Island Christian leaders: Ban Elton John*

POSTED: 1442 GMT (2242 HKT), March 27, 2007

Story Highlights
• Christian leaders in Tobago: Ban Elton John from jazz fest
• Worried that singer's homosexuality may influence young
• John celebrated 60th birthday Sunday night

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (Reuters) -- Pop singer Elton John should be
banned from performing at a jazz festival in Tobago because his
homosexuality could influence young people, some Christian leaders on
the Caribbean island said Monday.

A group of Christian churches have failed to persuade the Tobago House
of Assembly, which oversees the administration of the island, to join
the call for a boycott of John's appearance at the Plymouth Jazz
Festival in late April.

But they said they would pursue the campaign against John, who married
his partner David Furnish in Britain in 2005.

"We feel it can have a negative social impact. There are some who may
not be sure of their sexuality and one has to be careful about how this
can create impressions on impressionable minds," pastor Terrance Baynes
told Reuters Monday.

The British singer celebrated his 60th birthday at Madison Square Garden
in New York on Sunday, playing more than 30 songs from a career spanning
four decades. (Gallery: Elton John's flashy life)

Jazz festival organizer CL Communications dismissed calls for a boycott
and said the show would go on.

"Elton John is coming as what he is, one of the world's greatest
performers," said Anthony Maharaj, adding that the country should be
honored to have John perform in Tobago, the smaller island of
energy-rich Trinidad.

"His band has performed in every country around the world. .... He is
not coming here to preach about what lifestyle people should have," he
said.