A gender-critical Christian dance group is calling for an investigation after a senator who upheld their disqualification from a competition withdrew his ruling.
The Praise Academy of Dance Barbados was disqualified by the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) last October for allegedly exceeding "the bounds of good taste" and making "defamatory claims".
The teenagers, who were supported by the Christian Legal Centre, had planned to compete in the competition with a performance called 'Speak Life', which presents a Christian viewpoint of gender identity and sexual orientation, and states that there are only two genders.
Their disqualification was upheld in November by Senator Gregory Nicholls, who was acting as arbiter in the dispute with NIFCA.
He has now written to the group's legal representatives confirming that he has rescinded his decision.
"I accept ... that a fair-minded informed observer would conclude that there was a real possibility of bias in the present matter," he wrote.
"I have therefore decided to rescind my arbitral decision of November 17th, 2023, in the interest of fairness to all parties concerned."
The withdrawal of his ruling does not affect the original decision of the NIFCA to cancel the performance.
Attorney Davida Maynard-Holligan, who is representing Praise Academy of Dance Barbados, said that the dance group's experience "sent a chilling message to Christians in Barbados". He is calling for an impartial investigation into the senator's actions.
"While we are encouraged that Senator Nicholls has withdrawn his ruling, the original ruling against the group remains in place and justice is being delayed," he said.
"If we had not challenged and exposed what had happened to the group, there is no way that Senator Nicholls' would have withdrawn his ruling.
"What he did therefore remains a highly concerning precedent which must never happen again on this island."
