

| 09/09/2020 | 101 Comments
Cayman News Service
Police Commissioner Derek Byrne

(CNS): Hate speech about hanging gay people ‘in a loving way’, exposing the sexuality of those attending a fundraiser for a new LGBT awareness group and comments about deporting LGBT people, which are proliferating on social media, do not yet rise to the level of a crime, Police Commissioner Derek Byrne has said. However, the RCIPS is keeping watch on these comments and will act if threats are made against individuals, he added.

Hate speech and the incitement of violence against the LGBT community are nothing new, as they have occurred in the Legislative Assembly. But the attacks have increased following the passage of the Civil Partnership Bill into law. Facebook and WhatsApp groups that include local community leaders, MLAs, members of the Cayman Ministers Association, as well as more conservative fringe pastors, have been pushing the boundaries in the way they talk about members of the LGBT community and those who support them.

MLAs and government members who have engaged with activists and the LGBT community more broadly have been pilloried, stalked and secretly filmed, adding to the intimidation.

While examples of the type of hate speech that is now circulating online have been forwarded to the police, Byrne said that at the moment the commenters are exercising their right to free speech.

“Our assessment at this stage is that these persons are operating in a space of free speech and right to peaceful protest and that they have ensured not to breach boundaries that would amount to suspected criminal behaviour,” Byrne emailed in a response to CNS inquiries. “While the posts that I have seen are challenging and overtly opposed to the LGBT community they do not reach a criminal threshold to justify alarm, distress, harassment to any individual, i.e. a breach of the penal code,” he added.

The commissioner said that the main groups of organised activists challenging the LGBT community have so far notified the RCIPS of their intention to hold public gatherings and have complied in full with any conditions imposed by police as part of the approvals conveyed. 

“Protests have been peaceful,” Byrne said. “Although this matter requires to be monitored on an ongoing basis to ensure that the criminal law and penal code is not breached, my belief at this stage is, we have not reached a criminal threshold to make any arrests or pursue any criminal investigations,” he said, adding that he would, however, keep the matter “under constant review”.

Asked about comparisons to a recent case where an individual was arrested for circulating insults about the governor and his wife, Byrne said the two situations were different.

Marion Rankin was arrested for spreading a false allegation in a private WhatsApp group, which was leaked and circulated more widely. Rankin was never charged in that case, and while the false allegations were unpleasant, they did not rise to the level of the unspecified threats being made by those opposed to LGBT rights. But Byrne said the arrest was made in that case because the information circulated was “wholly false”.

However, much of the information in the current anti-gay rhetoric is not only false but also unnerving.

Noel Cayasso-Smith, the president of the Cayman LGBTQ Foundation, is hosting a fundraiser later this month to help raise money for the new non-profit organisation. He said he was concerned about the comments and the implied threats against their event. He also pointed out that while many of those in attendance will be from the LGBT+ community, there will be many more who are not but who support the community, gay rights and marriage equality.

Nevertheless, given the implied threats, the organisers of the event will have increased security and protection at the event. “This only further proves the need for services like our LGBTQ Foundation and Colours Cayman,” said King Navassa, a volunteer with the foundation.

Colours Cayman members, who have been targeted by some of the hate speech, are very concerned about the comments and contacted the governor. With the departure of Detective Inspector Kevin Ashworth from the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), who had done much to build a relationship between the police and the LGBT community, Colours feels less confident now about dealing directly with the police.

While the RCIPS has been keen to encourage the LGBT community to report hate crimes, the prevailing perception that some officers are homophobic and concerns about exposure remain as barriers to reporting.

Billie Bryan, the president of Colours Cayman, who is a trans-woman, has been the victim of hate assaults on many occasions. She told CNS that the idea that members of the LGBT+ community are rarely victims of hate crime is a myth, and she regularly hears stories of assaults based on sexual orientation. However, the victims will not report the violence because of even greater fears of more attacks or the consequences of being exposed.


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  1. Anonymous says:

    Wonder how it would play out if I walked by the police station and made cops hear me say all police should be put in front of a firing squad and executed..????

