A gay-rights group will head to court today to challenge a ruling by the Court of Appeal granting a stay to the interim order allowing them to host a controversial debate on same-sex marriage at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre in St James. The latest twist emerges after Montego Bay Mayor Homer Davis’ attorney filed an appeal yesterday.

Amid withering criticism by civil and church organisations, Montego Bay Pride leader Maurice Tomlinson has accused the St James municipal authorities of using the issue as a “political football”. Tomlinson, founder and development coordinator of the gay group, has been embroiled in a court dispute with the city’s mayor over the right to host the forum in the civic centre, a public building.

The civic building, located in the heart of the St James capital, has been ground zero in a legal tug-of-war for over several weeks. On Monday, the Supreme Court in Kingston made an interim order allowing the gay-rights campaigners to rent the civic centre.

Yesterday evening, churchgoers who journeyed from Kingston to Montego Bay, mounted a small protest in front of the cultural centre, bearing placards denouncing anal sex and gay marriage. Read more via Jamaican Gleaner