The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Let me declare early on that I have a horse in this gender equality race.

In 2002, I was one of those people who voted against the referendum. What a mistake that was. I had no idea that four short years later, I would be married to an American man.

I was shortsighted. I was frustrated and wanted to punish. What a fool I was. My actions, remain to this day, one of my biggest regrets. I have now been given a second chance to make things right. 

I must say that even though I voted against the referendum in 2002, I was always respectful of the other side and felt deep down that I could have still been persuaded to vote ‘yes.’ I was reasonable.

I have found, however, that there really is no reasoning with the unreasonable. Over the past few months, I have listened to the irresponsible, arrogant, misguided, bigoted and just plain dumb responses from my Bahamian people. I am completely embarrassed.

You certainly have a right to vote ‘no.’ You have a right to abstain from voting, if you so wish. I respect that right. You also have a right to your opinion. But, your opinion must be based on facts and, if you want to be taken seriously, it must be rational.

Listen to the reasons many people say they are voting ‘no.’ They just don’t make any sense. I would bet the bank that many of them haven’t even read the bills.

Last week, I let a colleague of mine read the bills – particularly bill number 4 – and he couldn’t believe how straightforward it was. He thought the bill included some line about gay marriage, which it clearly did not.

I have also heard many people threatening to vote ‘no’ because they are angry over Prime Minister Perry Christie’s handling of the gambling referendum. Well, if you are dissatisfied with Mr Christie’s handling of that event, then there is appropriate recourse – feel free to avail yourself to the options in 2017 when you head to the polls. That is the appropriate response. But, to enter a ‘no’ vote that would allow the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of Bahamians to continue, is selfish and just plain wrong.

I am a big proponent of personal responsibility. I preach it every day. Each of us has a responsibility to seek to educate ourselves as much as possible on any topic, particularly when we’re talking about amending a sacred document. There really is no excuse for anyone to say they have not seen the four constitutional bills that will be put to vote in June.

The newspapers have done an excellent job of printing them in nearly all of their stories every day. The internet is at our disposal. There have been symposiums, commercials and ads every single day. The problem isn’t that the information isn’t there. The problem is that our people are too lazy to access it. That is their own fault. No one else’s.   

The problem also goes a little deeper. For so many people, the constitution is a document shrouded in mystery. Very few people have ever even seen it and they don’t understand its contents. A decade ago, I got my own copy after a former media boss chided me for not having one. He questioned how any journalist could be taken seriously if he/she hadn’t even seen the constitution. He was right.

So, I got my own and read it. The problem we’re encountering now, is that we are trying to educate an uneducated citizenry about certain provisions and it is proving quite difficult. We all should have been learning about the constitution in high school or even earlier.

What disappoints me most is that I have encountered insecure men who think they have every right to say who a Bahamian woman should marry – and it’s not a foreigner.

Some insecure women have also told me personally that they don’t, and I quote, “want these foreign women taking my man”.

What planet are they from? Do these folks actually think that their decision to vote “no” is going to prevent Bahamian men and women from loving, dating or being with a foreigner? It won’t. By the way, not a single one of us is a “real” Bahamian. The purported indigenous people of The Bahamas, the Arawak Indians, died out hundreds of years ago. We’re all mixed up foreigners. So, unless you can show proof of your direct-line ancestry to the Arawakan people, please discontinue that argument.

None of us knows what the future holds. I certainly didn’t in 2002. I know that I won’t change the cemented minds of those who are determined to see this referendum fail.

But, for those of you, who like me in 2002, could have been swayed, I urge you to do the right thing and vote “yes” to all four bills.

ROGAN SMITH

Nassau,

May 10, 2016.