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Columns : Letters to The Editor Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM


Pastor Cedric Moss responds to the Attorney General's "terrible shame" comment‏
By Pastor Cedric Moss, Think, Bahamas!
May 5, 2016 - 6:37:35 AM

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Press Statement:

It was disappointing to read Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson’s comment that it would be a “terrible shame” if Bahamians vote “no” to the constitutional referendum questions because of concerns about same-sex marriage. The unvarnished truth is that the true “terrible shame” is that the government has stood idly by for almost two years and ignored the cries of the Bahamian people to adopt the protective measure against same-sex marriage contained in Recommendation 25 of the Constitutional Commission. Further, the government has stood idly by and ignored the cries of the Bahamian people to have a Bill 5 that would give voters an opportunity to amend our Constitution to define marriage as a voluntary union between one man and one woman. Mrs. Maynard Gibson should therefore not be surprised at the pervasive same-sex marriage concerns of the Bahamian people; she has helped to fuel them.

In Recommendation 25, the Commission called for “an amendment be made to Article 26 (4) to provide that no law which makes provisions prohibiting same-sex marriage or which provides for such marriages to be unlawful or void shall be held to be inconsistent with the Constitution.” According to the Commission, the effect of this additional amendment would be to “preclude any constitutional challenges to such a law based on alleged discrimination on the grounds of ‘sex’, and makes the position clear that same-sex marriages are not permitted under our Constitution and current laws.” Had the Attorney General and the government adopted this protective recommendation from the Commission, the same-sex marriage fears of Bahamians would have been allayed, and in the view of some, Bill 4 may have been the most supported Bill instead of the most opposed Bill.

What the Attorney General and the government fail to see is that because of their rejection of Recommendation 25, the fears of the Bahamian people (that the Constitutional Commission was seeking to quell) not only remain to this day, but have increased.

Thinking Bahamians recognize that the naked amendment of Article 26 (3) to add “sex” as an additional ground of non-discrimination without the amendment proposed in Recommendation 25 will logically mean that the door will be open for constitutional challenges to our laws that currently prohibit same-sex marriage, and it will also mean that the position will not be clear that same-sex marriages are not permitted under our Constitution and current laws. This is the real “terrible shame.” The Government and its legal advisors failed to put the issue beyond doubt and must now resort to their interpretation of legal possibilities or impossibilities. People are not impressed and not convinced.


The Attorney General’s comment comes across as a form of bullying in an attempt to get voters to cast a blanket “yes” vote in favour of the four Bills.
The truth is however, that because of the efforts of Think, Bahamas! to educate voters through its website www.thinkbahamas.org, and also the efforts or other groups and individuals, more and more voters are having a pause and are expressing concerns about Bills 2, 3, and 4 (especially Bill 4). More and more voters do understand the truth about what the government has not explained to the people regarding rights of property owners and business owners.

In addition, more and more voters understand that the public holds the key to preventing a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. It is the pubic that must decide whether there should be a new enforceable constitutional right to “no discrimination on the basis of sex.” Granting that right which will work in tandem with a possible subsequent government sponsored amendment to the Matrimonial Causes Act will allow the constitutional right to same-sex marriage to be asserted and enforced.

What is most ironic is that in 2002 when the current governing PLP was in Opposition and voted for the 2002 Constitution Amendment Bills in Parliament, they did an about face and led a blanket “vote no” campaign against those Bills. We have not forgotten that the current Attorney General was a part of the then “vote no” campaign. It is amazing that she and others who were a part of that “terrible shame” back in the day are today lecturing voters who are minded to do in 2016 what they did in 2002. In our view, only those with clean hands from the 2002 referendum have a true moral voice in this 2016 referendum. Think, Bahamas! (along with other right thinking balanced persons) continues to call Bahamians to think about and vote on each Bill based on its own merits or demerits. We believe that the politically motivated blanket “no vote” in 2002 was wrong, and a similar one would be doubly wrong fourteen years later.

Finally, we feel constrained to say that rather than berate voters who have concerns about same-sex marriage, the Attorney General should use those efforts to castigate the government for the grossly unfair manner in which it is abusing public funds for its one-sided, double dipping “Yes Bahamas” campaign, while refusing to give any funding to the three official groups who oppose one of more of the Constitution Amendment Bills. This is yet another “terrible shame” that seems to be conveniently overlooked. It is a terrible shame.



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