By LaKEISHA McSWEENEY,Guardian Staff Reporter

With the first "family value" gay cruise scheduled to dock in Bahamian waters on July 16, a band of protesters are anticipating to again have numbers that will make politicians realise that citizens value morality over revenue.

"We have to determine what it is that we want," said Pastor Mario Moxey, chairman of The Save The Bahamas Campaign, Wednesday during a press conference at The Bahamas Harvest Church, Prince Charles Drive where he announced a massive rally against gay cruises for Sunday in Rawson Square.

"Are we going to go after a morally sound nation or are we going to go after our livestock? he asked. "Are we going to think our pocketbooks or are we going to think moral decency?

Pastor Moxey added that the numbers at the upcoming rally, the first of numerous scheduled in the coming weeks, would also force politicians to end their silence on homosexual cruises and same sex marriages.

"The government listens again to numbers," said Pastor Moxey.

He said, "When we protested in 1998 it was the numbers that triggered the government to speak out on the issue. The influence comes through the mobilization of people. Government listens to numbers and to them it's just a number game. They are all politicians seeking to be re-elected."

The mid-July cruise is being heavily promoted by comedienne and former talk show host Rosie O' Donnell who reportedly announced that she and her life partner, Kelli O'Donnell would bring along their four children.

The vessel, a part of the Norweigan Cruise Line, hopes to attract some 2,200 gay and lesbian parents, children and their relatives on the voyage from New York with ports of call to Florida and The Bahamas.

He said the homosexual agenda seeks to redefine family values and cited workshops on the five-day cruise addressing gay adoption, artificial insemination, and surrogacy, as examples of this.

He said conditioning takes place when you expose a nation to a particular lifestyle "and this is why we have to make sure that we protect the morality of our nation."

Pastor Moxey said the country is engrossed in a spiritual warfare with the morality of the nation at stake. He said while homosexuality was not a communicable disease "homosexuality carries with it, spirits of immorality."

He said child molestation and other acts of immorality were on the rise "and we as a nation of people must be very, very, discerning about these things and take the proper steps to preserve what we consider The Bahamas, a Christian nation."

Further, Pastor Moxey charged that the gay and lesbian community with their exclusive vacations epitomizes discrimination.

He said embracing homosexual tourists creates a chasm between the heterosexual families looking for wholesome family destinations.

One example of this, he said was that of Walt Disney which he claimed has become tarnished and has lost its family support with its introduction over the last few years of a "Gay Day".

He said campaign organizers have absolutely nothing against homosexual tourists nor are they interested in screening tourists on their sexual preference but "what we're simply stating is that when a group that represents a moral behaviour that is deviant from the norms of our society, we have to ring the bell, we have to ring the bell, we have to say hold up," he said.

Pastor Vaughn Miller, Vice Chairperson said if the cruise is not opposed it will result in tragedy to the nation "morally, socially and even otherwise."

"The homosexual agenda is inclusive of firstly one of tolerance, secondly acceptance and thirdly participation," he said.

He appealed to Bahamians and all residents "who want The Bahamas to remain a decent and morally sound place to be, to come out and support us."

With regard to violence erupting at the protests, Pastor Moxey was adamant that organizers did not promote violence. He said their protests in 1998 were not plagued with violence even when confronted with open displays of affection by homosexual passengers off the Olivia cruise ship "and I don't foresee violence occurring."

Representatives from Rainbow Alliance of The Bahamas, a gay and lesbian advocacy group was also in attendance at the press conference.