The Tribune

By  AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

ANGLICAN Diocese Bishop Laish Boyd pointed yesterday to the high level of mistrust in the government and spitefulness of voters as factors that led Bahamians to make the “fundamental mistake” of rejecting the gender equality referendum.

In a reflective post-mortem statement, Bishop Boyd lamented that the country has taken “several steps backwards by missing the opportunity to right some basic wrongs.”

He said it was “most unfortunate” that the concession of defeat of the June 7 vote came from a Progressive Liberal Party official rather than Prime Minister Perry Christie, a move he said that did not help the overall climate of mistrust.

Bishop Boyd underscored that the church, religious leaders, and society had a moral obligation to “ramp up” efforts to tackle the litany of social and economic problems that still faced the country.

“In my opinion, rejecting the four amendments was a fundamental mistake of huge proportions,” he said.

“Only time will reveal to us the vast and far-reaching implications of the error; but we accept the will of the majority in a democratic society and we move on.

“The four bills addressed three separate but interrelated inequities in our Constitution and one ‘catch all’ objective, all seeking to create fairness for both genders.

“They sought to establish equality in the law for men and women. ‘Equality’ does not mean seeking to make men and women the same; for we know that men and women, though complementary, are not the same. ‘Equality’ means seeking to give the same rights and privileges to pass on citizenship to both men and women - which the present Constitution does not do – and then establishing clearly that no one must be discriminated against because of sex, ie, being male or female.

“To have an environment now where this is still not the case constitutionally, for us and for those born after June 7, 2016, is truly unfortunate.”

He added that the country “has taken several steps backwards by missing the opportunity to right some basic wrongs.”

Bishop Boyd said he was convinced that most Bahamians supported the principal of equal treatment of men and women, and having it enshrined in the Constitution.

He noted that despite educational outreach initiatives, most of the opposition to the bills stemmed from a failure to understand what they sought to accomplish.

False claims of hidden agendas, malicious intent or ulterior motives, and fears over the possible introduction of same-sex marriage also made an impact, according Bishop Boyd, who said the divergent views expressed by distinguished and prominent jurists over the necessity and projected impact of the amendments did not help.

Speaking to the high level of mistrust, Bishop Boyd drew a comparison to the circumstances of the 2002 referendum staged by a Free National Movement administration.

He maintained that the 2002 vote was weakened by a rushed process that did not provide an adequate period for information sharing and education. However, he said that he expected the 2002 referendum to pass given the substance of the questions. He pointed out that the Progressive Liberal Party withdrew their support in 2002 and subsequently had great difficulty gaining support for the 2016 vote.

Bishop Boyd said that the 2016 referendum was used to “pay back” the PLP government for its actions in 2002, and also for its disregard of the results from the 2013 gaming vote.

“They voted ‘to spite’ the government, as we say in The Bahamas,” he said.

“This is unfortunate, as acting out of spite in any circumstances is wrong, un-Christ-like and unproductive.”

The constitutional referendum’s amendments were overwhelmingly rejected by Bahamians on June 7, with “no” votes getting more than double the number of “yes” votes in most constituencies.

After results from just five constituencies were released by officials, PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts released a statement at 10pm appearing to concede defeat to the vote “no” campaign.

Bishop Boyd said: “Whatever the motivation, intention or source of information, it was also most unfortunate that a ‘concession of defeat’ of referendum 2016 came from a PLP party official rather than from the prime minister of the country.

“This seemed odd. It was especially unnerving and disconcerting when you note that, at that point in the evening, relatively few New Providence results – by far the largest voting bloc - had been released,” he said.

“This led many people to wonder what was going on and, it does not help the overall climate of mistrust.”

Hitting out at the politicizing of the process by proponents on both sides of the debate, Bishop Boyd called for “pointless” mud-slinging to stop.

Bishop Boyd said the realisation that it will be many years before another attempt to address inequalities in the Constitution can be made, was both disconcerting and heartbreaking.

His comments echoed sentiments expressed by Constitutional Commission Chairman Sean McWeeney, who told The Tribune it wouldn’t make sense to bring the issue back in the near future.

Bishop Boyd also said it was “nagging” that the country was among only 27 countries in the world which did not give men and women equal rights to pass on citizenship to their children with a non-citizen spouse. With the exception of Barbados and Kiribati, he noted that the Bahamas is the only non-Muslim country in the group.

“These are countries that practice Sharia Law and whose societies give little rights and no equality to women. With the greatest respect, this is not the company we want to keep,” he added.