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At All Costs: Stopping The "Global Gay Agenda"

Fri, 17 Jun 2016 12:31:40 EDT

In the newspaper last week, I saw a group of holy men sitting behind a big table, lined off in front a firing squad of news cameras, proudly heralding victory against a sinister and powerful agenda, the purpose of which was to forever alter our way of life here in the Bahamas. I guess we should say, “Thank you?”

To assure this victory, however, sacrifices had to be made and in this instance that sacrifice was the citizenship of some Bahamian children yet to be born, the non-Bahamian husbands of Bahamian women and protections against discrimination based on sex. Sure the referendum was not perfect and the political climate surrounding it was not either, but it was made out to be something it was not to stop something it did not represent...

Opportunity in the Challenge: Leading on the Referendum Could Mean Winning the Election

Tue, 01 Mar 2016 11:43:05 EDT

With the referendum for constitutional reform, commonly referred to as the “Gender Equality Referendum”, looming in the foreseeable future, some of the usual characters are already out to play.

“The Fanatics” are crawling out of the woodworks spewing 2,000 year old ideas about gender-roles, curiously using very modern contraptions like radio and computers to do it. You can probably find “The Patriarch” at your local bar, shouting about not trusting Bahamian women who marry foreign men, women are too easily manipulated they say, and they’re speaking from their own experience...

The Hair and Now: What #SupportThePuff Should’ve Taught Us

Fri, 19 Feb 2016 18:26:23 EDT

I think we’re at that very Bahamian threshold, when salient issues are answered with the ubiquitous, “We still talkin’ bout dat?” Of course, I’m referring to the puff that started a social media firestorm- the story about the young lady from C. R. Walker High School who was disciplined for her “unkempt” natural hair by the principal. Yes, I’m sure some of you are tired of hearing this minor issue being blown out of proportion, but please allow for one final intervention.

In the wake of “The Great Bahamian Hair Debate” there are some who would wish to deny the importance of this moment- to redirect attention to more “pressing issues” like crime and growing economic inequality. Not so fast...

The Politics of Natural Disasters (And the Unnatural Disaster of Politics)

Fri, 16 Oct 2015 17:15:57 EDT

We have heard the constant refrain echoing across the last week as we have tried to mend the bent and broken lives of our fellow countrymen, “Now is not the time for politics.” Unfortunately, it’s too late.

Politics didn’t ooze into this difficult moment in our collective national consciousness because of something a politician said, or something a newspaper wrote. Natural disasters are as much an “act of God” as they are inherently political.

Does the suggestion that natural disasters are political make you cringe? I think for most of us a natural disaster is distinctly apolitical and should be seen as a time for all of us, no matter the political colours we wear to come together. This could also be because despite the Bahamian obsession with all things political, we often understand “politics” as the messy...

The Way Forward: The Political Value of a Bankrupt Tourism Policy

Fri, 03 Jul 2015 12:53:33 EDT

“If properly [sic] planned and allowed to grow unchecked, tourism can suffocate indigenous culture, destroy traditional values - aesthetic, moral and social, ruin architectural traditions, upset or even ruin the environment, encroach on areas which would best be used for other industrial activity, create imbalances in terms of foreign and local business ownership, divert workers from other important employment areas and contribute to an increase in crime.”- Minister of Tourism, the Hon. Perry G. Christie

Is there a more germane statement that can be made today to describe the current dilemma we face in The Bahamas? With the conflict over Baha Mar and deteriorating social conditions, in one short paragraph the diagnosis is clear: We’ve allowed tourism to grow “unchecked”...