By NICO SCAVELLA
BAHAMAS Faith Ministries President Dr Myles Munroe said he is still undecided whether he will support the government’s proposed constitutional referendum.
Standing outside of the House of Assembly after a heated debate on four constitutional amendment bills, Mr Munroe told The Tribune that he was still “trying to figure it out” when questioned about his personal position on the referendum.
“Currently I am not in support of it, neither am I against it, because I am still trying to understand it,” he said on Wednesday.
To date there has been much public discourse surrounding the particulars of the amendments, which were debated for the second consecutive week in the House of Assembly on Wednesday.
Bills 1-4, which were tabled in the House last month, would allow a child born outside the Bahamas to a Bahamian mother and non-Bahamian father to have Bahamian citizenship. It would also allow a foreign man married to a Bahamian woman to seek Bahamian citizenship. It allows an unmarried Bahamian father to pass his citizenship to a child born to a foreign mother, and the fourth bill seeks to end discrimination based on sex.
The fourth bill has stirred the most controversy, however. That amendment would insert the word “sex” in Article 26 of the Constitution to make it unconstitutional to discriminate based on someone’s gender.
Many believe that this amendment would eventually pave the way to gay marriage in the Bahamas because of the wording involved.
Many people, including Bahamas Christian Council President Rev Ranford Patterson and Democratic National Alliance Leader Branville McCartney, have said that the fourth bill needs to be clarified to clear up confusion.
In spite of the numerous criticisms of bill four, however, Prime Minister Perry Christie has adamantly insisted that it would not lead to or legalise same sex marriages in the Bahamas. He also said that the government would not change the wording of the amendment.
Many PLP Parliamentarians have also expressed concerns about the bills, including Fort Charlotte MP Dr Andre Rollins, Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller, Marco City MP Greg Moss and Bamboo Town MP Renward Wells.
Free National Movement Leader Dr Hubert Minnis had initially pledged his party’s full support of the bills and the referendum, but on Wednesday pulled back from that promise. He said he had concerns that the first bill would not be retroactive, that the issues in bills two and three did not need to be put to a referendum to be changed and said bill four needs to be thoroughly discussed.
The referendum is expected to held on November 6, however in view of the strong opposition against the bills, it is unclear if the government will proceed with the vote.
Comments
Emac 10 years, 4 months ago
Who cares?!!
birdiestrachan 10 years, 4 months ago
in my view immigration in the Bahamas has many problems. and these new laws will only add to the problems. There is a serious need for immigration reform. and honest people who will not sell the Bahamas for a few dollars.
ohdrap4 10 years, 4 months ago
myles muroe sent a position paper on homosexuality to the pope. did he get an answer yet?
TalRussell 10 years, 4 months ago
Doesn't this sound more like something the PM would respond with to a reporter's question? Comrades I think you should know several weeks back I made a promise to a dear friend and longtime member of Comrade Myles's church, that since I'm still in the mode of currently studying to understand what in the hell is it that makes her Myles tick, I would try my damnedest not to post anything on these hereto Tribune blog pagers which she may think of as too negative toward her beloved preacherman's. So for today, all I'll say is, as long as Myles never starts picturing himself as some kind of Bahamaland or international cult leader, i guess it's OK for him to spout out to reporters such nonsense likes; how he is currently not in support of it (the constitutional referendum) neither is he against it, because he too, likes me, am still trying to understand it.
A good Sunday morning Amen!
ThisIsOurs 10 years, 4 months ago
As a man thinketh in his heart so is he. So I'll assume Dr Munroe is a man who measures the evidence before he makes a judgement. If I remember correctly, he didn't post his position on the referendum on day one of the controversy. He must have thought long and hard about it. I suppose he is doing the same thing here.
As a Christian I would support citizenship for children of married spouses, encouraging anything would be putting a rubber stamp on a huge problem we have today. We have children from single parent homes getting together to have a brand new generation of single parent kids. There must be some characteristic of a real man and a real woman that made them the ideal choice to raise a child and we are bypassing that law and raising up an entire generation of broken people.
In support of the referendum, Glennys Hanna Martin spoke of the statistics that show a majority of households in the country are led by single mothers and that those single mothers make wise decisions every day. As such, they can be trusted to make wise decisions elsewhere. I don't put myself above them, but it almost seems like a false argument because what would have been the most wise decision that they could have made that they didn't? I mean think about it....so for me, if the couple is married, can display that they have been and have every intention to remain living together in a married relationship, I'll support that. Anything else is encouraging folly.
ThisIsOurs 10 years, 4 months ago
"Married spouses"??...oh well..
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