Former Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson.
By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
THE Attorney General has shot down assertions that the impending equality referendum is unnecessary.
Responding to claims that ordinary legislation is sufficient to address current inequities in this country’s guiding principles, Allyson Maynard Gibson, QC, said that legislation cannot offer the same guarantees that would be entrenched in constitutional provisions.
The Attorney General further urged citizens to be cautious about misinformation and legal distortions in the days leading up to the June 7 vote.
She said, in a press statement, that this is the time for sober and dispassionate reflection about what Bahamians want the Constitution to reflect regarding the ability of men and women to enjoy equal rights under the law.
This comes after former Court of Appeal President Dame Joan Sawyer stressed that the government could make the necessary changes proposed by the referendum without a public vote.
Dame Joan was also adamant that the Christie administration is using the upcoming gender equality vote as a “ruse” to implement lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in order to conform to international human rights policies.
“There has been a suggestion that the constitutional referendum is not necessary, and that ordinary legislation is sufficient to address current inequities in our country between men and women with respect to citizenship and the right not to be discriminated against. That suggestion is incorrect,” Mrs Maynard Gibson said.
“It is important to understand the facts and the law. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. It takes precedence over any other law. The provisions which treat men and women differently with respect to citizenship rights and freedom from discrimination are entrenched provisions in our Constitution. They can only be changed by a constitutional referendum.
“Put another way, if we want our sons and daughters to be guaranteed equal rights under the law with respect to citizenship and the right not to be discriminated against, those rights must be written into the Constitution and entrenched at the highest levels. Ordinary legislation can be passed by Parliament, and it can also be changed, as it often is, by a simple majority in Parliament. Ordinary legislation cannot offer the same guarantees as entrenched constitutional provisions.”
She continued: “It is the nature of a Constitution to reflect and protect a nation’s most fundamental values. That is why our Constitution says that the state may never treat citizens differently because of the colour of their skin, or because of their religion, or their political views.
“The proposed amendments to the Constitution were drafted after an extraordinary period of consultation with legal and other experts. The lawyers who drafted them did so with great precision, and with the benefit of hindsight from the earlier process. They did so in a way that would ensure that men and women have equal rights under the law as citizens of the Bahamas. They also did so in a way that provides new constitutional protections for our law that says marriage must be between a man and a woman. Hundreds of information sessions have been held across the Bahamas so that Bahamians can see for themselves the text of the Constitution and the proposed changes.”
In a speech at a recent Bahamas Bar Association forum on the upcoming referendum, Dame Joan suggested that the government’s aggressive support for the “Yes” campaign is a push to ensure that all Bahamians are “in step” with LGBT rights as prescribed by the United Nations.
She insisted that the vitriol levelled at her in recent weeks because she does not support the referendum occurred because the government viewed her as a hindrance to their attempt to sway the public into a “yes” vote.
“The hidden agenda, I say, was deposited last October when the leader of this country said in a public statement published in The Guardian, that we as Bahamians need to get in step with the rest of the world with regard to the LGBT agenda,” she said.
It is unclear which statement Dame Joan was referring to, however, in March 2015 The Tribune reported that Prime Minister Perry Christie told College of the Bahamas students that leaders of conservative countries must consider how their nations could co-exist in a world where global attitudes towards social issues like homosexuality are shifting.
According to Dame Joan, the four referendum bills are being presented in a certain manner to dupe voters. She claimed that matters of citizenship that are contained in the first three bills are being masqueraded as the crux of the vote as a way to guide voters away from the intentions of bill four. This bill seeks to eliminate discrimination based on sex, which has been defined as being male or female.
Comments
EasternGate 8 years, 6 months ago
Sit your tired ass down!
Well_mudda_take_sic 8 years, 6 months ago
Perry kisses Mitchell's butt and The wicked Witch of the West kisses Bernadette's butt....small wonder all three of them want "same-sex marriage" to be legal in our country!
Reality_Check 8 years, 6 months ago
Let's all hope the Wicked Witch of the West gets painful splinters where it hurts most when she next flies on her wooden broom to wherever. What a despicable and detestable creature she is!
sheeprunner12 8 years, 6 months ago
This creature is the Devil incarnate ............. she has done enough damage in government ...... be off with you!!!!!!!!!
Well_mudda_take_sic 8 years, 6 months ago
No righted minded Bahamian would ever a trust a word coming out of the mouth of the Wicked Witch of the West or the smooth talking disingenuous Sean McWeeney. The corruption running rampant in our country today is directly attributable to the willingness of these two despicable creatures to do the bidding of the corrupt Christie-led PLP government no matter what its hidden and hideous agenda may be. Here are the facts Maynard-Gibson and McQueeney don't want voters to know. The amendment proposed by Bill#4 would prevent discrimination of any kind based on the word "sex" which means our parliamentarians would then be free to legislate same-sex marriages with the simple stroke of their pen once the courts latch on to the word "sex" (aka sexual orientation) in their rulings against discrimination. This is why the corrupt Christie led-PLP government and the detestable likes of Maynard-Gibson, Sean McWeeney, Rubie Nottage, Sharon Wilson, Lynn Holowesko, etc. have steadfastly refused to support the drafting of a proposed amendment that would unequivocally define "marriage" as the legal union through wedlock of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all other forms of union whether they be between man and man, woman and woman, man and sheep and woman and sheep. The Bahamas is not America; we have our own culture and identity and the vast majority of Bahamians want our constitution to be amended in a way that would respect and protect the institution of marriage as we have known it for centuries. Most Bahamians now know they need to do the right thing and vote a resounding "NO!" on June 7th to all four of the proposed amendments given that each of them contains serious flaws of one kind or another that would prove most harmful to our society and way of life.
SP 8 years, 6 months ago
...... How many Billions has the Wicked Witch and her Pirates looted from Bahamas? .....
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/06/04…
Only one way to find out...VOTE NO!
cmiller 8 years, 6 months ago
She can't talk about women's inequality. The PEOPLE OF THE BAHAMAS voted her out of office. They didn't want her!!!! THE PLP GOVERNMENT put her into one of the most lucrative and powerful jobs in the country, contrary to what the people wanted. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT, ALLISON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well_mudda_take_sic 8 years, 6 months ago
For the record, I will be voting a resounding "No!" to all four of the bills in tomorrow's referendum. Like most Bahamians I am only intolerant of others who seek to impinge on my rights, my freedoms and my way of life as a Bahamian. This bucket obviously does not include the vast majority of Bahamian men or Bahamian women, but it does include the many thousands of foreigners who are willing to sell their loyalty to the PLP (or FNM for that matter) in exchange for our government (with its hidden agenda) granting them Bahamian citizenship or permanent resident status. And this bucket certainly does include the very loud few in the global LGBT movement who seek to impose their way of life on others under the pretense of the rest of us (the 98+% of us) discriminating against them. The vast majority of Bahamians (both men and women) should not have to give up any of their rights, freedoms and beliefs, nor compromise in any way their way of life, simply because a small few in our society falsely accuse them of being somehow discriminatory. I, along with the other 98+% of Bahamians, have rights too!
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