  2. Anonymous says:

    Even the CoP is scared of doing or saying anything that might even be misinterpreted as offending or triggering some groups.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Byrne is absolutely wrong in his cavalier 1960s-vintage legal assessment and his statement is extremely worrying. Hate speech is not a protected freedom. Discrimination and bias is expressly forbidden under OHCHR and prosecutable violation of acceptable use policies of ICAAN, OfReg, and CIG Register as qualifying non-profit organizations. CMA should not even exist right now, and I would encourage Cayman’s LGBT+ community and allies to challenge the current publications and deny these hate broadcast channels. Enough.

    • Anonymous says:

      So we’re all legally obligated to love each other and be absolutely fine and dandy with whatever our fellow citizens that we share 70 square miles with do? I don’t think so. Your tone is too strident. Hate speech is not a protected freedom but neither is forced indoctrination and the Caymanian people are going to take their time, whether you like it or not, to get used to the new reality. I will not defend discrimination against homosexuals but I WILL defend the right of my fellow Caymanians to move at their own pace. If you have a problem with our society reacting poorly to having social change forced upon us, guess what, I’ll say the cliche thing just for your satisfaction: you can leave! You can go somewhere where they already think what you want them to think. We will take our time, as the Queen says, “thank you very much”, and you can like it or lump it.

      • Anonymous says:

        ” but neither is forced indoctrination ”

        As a child I begged to not go to Sunday school. I grew up a Christian then left the church when I became an adult.

        You’re sadly mistaken. Indoctrination into religion is Cayman in a nutshell with regular reminders that if you try to convert away you deserve eternal punishment and should be executed by a firing squad.

        All of this despite the constitutional right for me to believe whatever religion I want.

  4. Anonymous says:

    No speech should be criminal, whether it’s “hate” or anything else, unless it might cause others physical harm or a breach of the peace(eg cussing out the police (you idiot) or the classic example of shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theatre). Anyone who on the one hand professes freedom of speech and on the other carves out exceptions is a hypocrite and is actually advocating censorship, the very opposite of freedom of speech.

    Sticks and stones, people. Stop running to the authorities whenever someone says something you deem offensive.

    And as for screen-grabbing offensive posts for future use, that is truly pathetic. Thank God you weren’t living in pre-war Germany. You would’ve fitted right in. (Sorry, was that offensive?)

    • Anonymous says:

      Again this idea that free speech or freedom of expression has ever existed in Cayman is farcical

      -“Wounding religious feelings” is illegal today in 2020
      -There is a literal list of prohibited publications (banned books) today in 2020
      -There are laws regarding Obeah on the books today in 2020
      -Gay people have been detained in Cayman by the police for so much as holding hands and kissing
      -Foots was arrested for putting up art and signs on his own property that far right loons didn’t like and then the police sat back as those same people took the law into their own hands and repeatedly vandalised and defaced his property

      Right wingers don’t want free speech or free expression, they want the freedom to say things they approve of without contradiction or consequences. They will march around with signs talking about people burning, go on the floor of the LA and talk about using their guns and call into radio shows talking about rounding people up and using firing squads and mass deportation but it is never hate speech because they think it doesn’t count when they do it, asking people who quite clearly have abandoned all rationale to be rational is an exercise in futility.

      The authoritarian religious right in Cayman have no regard for anyone outside of their tent, at the moment this entire issue is just a proxy war for political power in these islands, the churches feel as though they should be a 4th branch of government with a say in all matters
      Fundamentalists are never sated with anything but a complete and total takeover of as much as they can get their hands on and these bunch of fundamentalists we have in Cayman have been waiting for decades for the right issue to come around for them to begin pushing for power and authority again

      The lines have been drawn and I know what side I am on

      • Anonymous says:

        Freedom of speech is a universal principle which should transcend the left/right divide. I‘ll say it again: no speech should be criminal unless it might harm or threaten to harm someone.

        If you find Eden’s comments offensive, of course you’re entitled to say so. But equally if someone else disapproves of homosexuality or even say racial equality, they are also entitled to say so, however horrible and wrong their views are and however high are the chances of their getting smacked on the nose for expressing them.

