Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell yesterday characterized the arguments against supporting the June 7 referendum as “foolishness” and suggested that he is “deeply offended” by the vote no campaign launched by several pastors.
“I know that I was born male, born,” said Mitchell at an Urban Renewal ceremony in Fox Hill.
“Still male. In 1953. And in 1973, the constitution gave me certain rights simply because I was born male.
“And I’m saying that women should have those rights too.
“I am deeply offended, deeply offended — I told the ladies this on Monday night — by a campaign that is being run by all men trying to stop women to get equality in our country in law.
“All men. Not one woman standing with them saying we want equality for women.
“They are saying ‘no we don’t’.”
Deputy Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis, while at the same event, suggested that while some people – including some women – may not see a problem with inequality between the sexes, he will vote for what he believes is right.
“Why should you go to work in a government department, do the same thing as a man and get less pay and you can’t do anything about that?” he asked.
“I am voting yes to all four and I am voting for my children.
“I have a single daughter who is working in the United States as a medical doctor.
“She is engaged, likely to get married.
“And I would want my grandchildren, if I want them to come and live with and grow up with me, to be able to do that without wondering whether they are Bahamians or not because they are Bahamians, because they are my seed.”
Davis was referring to bill one, which would enable a child born outside The Bahamas to become a citizen at birth if either his or her mother or father is a citizen of The Bahamas by birth.
Questions one through three deal directly with issues of citizenship.
Bill two would allow a Bahamian woman who marries a foreign man to pass on citizenship to him in the same way that a Bahamian man who marries a foreign woman is able to do now.
Bill three would allow an unmarried Bahamian man to pass on his citizenship to his child born to a foreign mother subject to legal proof that he is the father.
Bill four, which has been by far the most controversial, would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex – defined as a male or female.
The pastors behind the “Save Our Bahamas” campaign oppose bill number four, contending the amendment would lead to same-sex marriage in The Bahamas.
However, the government and members of the “YES Bahamas” campaign strongly refute this, insisting that the amendments have nothing to do with same-sex marriage and would not pave the way for such unions in The Bahamas.
The referendum and the varying issues of citizenship, gender and equality have triggered widespread national debate in recent weeks.
The religious community remains split on the referendum.
Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community have also weighed in on the issues surrounding the referendum, triggering further debate and in some circles, fears about the implications of the referendum.
Several members of the LGBT community have acknowledged that the referendum has nothing to do with same-sex marriage, but said it offers them no further protection from being discriminated against in The Bahamas.
Royston Jones Jr., Guardian Staff Reporter
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