EDITOR, The Tribune.
It is baffling when men of God would choose to deny Bahamian men and women equal rights because of an unfounded and irrational fear that to do so would open the door on same sex marriage.
Without one shred of evidence to support this belief, the No Pastors would presume to know more than the leading constitutional lawyer in the United Kingdom, the Honourable Michael Beloff QC, and our own senior Bahamian lawyers.
How arrogant!
The Paranoid Pastors would support the terrible discriminatory anomaly that’s been used as a political weapon to tear Bahamian families apart rather than the equality of Bahamian men and women.
According to the attorney general, there are no cases in Commonwealth countries with Westminster-style constitutions where the language of the amendment in Bill Four has led to same sex marriages being recognised.
Furthermore, why would these pastors seek to deny heterosexual Bahamian men and women, who make up the vast majority of the population, equal rights when only a small minority of the population is lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender?
(In Gallup daily tracking in the first four months of 2015, only 3.8 per cent of the adult American population identified themselves as LBGT).
Based on this obsessive and myopic posture, it is not unreasonable to ask:
• Are these people allowing homophobia to hijack reasoned thinking?
• Do they have an issue with women?
• Are they still smarting over Prime Minister Christie’s undemocratic reversal of the gaming opinion poll they lobbied so strongly against that they would put Ego above Family?
Vanity of vanities. All is vanity.
ATHENA DAMIANOS
(Michael Beloff Q.C. was described in Legal Business in 1994 as “the Bar’s Renaissance Man” and in Chambers and Partners Directory 1996 as one of the top three stars of the Bar. He became President of Trinity College Oxford in 1996 and returned to full-time practice in 2006. Mr Beloff was named as one of the top ten barristers of the decade by Legal Business in 1999, one of the top ten currently in practice in “The Independent on Sunday” in 2001 and one of six barristers in the Time List of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in Great Britain in 2008 and 2010.
(In December 2013, he was ranked as one of Chambers UK’s Top Silk Bar 100, in their inaugural listing of the top barristers practising at the Bar of England & Wales.
The Chambers UK 2016 guide describes Mr. Beloff as extremely articulate and engaging as an advocate.
(“He can grasp a completely new area of law incredibly quickly and then deliver a brilliant performance in court showing complete mastery of the subject matter and demolishing every argument the other side puts forward.”
(More than 425 of the cases in which he has been legal counsel have been reported in various law reports)
Comments
Well_mudda_take_sic 7 years, 11 months ago
Bahamians are much smarter than you would like to think Ms Damianos. We may not have much education or fancy degrees after our names but we have a strong sense of right and wrong, a good sense of intuition and have learned to live by our wits. The amendment proposed by Bill#4 would prevent discrimination of any kind based on the word "sex" which means our parliamentarians would then be free to legislate same-sex marriages with the simple stroke of their pen. This is why the corrupt Christie led-PLP government and the detestable likes of Sean McWeeney, Rubie Nottage, Sharon Wilson, etc. have steadfastly refused to draft a proposed amendment that would unequivocally define "marriage" as the legal union through wedlock of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all other forms of union whether they be between man and man, woman and woman, man and sheep and woman and sheep. The Bahamas is not America; we have our own unique culture and identity and the vast majority of us Bahamians want our constitution to be amended in a way that would respect and protect the institution of marriage as we have known it for centuries. Most of us thankfully now know we need to do the right thing and vote a resounding "NO" on June 7th to all four of the proposed amendments given that each of them contains serious flaws of one kind or another that would prove most harmful to our society and way of life.
EasternGate 7 years, 11 months ago
Am with you
jackbnimble 7 years, 11 months ago
Spot on!
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 11 months ago
Yeah I'm not that smart, but the smart people on the constitutional committee made change recommendations that were ignored. That's all I need to know.
Greentea 7 years, 11 months ago
Ms. Damianos, all I can say is Vote Yes on June 7. we need to put patriarchy to bed in this country. the pastors here against the bills are like the pastors in the US supporting the Donald. they are AFRAID that if women in their congregation actually think they are equal - as the good Lord intended, their authority will be threatened. Time for Bahamian men to Earn their respect rather than expect it because of some flesh hanging between their legs.
Reality_Check 7 years, 11 months ago
The "Green" in @Greentea is presumed to be very much lime green in colour.
SP 7 years, 11 months ago
.... The "whizz" Michael Beloff Q.C. will be here immediately pushing gay marriage ....
“He can grasp a completely new area of law incredibly quickly and then deliver a brilliant performance in court showing complete mastery of the subject matter and demolishing every argument the other side puts forward.”
Thank you for confirming exactly what people perceive would happen. No thanks!
VOTE NO!
EasternGate 7 years, 11 months ago
No, no, no, NO
jackbnimble 7 years, 11 months ago
Lol. I with you!
sheeprunner12 7 years, 11 months ago
Vote No 242 ............ when the Government propaganda spinners answer: Why is there no intention to define "marriage" in the Constitution ...... Vote NO 242 ........ Who cares what Michael Beloff says???????? ............. Don't forget that same-sex marriage is legal in Britain now .......... The letter writer will be right out there with the Rainbow Coalition, the illegals and the baby-mamas, baby-daddies and foreign men on Bay Street to get their rights if we are so stupid to vote Yes on June 7 ............ what kind of Bahamas do you want in the next 100 years??????
OMG 7 years, 11 months ago
Lets face it a very large percentage of pastors have little or no training in pastoral matters and are simply self trained and then giving themselves titles such as Bishop and so forth. As such they equate the ability to scream and shout from the alter using well worn biblical quotes as justifying their biased , controversial and often incorrect statements. How can some self taught pastor or a pastor who gained his credentials by mail ever hope to equal the training and by way of extension the ability to make educated comments, gained by years of study by Anglican or Catholic ministers ?
Reality_Check 7 years, 11 months ago
Please, let's not bring Catholic priests into the fray caused by this most controversial subject. After all, they have plenty enough of their own problems caused by decades of pedophiliac activities kept covered up by the Vatican, which activities are sadly still going on today!
sheeprunner12 7 years, 11 months ago
They persecuted God's prophets the same way thousands of years ago
hallmark 7 years, 11 months ago
Sweet girl, I find this letter very offensive. You keep calling Bahamian citizens who have a right to their opinion even though it may differ from yours: arrogant, paranoid, homophobic, obsessive, myopic, and unreasonable. We will show you at the polls come June 7, 2016!
jackbnimble 7 years, 11 months ago
Ya darned right! #VoteNO #KilltheBills
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