        Anything that restricts that principle is censorship. Nobody should have a monopoly on free speech, nor should they be able to cherry-pick what it means.

  5. Bertie :B says:

    Its on Your head Chief ! I was born Straight , Others are born with many different ailments . the drug thalidomide caused many children to born with stumps for arms or no arms , Point being Some of us are BORN GAY , how to hell can u stop that or have hatred against people who are quite happy and content the way they are BORN . I Know of Nobody : Anywhere : who was Born Religious ? Just Mind Your Own Damn Business people . You can Not Catch being gay . Maybe you all should go feel around in your own closet , cause i bet there is something in there that would love to come out . Wake up . And Mr Chief , you sir best read up on the law . doing Nothing is literally risking lives of good people .

  6. nauticalone345 says:

    That’s a cop-out by the CoP!

    The least he could do is voice a warning to those he considers bordering on hate speech! Surely some are bordering….no?

  7. Anonymous says:

    The CoP should perhaps think again – particularly if there is an incitement to commit and offence!!

  8. Anonymous says:

    But put it in an email and you will be charged.

  9. Anonymous says:

    There was a comment on here a few months ago, with the person saying that if they a shotgun they would shoot any gay person near them. Not one member of the LGBTQ community has threatened Christians as far as I can see (not saying it doesn’t happen). Isn’t it ironic how some of them say they want to literally kill other human beings in the name of God, but gay people are the ‘sinners’?

    If a homophobic attack happens in the next few weeks, I’m blaming you Chief, because words can turn to actions. Saying this hate speech is acceptable will fuel certain people. Very irresponsible.

    • Anonymous says:

      Don’t let anyone know but there are even some gay Christians…

      Seriously though this should be an easy test. Replace LGBT with Black, Caymanian, Jew or some other description if it sounds like hate speech in that context it probably is. If someone is “joking” about hanging someone in a community where that has happened or suicides have been linked to this sort of abuse it needs to be stopped.

    • SSM345 says:

      The person threatening gay people with their shotgun called Betsy was none other than the MLA from Savannah; Anthony Eden.

      He said it in the LA; where he is protected by Parliamentary Privilege.

      • Senz Sybull says:

        Ask the older Caymanians – they know who is gay but hid in the closet for years and still there hiding. Because you married a female doesn’t make you straight! Those who scream the loudest have much to hide. Figure it out.

    • Stable Crime says:

      As long as the homophobic hate speech remains at a “stable level” this is good enough for the Chief, along with the “stable crime rate”

      Does anyone actually believe the Chief actually makes any decisions regarding crime in Cayman?

  10. Anonymous says:

    Surely their gods will judge their hate when their time comes?

  11. shame on you, Mr. Chief of Police says:

    So, LGBT hate-speech isn’t criminal, huh? In other words, it’s open season on gays, and it’s A-ok with you? Well, guess what? When something bad happens, YOU, Mr. Chief of Police, are going to be the one to blame. It’s going to be on your conscience. It may even cost you your job — which would only be right, seeing as you refuse to do it-!!!

    • Anonymous says:

      CoP didn’t say it would never be hate crime. He said the examples before him do not rise to the threshold of hate crime. There’s a difference.

    • Anonymous says:

      He didn’t say it was ok. He said it didn’t breach the law. He didn’t write the law – our MLAS did. So if you want hate speech to be a crime then ask your MLAs to revise the law. Good luck with that if they won’t even vote to support legally recognized gay partnerships.

  12. Anonymous says:

    What about the “hate speech” from the LgBTQ side..There is plenty from each side going around..I think disrespecting all Christians and lumping them into one group to criticize and berate them is wrong too..

    Both sides need to calm tomorrow..

    • Anonymous says:

      Interestingly another crazy person made a similar comment about the 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia riots — that you Donald?

  13. Anonymous says:

    Wow look at the hate speech against christians or anyone who has a different view than theirs..

