From:TheBahamasWeekly.com
The YES CAMPAIGN responds to Rev. Cedric Moss on the gender equality bills
May 23, 2016 - 9:42:49 AM
In a letter published in the May 19th 2016 edition of The Tribune newspaper, Cedric Moss details his opposition to Bill 3, and repeats his conjecture about Bill 4.
Since February, the Constitutional Commission has held dozens of information sessions across The Bahamas, making legal experts available to answer all questions from the public. That Mr. Moss continues to cling to misinformation rather than educate himself shows a willful determination to ignore facts in favor of inventing conspiracy theories.
On bill four, Mr. Moss ignores what is in black and white: the word “sex” is already in the Constitution, in Article 15, and should a judge today choose to interpret “sex” as sexual orientation, there is nothing now in our Constitution to stop him or her. But bill four would take the new step of defining “sex” as male or female, so that no judge could say it meant gay or straight. In addition, by adding sex to Article 26, and thus preventing future Parliaments from writing laws that treat men and women differently, the protection for marriage in Article 26(4)(c) is activated. Article 26, as amended, would say – you cannot discriminate on the basis of sex, except when it comes to marriage. Bill four therefore provides new protection for our Matrimonial Causes Act, which requires marriage to be between a man and a woman in order to be legal.
No longer content with being wrong on #4, Mr. Moss has more recently turned his attention to #3.
Bill 3 would give unmarried Bahamian men the ability to pass on their citizenship to their child born to a non-Bahamian woman, once they’ve proved paternity by DNA testing.
The behavior of such fathers appears to offend Mr. Moss, but consider their children, whose lives are affected from the moment of their birth for reasons beyond their control. These children deserve to belong fully to their families and to our nation, to share in both the rights and responsibilities of Bahamian citizenship.
Moss says Bill 3 will only help children born after it passes, but in fact, the Government has pledged to put in place administrative measures to ensure children born to an unmarried Bahamian father can be regularized through the Department of Immigration. Why, then, the need for amending our Constitution? So that policies don’t change with the whims of successive governments, so that rights are secure.
Any government can pass laws that, for example, outlaw allowing one race a privilege denied to another race. But we all believe that this kind of choice should not be left to governments, that a nation’s founding document ought to reflect its values, and guarantee certain rights to all citizens, under all governments to come.
Now is not the time for conspiracies or paranoia, now is the time for thoughtful reflection. We have an opportunity as a nation to take a step forward, let us all do so together, by voting YES on June 7th.
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