Bahamas Christian Council President, Rev. Dr. Ranford Patterson, pictured speaking to media in a press conference on the gender referendum. Photo: SHawn Hanna
By NICO SCAVELLA
Tribune Staff Reporter
nscavella@tribunemedia.net
BAHAMAS Christian Council President Rev Dr Ranford Patterson yesterday said he is “unequivocally” voting against the fourth Constitutional Amendment Bill, charging that a ‘yes’ vote would eliminate the need for “Parliament to ever come back to the Bahamian people to do anything as it relates to marriage”.
He also said he was still “praying” about what he should vote on the three other bills.
Dr Patterson, breaking his silence on the controversial gender equality referendum, suggested that inserting the word “sex” into Article 26 of the Constitution - as bill four proposes - would subsequently give Parliament free reign to alter the specifics of what legally constitutes a marriage as outlined in the Matrimonial Causes Act, with or without the consent of the public.
Dr Patterson said he is also concerned that adding the word “sex” to Article 26 may allow for persons to freely express the gender they identify with as opposed to their biological sex, or as Dr Patterson put it: “If someone is a man, you cannot tell this man he cannot come to work for me dressed up in a dress because it will be discrimination based on Article 26.”
“That’s what I gather from what people told me in this article, what I studied, and what I’ve learned from this article, and it scares the hell out of me,” Dr Patterson said. “There’s some things I think we should always be able to discriminate on.”
Dr Patterson added: “I am not comfortable with bill four. When you add ‘sex’ in the long list of attributes in Article 26 of our Constitution, it does something with that Article that I am not comfortable with. Therefore, I wish to state unequivocally that I am voting no on referendum day.”
Dr Patterson also refuted recent assertions by Constitutional Commission Chairman Sean McWeeney, QC, that a ‘no’ vote against bill four may actually make it “easier to overturn the existing ban on same-sex marriage.”
“I’ve gone around to all of the debates that were going on around town, and I am convinced that some of the things that they are dealing with presently in this referendum can be dealt with in the House of Assembly,” Dr Patterson said. “My fear is if we add ‘sex’ in Article 26, there’s no need for the Parliament to ever come back to the Bahamian people to do anything as it relates to marriage. They could change it at 12 midnight or 6 o’clock in the morning and we have no control over it. So what Sean McWeeney said, more power to him, but I prefer the Constitution to remain the same.”
He added: “From 1973 to present we had no challenge to it (the Constitution). Until there is a challenge - there’s not been a challenge, there’s no need for me to believe anything.”
Dr Patterson said he is “still praying” for an answer to how he should vote on the other three bills, but still outlined the various “challenges” he has with the respective amendments.
Regarding bill two, which would allow a Bahamian woman married to a foreign man the right to secure for her husband the same access to Bahamian citizenship as a Bahamian male has with his foreign spouse, Dr Patterson said his vote depends on whether that condition applies to “Bahamians all over the world who are marrying same-sex couples.”
“I need the Constitutional Commission to tell me whether that applies to that as well, and then I’ll determine my vote on bill two,” he said.
Regarding the first bill, which seeks to allow Bahamian women who are married to foreign men the right to pass on their Bahamian citizenship to any child of that union regardless of where that child is born, and the third bill, which would grant any unmarried Bahamian man the right to pass on his Bahamian citizenship to any child he fathers with a foreign woman with proof of paternity, Dr Patterson said the focus should instead be on addressing the “thousands” of Bahamians “who are stateless right now who are entitled to citizenship who are not getting it.”
“We need to fix the loophole that’s in our system,” he said. “Let’s deal with the thousands of young people that I see every day that can’t get a job, can’t open a bank account.”
Dr Patterson also called for the Constitutional Commission to “give the Bahamian people the pros and the cons of the changes that you think we as a people need to make.”
He also called for the commission to present the public with amendments to the Constitution that “we are crying for and not what you feel we need to have.”
Comments
Economist 7 years, 10 months ago
The "no Sayers" need to read the Constitution carefully. They also need to read the cases, what the judges actually said, and how they ruled.
Yup, you will need to read, read, read......and comprehend what is there. It is not easy so expect it to take 5 to 10 minutes per page. You will need to set aside hours.
Stop making all your silly comments and become truly educated on the subject.