  14. Anonymous says:

    Yesterday, a caller called into Rooster. He spoke about his devotion to his Bible, then said “anyone who is involved in the queer and lisbian lifestyle should be put in front of a firing squad … their lifestyle is bullshit” on live radio.

    The hypocrisy is real. No gay person I know of has suggested executing Kattalina or any CMA minister.

    • Anonymous says:

      How Christlike of him.

      • Anonymous says:

        I am a straight man, but I don’t hate Gays. Why should I hate someone that never did anything wrong to me, they are humans same as me, and i respect them and I hope they respect me, their sexual life style is not hurting me in any way.

        • Greek God 77 says:

          True, but they shouldn’t try to change the rest of the world to be like them by imposing their ways into laws of the country!!

          CNS: For heaven’s sake, stop making this about you (it isn’t) and stop talking nonsense. No LGBT person is trying to change the world to be like them. To say that demonstrates at best utter ignorance and at worst malicious intent. They are not trying to change anyone; they just want the same rights to happiness and family life that you enjoy.

    • SSM345 says:

      There are people in the LA/our broader Community who would throw them off the top of the LA building for all to see if he was allowed.

      Some of these Christian and their beliefs are exactly the same as ISIS; the only difference is the God they worship.

    • Anonymous says:

      Yup! Happens all the time on that stupid show. The host acts like he is for free speech but he lets hate speech like that happen all the time. My friends and I listen to know what sponsors to boycott. Starting with subway.

    • Anonymous says:

      Yep heard that call and Woody DaCosta and The Deputy Leader of the Opposition Alva Suckoo didn’t so much as blink, they didn’t cut him off, they didn’t challenge him in the slightest, they didn’t distance themselves from it
      At the end of the day there are a good chunk of people in Cayman who not only don’t believe that gay people shouldn’t be afforded protection under the law but think they are not people at all, and that they can just be rounded up and ‘dealt with’

      But don’t worry, I already see the whiney comments in here talking about how the real hate speech is LGBTQ people who are tired of BS from hypocrites and zealots ‘disrespecting all Christians’

  15. Anonymous says:

    Interesting that these so called Christians who don’t hate aren’t prepared to call out and condemn calls for violence or hateful remarks against a minority group of people.

    Complete hypocrites. Someone suggests gays should be hanged to teach them a lesson or that people at the fundraising event should harassed? Complete silence from the religious groups and delusions of themselves being persecuted.

  16. .. says:

    Did you people lose your mind?
    And how threats of hanging is not a criminal offense, let alone hate speech?

  17. RCIP Distress Signal says:

    Nothing to see here folks.

    As the beach is free of tourists, all residents are encouraged to join the RCIPs and stick their heads in the sand.

  18. Anonymous says:

    What about all of the hate speech and ridicule that is being directed at people of faith and those individuals that don’t agree with the actions taken by the governor? The majority of hate filled comments in recent times appear to be coming from members of the LGBTQ+ community and their supporters.

    • JTB says:

      I haven’t seen anyone arguing that private Christian belief and observance should be banned. That would be hate speech of course.

      Pointing that your religious beliefs are precisely that – yours – isn’t hate speech. It’s a statement of fact.

      • Anonymous says:

        Yeah, you just call them morons, idiots, bigots, racists, ignorant, uneducated, hateful haters, etc.

        • JTB says:

          All of which may or may not be true in any particular case.

          However, I never use such terms to describe the fact of someone’s faith – only if they use their faith to justify discrimination or hatred.

          • Religious says:

            What is discrimination? Because discrimination different than you, doesn’t mean they are wrong and you are right. I personally don’t believe I am discriminating against any gay person when I refuse to have my child near he or her. To me, avoiding your sinfulness, is not discrimination. You are not a race. Why must you penalize me for my way of seeing it???

            • JTB says:

              Discrimination is treating people differently because of an innate characteristic.

              Such as, for example, denying people the right to a legal partnership with the person they love because they happen to be gay.

              If you were just ‘avoiding their sinfulness’ then that’d be fine. It’s up to you who you associate with. But it’s not just that. You are imposing your own religious beliefs on them, and denying them a right which is available to anyone else.

