Same-sex marriage not a priority for Samoa Fa'afafine Association

A member of the Samoa Fa'afafine Association,Tim Baice, said marriage equality is not a priority for his group or the Samoan community.

This week Samoa's Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi declared he was adamant there would be no same-sex marriage in Samoa after it was recently allowed in Australia.

Tuilaepa said as long as Samoa remained a Christian country it would not allow what he referred to as Sodom and Gomorrah practices.

Tuilaepa is a patron of the Fa'fafine Association and Mr Baice said while some individuals may be passionate about marriage equality, the group had other priorities.

"The promotion of human rights and the reduction of discrimination and violence based on gender identity, those sorts of projects are their priority projects. They're being very careful about which issues they would like to prioritise so a discussion on marriage equality would just be really out of the ball-park and it could potentially risk all the other sorts of projects," said Tim Baice.

 

 

Photo: Samoa fa'afafine Association/Facebook First Trans Blueprint Training in Samoa sponsored by the International Trans Fund (ITF). December 2017