Have you read what Fred Smith said in the paper couple of weeks ago anout same sex marriage?
Maybe Mr. McWeeney has a valid point. But for you to know you will need to read.
Also , if you have not read the Constitution from front to back, don't write or say anything, because you clearly don't know what you are talking about.****
Well_mudda_take_sic 7 years, 10 months ago
Oh, please shut up "Economist"! You're beginning to sound too much like a paid purveyor of misinformation....much like Rubie Nottage et al. Bahamians are much smarter than you think, and most will therefore be voting a resounding "NO!" to all four of the bills.
Economist 7 years, 10 months ago
Read Article 10. Think on who is a Bahamian person. A Bahamian person can be a man or a woman.
Answer this, can a Bahamian woman who marries a foreign woman get her spouse Bahamian citizenship?
Read the comments in the paper made by Fred Smith about same sex marriage.
Your "no" well may in fact be "yes" to same sex unions, not to mention citizenships you don't want.
hallmark 7 years, 10 months ago
I think your argument would also apply to 99% of the M.P's. I seriously doubt many them have read and understand it and are just blindly following the agenda of the few. So I can't trust their word either.
Greentea 7 years, 10 months ago
Economist- this is the kind of idiocy that is dooming this country. Presented with facts- pride and emotionalism get in the way of reality. You are asking this man - and all of us - to do the two things we need to do, but are not, and sadly -maybe cannot do- read and understand. It just demonstrates the profound and debilitating limitations of those who call themselves or claim to be leaders. A tragedy really. Prideful and and limited critical thinking.
Publius 7 years, 10 months ago
And then there are those who want to vote no to Bill 4, but in their own lives they surely are not voting no to the lifestyle people have attached to Bill 4. I say no more.
Emac 7 years, 10 months ago
Ha! Can you say hypocrite???
birdiestrachan 7 years, 10 months ago
I do not care what Rev Patterson has to say, he has one vote and so do I. I will vote No , Not because I care who marries who. If two men or two women want to marry. Who can stop them?
Economist 7 years, 10 months ago
Birdie, read Article 10.
What if a foreign woman marries a Bahamian woman outside The Bahamas and then they come back. Can that foreign woman get citizenship?
She married a Bahamian person.
DDK 7 years, 10 months ago
Who really cares? We go from the sublime to the ridiculous. The bottom line should be 'what's good for the gander is good for the goose'!
Economist 7 years, 10 months ago
Agreed
sheeprunner12 7 years, 10 months ago
Most Pentacostals will vote NO as soon as they hear the words homosexual or illegitimate ...... that's "fire and brimstone" words for them ........ but on this one he is right
Economist 7 years, 10 months ago
I assume then that they will vote "yes" to Bill 1 as that will avoid Bahamian women having to make sure that any child that they have outside The Bahamas to a foreign man is illegitimate.
As the Constitution currently stands, that is what it advocates. It rewards the mother, and her children, for them being illegitimate.
Indeed, it punishes her, and her children, for having the children in wedlock.
sheeprunner12 7 years, 10 months ago
Classic Bahamian passive-aggressive response ........... using the identity and social status of the mother to designate a child's status is as old as slavery ................ many Bahamian married men are legally "foster fathers" as well because our law states that a child born in wedlock has a mother and a father as established by the Marriage Act
Greentea 7 years, 10 months ago
What's funny Economist is that if they vote NO against 1- might that mean that a Bahamian woman who marries a foreign woman abroad
and chooses to have kids with said woman, can claim citizenship for those kids anywa since her marriage is not valid under Bahamian law? Lol. Let them enshrine that right - seems fitting for bigotry to work against its short sighted attempts to limit the rights others who don't think, look and act exactly as they "claim" they do - no different than any other religious zealot and we know what Jesus thought of them.
Economist 7 years, 10 months ago
Good point!
Emac 7 years, 10 months ago
@Greentea. I have been wanting to answer your reply to one of my comments in another column, where you implied that Bahamian men are using the excuse of voting NO to these bills ,because they are really against women achieving equal rights etc. Let me just say for the record that in principal I support ALL of the bills.