              That’s discrimination.

            • BeaumontZodecloun says:

              discrimination
              [dɪˌskrɪmɪˈneɪʃ(ə)n]
              NOUN
              the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, sex, sexual preference or disability.

              When you ascribe a person’s sexuality as “sinful”, that is a judgement on your part, which, incidentally, doesn’t belong to you, it belongs to either a court of law or your deity of choice.

              How are YOU being penalised?

              • TJ says:

                Your definition is not my definition in sinq with nature. So, I guess you will have to lock me up too!!! 🙂

              • Anonymous says:

                Are you kidding? I am going to think as I please about gays, and there is nothing you or the government or god can do about it short of the death penalty.

                • JTB says:

                  Think what you like. Your conscience is your own affair. But you can’t circumscribe the legal rights of those who don’t share your beliefs.

                  • Anonymous says:

                    Well … how I see it fellas, the ones whose pushing their beliefs on us are lgbt gays!

                    CNS: Claiming victimhood when you are not the victim is really pathetic. No one is telling you what to believe and no one is making anyone be gay, or even making anyone believe that being gay is OK. The law simply gives a minority group the same rights as you have. This does not concern you at all if you are not gay.

                    • JTB says:

                      Thumbs up for CNS who manage to stay more polite than I could.

                      We really do have some prehistoric idiots on this island

    • Anonymous says:

      This comment is everything. Some of the most horrific comments seen and convos I have heard are from people of the LGBTQ community.

      Across the board, the behaviors from each side are appalling

      • Anonymous says:

        Yeah the people who get on the radio and go out in public calling gay people evil pedophiles that cause natural disasters and want to destroy the islands are the same as the people who just want to be left alone with the same rights and protections as anyone else

        You really have cracked the case
        The both sides are equally bad nonsense is just that and you know it
        You might not mind what your side says, but that doesn’t mean you can just pretend it isn’t said

      • Anonymous says:

        Christians want gay people to convert to their church.

        Gay people don’t try to convert straight Christians to their sexuality.

        Big, big difference here.

        • Anonymous says:

          They kinda do though

          • Anonymous says:

            They actually don’t. Site a source because I have millions of sources for Christianity trying to convert. I’ll start with crusades.

            • Anonymous says:

              Crusades weren’t about converting anyone, it was about fighting back an invasion that was happening by the Islamist.

              • Anonymous says:

                Oh you poor poor delusional soul.

              • Anonymous says:

                It was about the Emperor of Byzantium wanting to conquer to the east and using religious zealotry to unite other Christian kingdoms to aid him. At which point the Crusaders ransacked their way across Europe, including Byzantium, because why let the destitution of multitudes get in the way of a good crusade?

    • Anonymous says:

      The notion that your religious beliefs and faith should automatically be respected, is laughable. The day you religious lot can show respect, is when you will have earned it. Until then, don’t count on it. Besides, stupid shit should be criticized, otherwise there will never be progress.

  19. Anonymous says:

    Remove the police commissioner: he does not know the Penal Code. Harassment, alarm and distress has been caused. Threats of hanging, however dressed up, amount to a clear criminal offence.

    88A. (1) A person who, with intent to cause a person harassment, alarm or distress –
    (a) uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour; or
    (b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting,
    thereby causing that or another person harassment, alarm or distress commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for three years or, if the offence is committed in the night, to imprisonment for four years.
    (2) An offence under this section may be committed in a public place or a private place.

    • Anonymous says:

      Oh shut the hell up.

    • Anonymous says:

      Oh, remove the Commissioner but not the Governor? How biased

    • Anonymous says:

      Dont give up your day job – the wording is ” a person” requiring a specific person – not a definition where a generic threat to a group can be interpreted as triggering the clause. Whether it should be brought up to date is another issue, but the CoP can only apply the law as written not as it should be. And good luck with getting hate crime legislation through the LA – unless its designed to protect pearl clutching Christians from being offended by posts mocking Leviticus.

