The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

WOMEN’S rights activist Donna Nicolls suggested that the constitutional referendum be held in June or July 2015 to give Bahamians enough time to understand that “gender equality has nothing to do with gay rights”.

Mrs Nicolls, who is also deputy director of the Bahamas Crisis Centre, applauded the government for postponing the referendum. She said the additional time would give Citizens for Constitutional Equality, a civic group, enough time to separate myth from reality.

She said she hopes in the end the public can rise above all the “petty distractions” and do the right thing.

“The Crisis Centre sent a letter to the Prime Minister requesting the delay as well as the Citizens for Constitutional Equality. So we were quite happy when the referendum was delayed,” she said.

“This will give us a lot of time to do one-on-one work with people and change the mood of the country. The entire issue was railroaded by gay marriage and I still do not understand how those dots connected. We want this to happen, we support the delay.

“We can continue to do some underground work and starting in the New Year we will really amp up our new campaign. We thought it was the right decision because people were still hurt from the gaming referendum and a lot of people still had a lot of anger, so we thought if the referendum happened then it would not have passed.

“In the meantime, we will continue to work, we will not stop, we think in about six or seven months, the country would be ready.”

Last Monday, Bain and Grants Town MP Dr Bernard Nottage announced that the anticipated November 6 poll would be delayed to next year at a date to be announced later.

He explained that the government decided to postpone the referendum after considering recommendations from the Constitutional Commission, which saw additional time as vital to the success of its public education campaign.

Although the referendum aims to give men and women equality in the Constitution, some observers raised concerns that one of the Constitutional Amendment Bills could lead to gay marriage, which prompted an outcry.

This is the fourth time the Christie administration has delayed the constitutional vote.