Bahamas Bar Association President Elsworth Johnson said yesterday the law can be challenged to allow for same-sex marriage in The Bahamas and added that it is "perhaps time" the government holds a referendum on gay marriage.
Johnson said Bahamians are realizing their legal options in relation to this issue.

"There is this issue where persons said what if someone gets a marriage license in Florida or gets an order in Florida and under our reciprocal laws they bring it here to try to enforce it in The Bahamas. It may be able to be enforced," he said.

"... It may be possible but that's a determination for the courts. People are thinking. Society is evolving. But the question is, how do you live peacefully in a world where, I think, some of the most powerful countries have already made that decision?"

Johnson said same-sex marriage is a complex issue and insisted it should be left up to the Bahamian people to decide whether it should be legalized.

"That's a question for the Bahamian people," he said. "I have my vote [and] you have your vote. At the end of the day the collective vote will speak."

Those who oppose the fourth referendum question claim it would lead to same-sex marriage in The Bahamas.

Bill four would make it unconstitutional to discriminate against someone based on sex -- defined as male or female.

Last week, the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association (GBHRA) claimed the door is already open for same-sex marriage in The Bahamas.

Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson, Q.C. has repeatedly denied that the bill opens the door to same-sex marriage and has insisted there is no legislative or constitutional grounds for such a union.

Johnson said as a Christian he does not support same-sex marriage, but he thinks it is an issue that cannot be ignored.

"Very shortly, not even very shortly, now if you go read certain books, the Peter and Jane books are no longer Peter and Jane," Johnson said. "It's Peter and Peter and there are certain realities you are going to have to come to grips with... Whether or not we are going to decide to follow some of the international declarations that we have signed on to, the country is not taken to intentionally breach some international declarations.

"On the world scene, under the UN Declaration on Human Rights, some of these things are seen as natural. So I think we're going to have to catch up."

While he was chief justice, Sir Michael Barnett also said The Bahamas may soon have to address the issue. But he said last week there is no legislative or constitutional path to same-sex marriage in The Bahamas. There does not appear to be an appetite for same-sex marriage in the country.

An opinion poll conducted in January 2014 by Public Domain, a local market research company, confirmed this. The results show that 86.5 percent of respondents strongly oppose same-sex marriage; four percent somewhat oppose it; 3.7 percent somewhat support it; 3.1 percent strongly support it and 2.8 percent did not answer.

Researchers polled 575 people, a respectable sample size for the country's population, according to Public Domain President Mwale Rahming.

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