      • Concerned says:

        It does not need a specific person that the words are designed to harass alarm or cause distress to. It requires that a person of reasonable firmness is harassed, alarmed or distressed if they were present, which when broadcast on social medua they are. There are also offences of using ict to cause harassment, alarm or distres. The COP is well wide of the mark here. One statement from someone saying they were harassed is enough to arrest the person putting the remarks in public. He is YET AGAIN siding with the politicians and failing to act in the support of a minority and vulnerable group.

  20. Fat bastard says:

    Discrimination against lgbt people in Cayman is encouraged. I doubt it will ever change. I suspect people getting Cayman status for the most part are homophobic and transphobic so it just feeds the continued hate.

    • Anonymous says:

      It’s not hate, it’s more like distaste.

      • Fat bastard says:

        Maybe you need a Cayman version of the Rupaul drag show then.

      • Anonymous says:

        I wrote a comment elaborating on what this distaste is and it was censored by CNS. CNS, you are getting it wrong here. This is a topic on which all should be able to speak freely. There are many, many different viewpoints and all should be shared. People can judge for themselves. I spent like half an hour looking for this comment to see if you had deleted the whole chain of them. XXXX

        CNS: I deleted the lecture about how I should do my job. I do allow a range of differing opinions in the comments, at least half of which I disagree with to varying degrees, which should be obvious from reading them. However, I am not going to allow what I consider hate speech against a vulnerable minority group, so there is a line. The thing to bear in mind is that on one side of this argument there is anger, distaste, etc, but not pain I don’t think, while on the other side there is the genuine anguish of people who feel marginalised that can lead to real mental health issues.

        Generally, what is allowable would vary for every single person who moderated, and every single one of them would be criticised for how they do it. But it just so happens that I am doing it so I must decide.

  21. Anonymous says:

    I am pretty sure it’s the DPP that decides what has met the criminal threshold and what hasn’t. The police are there to investigate and present what they find to the DPP. Yes, the police have some discretion but surely they should err on the side of caution here?
    It just goes to show that if you say something nasty about a person in power you are arrested and interviewed faster than you can say Operation Tempura, but if you just do a bit of good old fashioned gay bashing you are good to go. (For those who are sarcastically challenged there is a lot of sarcasm in my description of the vitriolic hate being spewed at normal people living their life the only way they know how.)

    • Anonymous says:

      The DPP in Cayman?
      Another bunch of clowns.

    • Concerned says:

      Spot on. The COP is failing in his duty to protect a vulnerable group. He is useless, lacks leadership and has no clue how to protect the independence of the service from political influence. The minute a politician is involved he folds. He is far, far too close to the politicians.

  22. Anonymous says:

    This is truly alarming. If Mario can be arrested for saying some BS about the governor’s wife on a plane why are these people not held to the same standard? Because that’s about as false as someone saying all gay people are going to hell.

  23. Anonymous says:

    I knew this crap was coming, so now the freedom of speech shall be taken away, give an inch take a mile, I hope every Caymanian realise what is going on and protest against and refuse to let the governer push any form of scam hate crime false bill been pushed by the LGBT community.

    • Anonymous says:

      Preach 2:00

    • Anonymous says:

      We have never had freedom of speech because that is never what bible bashers and zealots have wanted, there are literally sections of the penal code specifically written by Christians to stop people from criticizing Christianity in Cayman
      One simply needs to look at the failed attempts to prosecute Foots on Cayman Brac to see that what the far right bigots and zealots mean by free speech is their freedom to castigate, demonize and demean without rebuttal or response

      Stop pretending as if you care about free speech, you don’t Christians want the same thing they have wanted since the days of Theodosius, complete domination of all aspects of society

      Not like it matters there aren’t enough prison cells in Northward for the amount of people who have been spouting off hate speech at the LGBTQ community over the past 3 years alone

      • Anonymous says:

        Isn’t what you are saying “hate speech” towards the Christian community..Do you have any proof of what you are saying or is this to jab and annoy them?