If the Bahamas was a mature country that enforced laws and punished corrupt officials, my votes would be YES to all four bills. However, I will be voting NO and not because of the popular arguments floating around, such as gay marriages, foreigners coming to take over the country and all that other BS. Realistically, this country is rotten to the core. Once we clean up corruption in government and the civil service, then I would gladly change my vote to YES. The sad thing is that the immigration department is a mess, this country is in a mess. I don't care what this government says, the PLP has proven over and over again that they will not do as they promise in regards to amending certain policies if these bills pass. For instance, let us look at the message the government is bringing to the people about amending policies to make it difficult for marriages of convenience to occur. What a laugh! Everyone knows that we thrive on corruption. There are tons of people out there who are waiting to take advantage of the system once the first three bills are passed,. I don't give a shite about what provisions the government say that they will put in place. There are many laws out there already that they don't respect. Why would enforcing the policies that exist with these bills be any different????
So you see, I truly believe that the Bahamas needs to move to the next level and that WOMEN should have the same rights as MEN. But not now. Not at the present state this country is in!!! HELLLLL NO!!! Let's clean up our act, then the people might appreciate the importance of voting YES to these four bills!!!
Emac 7 years, 10 months ago
*principle
hallmark 7 years, 10 months ago
John 10:7 - Jesus said, "I AM THE GATE."
John 7 years, 10 months ago
They give a time frame of 14 years to achieve these goals: . "59. We recognise that there are different approaches, visions, models and tools available to each country, in accordance with its national circumstances and priorities, to achieve sustainable development; and we reaffirm that planet Earth and its ecosystems are our common home and that ‘Mother Earth’ is a common expression in a number of countries and regions. Sustainable Development Goals Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts* Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development"
Greentea 7 years, 10 months ago
@emac my problem is this. Why wait for the utopia moment when corruption is no more, and politicians are honest, moral and visionary and the public service is a well running machine, allergic to corruption- to bring equal rights to women and men? You see that day ain't coming too soon. My grandpa taught me to NEVER ever WAIT to do what's right. So as the old people used to say- I don't care if school keep or scholars attend, I will be voting a straight YES on Tuesday. I agree with the sorry state of things but that shouldn't prevent us from doing whats right given the opportunity. Otherwise we are no better than those tearing the country down.
Economist 7 years, 10 months ago
Agreed
Emac 7 years, 10 months ago
"utopia moment"??? See what I mean? We are so complacent or used to the way things are done in this country, that most of us believe that the whole idea of the Bahamas becoming a place of law and order is Utopic. Sorry, but you cannot have the same rights as first world nations without having the same strict policies that they have in place to ensure that these rights are enforced or adhered to. I think we are looking at this from two different angles. Perhaps when you do a research on all of the arranged marriages and other crooked deals that take place at the immigration department, then maybe you can appreciate what I am saying. The consequences of passing these bills without proper policies in place can be irreversible. Voting NO on these bills is reversible.
viewersmatters 7 years, 10 months ago
let every voter vote their conscious repelled the negative and positive influence that has surface above the earth. not to say am a yes or no vote but what would become of a so called christian nation when men and women truly has equal rights wouldnt that open a gate that we dont want to open wouldnt that decrease marriages and people living a righteous life, when a man can do what a women can do and when a woman can do what a man can do what need do they then have for each others, would that be fulfilling The Father order to let man be dominate over the earth and let the woman be the backbone and strength of a man. when a man can do what a woman can do and when a woman can do what a man can do we are going to see a much greater path that we wish not to see. and equal rights bill 1-3 are basically in my view all about passing citizenship but bill 4 is an interesting bill and it brings fear in the hearts of many people. Hopefully we remain Blessed and covered by God almighty.
Emac 7 years, 10 months ago
@birdie- "I do not care what Rev Patterson has to say, he has one vote and so do I. I will vote No" So birdie are you now a schizo or do you just like to throw views out there to be deceitful??? Before you said the following. "I am voting Yes to #4 the other three no. It is my choice and my vote."
Greentea 7 years, 10 months ago
@emac you see that's the thing. Evil always triumphs while we good people sit on the sidelines. Or fail to do even do the good while waiting for the perfect. You have to start somewhere and i just happen to think that starting with a recognition of the equal humanity of all is a good start.
Emac 7 years, 10 months ago
I respect your view.
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