{"id":5426,"date":"2017-07-24T17:47:52","date_gmt":"2017-07-24T17:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=5426"},"modified":"2017-07-24T17:47:52","modified_gmt":"2017-07-24T17:47:52","slug":"minister-says-removal-of-carnival-banners-was-not-homophobic-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/minister-says-removal-of-carnival-banners-was-not-homophobic-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Minister says removal of carnival banners was not homophobic act"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Carnival Minister Paul Chet Greene has said he did not have a \u201chomophobic moment\u201d when he ordered rainbow coloured banners to be removed from the streets of St. John\u2019s.<\/p>

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The minister told ZDK that he learned on Sunday that the banners were reflecting \u201canother kind of parade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be very clear in stating that Antigua and Barbuda\u2019s carnival is not an extension and must not be a reflection of any other carnival anywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>

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Greene blamed the contractor who he did not name, for \u201can irresponsible act.\u201d<\/p>

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He said the individual was asked to design the decorations \u201cconsistent with national colours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a most insensitive act on his part,\u201d Greene added.<\/p>

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The minister also apologized to the public and in particular those who wrote him about the controversial decorations.<\/p>\n

He said new decorations will soon be installed.<\/p>

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The colours used in the banners have been linked to members of the Lesbian Gay Bi-sexual and Transgender community.<\/p>

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They were removed yesterday after popular radio personality Percival Simon brought public concern over their placement to the media.<\/p>\n

LGBT activist Tasheka Lavann says the decision by the government to remove the decorations because they resemble the gay-pride flag, demonstrates how deeply rooted homophobia is in Antigua and Barbuda.<\/p>\n

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Carnival Minister Paul Chet Greene has said he did not have a \u201chomophobic moment\u201d when he ordered rainbow coloured banners to be removed from the streets of St. John\u2019s. The minister told ZDK that he learned on Sunday that the banners were reflecting \u201canother kind of parade.\u201d \u201cI want to be very clear in stating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","category-featured"],"yoast_head":"\nMinister says removal of carnival banners was not homophobic act - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/minister-says-removal-of-carnival-banners-was-not-homophobic-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Minister says removal of carnival banners was not homophobic act\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Carnival Minister Paul Chet Greene has said he did not have a \u201chomophobic moment\u201d when he ordered rainbow coloured banners to be removed from the streets of St. John\u2019s. The minister told ZDK that he learned on Sunday that the banners were reflecting \u201canother kind of parade.\u201d \u201cI want to be very clear in stating […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/minister-says-removal-of-carnival-banners-was-not-homophobic-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antigua News Room\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-24T17:47:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Rainbow.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/minister-says-removal-of-carnival-banners-was-not-homophobic-act\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/minister-says-removal-of-carnival-banners-was-not-homophobic-act\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\"},\"headline\":\"Minister says removal of carnival banners was not homophobic act\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-24T17:47:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-24T17:47:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/minister-says-removal-of-carnival-banners-was-not-homophobic-act\/\"},\"wordCount\":222,\"commentCount\":14,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Entertainment\",\"Featured\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/minister-says-removal-of-carnival-banners-was-not-homophobic-act\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/minister-says-removal-of-carnival-banners-was-not-homophobic-act\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/minister-says-removal-of-carnival-banners-was-not-homophobic-act\/\",\"name\":\"Minister says removal of carnival banners was not homophobic act - 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