The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

ACTIVIST Erin Greene yesterday said the latest postponement of voting on the four Constitutional Amendment Bills in Parliament was inevitable given the government’s reluctance to address the changes as a human rights issue.

Ms Greene asked why the revised referendum questions had not been tabled despite the delayed debate, and criticised the government and Constitutional Commission’s handling of the proposed referendum thus far.

She also accused the organisers of missing the boat on an opportunity to truly educate the public on human rights responsibilities that the country has agreed to uphold.

“I want to feel good,” she said. “It seems as if they’re not putting in a gay marriage ban or the words ‘at birth’ (into the Constitution), but they also haven’t tabled the questions.

“So we still don’t know what they are. We don’t know if they’re lying to the activist community, or to the church.”

Ms Greene added: “I’m very disappointed in the organisers, the government and the Constitutional Commission. This is essentially a human rights discussion, but not one person has used the word human rights yet.”

According to National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage, the third reading and passage of the four Constitutional Amendment Bills was delayed as the result of a stalemate between several opposition MPs and the Constitutional Commission over Bill four.

Bill four seeks to make it unconstitutional to discriminate on the basis of sex by inserting the word “sex” into Article 26 of the Constitution.

Several opposition members said they were no longer prepared to support Bill four unless the words “at birth” were added to the definition of “sex” as meaning “male or female”. However,  Dr Nottage, the minister responsible for elections and referenda, said that the Constitutional Commission was not prepared to make that recommendation.

The group believes that the change would weaken the prohibition on same sex marriages under the Matrimonial Causes Act leaving the Constitution open to challenges.

Yesterday, Ms Greene underscored the disadvantageous effect the inclusion of the words “at birth” could have on intersex people.

“Intersex is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male,” she said.

“For example, a person might be born appearing to be female on the outside, but having mostly male-typical anatomy on the inside. Or a person may be born with genitals that seem to be in-between the usual male and female types.”

Ms Greene said: “Though we speak of intersex as an inborn condition, intersex anatomy doesn’t always show up at birth. Sometimes a person isn’t found to have intersex anatomy until she or he reaches the age of puberty, or finds himself an infertile adult, or dies of old age and is autopsied.”

Ms Greene pointed to research that indicated the Bahamas as having the third highest prevalence of the condition Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, which has been linked to intersex births.

She urged decision makers to increase their awareness of the different types of people that live in the Bahamas.