        • Anonymous says:

          Only if you considered any form of criticism hate speech
          Which many Caymanians do, of course they will be the same people talking about forcibly deporting anyone they disagree with

          Cayman has been a breeding ground for wannabe theocrats and authoritarians for some time now

          All you need to do to justify anything here is say its in the bible

    • Anonymous says:

      Freedom of Speech has never existed in the Cayman Islands; and still does not.

      Couple of examples for you;

      Ever heard stories of people being carted away in the middle of the night and put on planes because of things they have said to those in Authority/in public that didn’t like it? Lots and lots of people kicked out because of what they said.

      Ever used a bad word in front of the RCIPS? They can arrest you for it and have done to many many many people; both Caymanian and Non-Caymanian; they call it disorderly conduct……

      Cherry Picking needs to become a national sport.

      • Anakin Skywalker says:

        My stolen vehicle had CayGPS tracker in it. Woke up to find it gone. Jumped in my truck with a machete and headed to the house where the tracker traced it to.

        Decided to call Police to deal with the matter to avoid a murder charge. They showed up, bust down the door and pulled the thief out.

        As he was walking in cuffs with them I stood outside the fence and screamed/cussed the thief out. Gotta give them credit where due because they told me they were giving me a courtesy to let the cussing slide – guess because I had a reason to.

  24. Anonymous says:

    From an Irish Mirror news story last year, ‘Members of the LGBT+ community experience the highest rates of discrimination in Ireland, CSO figures reveal.

    A total of 33.2% reported they were targeted over the past two years while 33.1% of non-white ethnic backgrounds, 30.2% of unemployed and 26.7% non-Irish people also fell victim to societal inequality.

    Statistician Maureen Delamere said: “Almost a fifth of persons aged 18 or over stated they had experienced discrimination within the previous two years.

    “Those who experienced most discrimination were people who identify as LGBT+.

    “The most common grounds identified by people who had experienced any form of discrimination were age followed by race, colour and nationality.’

    And where does our current COP come from?

    This is a bit like letting the fox guard the hen house!

  25. Anonymous says:

    Stop blowing things out of proportion.
    Genuine Christians, and I mean genuine, have no animosity towards LGBT, so please stop stirring the pot. Capiche?
    Genuine Christians want all people to be saved, but if you choose your lifestyle, that is on your own head.
    News outlets need to be very careful as to how they present.
    Present truth. Truth can not be argued with.
    If you have evidence of “genuine” Christians threatening LGBT, then it is your responsibility to out the perpetrators.

    • Anonymous says:

      If you look at any news stories across all Cayman Islands based news agencies, you will see the same names pop up over and over with disgusting, degrading and hate speech. I have a list of names that continuously comment and spread vile and untrue statements. I have been screen grabbing many of these disgusting and vile comments as evidence if needed in future.

      • Anonymous says:

        Evidence? Lol you bored.

        • Anonymous says:

          Not at all, but as one scrolls through various news articles, commentary linked to same and social media posts, it’s very easy to just screenshot the piece. Stored on a device ready for retrieval for instances in future when parasites attempt to squirm their way out of such allegations.

          Much like dashcams are to cars, screenshots are to phones.

      • SSM345 says:

        Eden told the LGBT Community he has a shotgun called “Betsy” for them once, remember that?

  26. Anonymous says:

    Get back to the UK and retrain yourself.

    CNS: If this is addressed to CoP Derek Byrne, he is not from the UK. He hails from the Republic of Ireland.

    • Anonymous says:

      Love the CNS approach. Allow stupid comments, but cut them down to size.

    • AttentionToDetail says:

      To CNS: If you look at CoP Byrne’s profile on the RCIPS website, his police training at Bramshill Police Training College (UK) and his M.A. in Violence, Terrorism and Security from Queens Belfast (also UK!) is given pretty high prominence in the context of his fairly short bio, so you may need to reconsider that slightly glib interjection (which didn’t actually suggest he himself was from the Uk, just that he should go back to retrain….)

      CNS: I am suitably admonished.

      • Anonymous says:

        @AttentionToDetail

        The reason he undertook that training in the UK is simply because it’s not avaialable in Ireland. In fact a lot of Garda training is undertaken in the UK for that reason.

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