The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

MARCO City MP Greg Moss yesterday compared the government’s backing of the YES Bahamas campaign to propaganda methods utilised by Nazi Germany as he forecast the total failure of the gender equality referendum.

Mr Moss, leader of the newly formed United Democratic Party (UDP), proposed that the democratic and responsible option would be to postpone the June 7 vote until the government could ensure equal funding and time were given to the campaigns that oppose the bills.

He called the referendum an exercise in “propaganda” and social engineering and accused the government of “prostituting” independent institutions in a bid to manipulate public opinion.

“The government has been involved in this exercise since 2014,” Mr Moss said. “This is two years of trying to push propaganda onto the people. They’re not going to provide any money (to opposition campaigns). There hasn’t even been the benefit of an acknowledgement of receipt of the letter from Save Our Bahamas.

“It’s not even money, it’s time, you can make money available today but you’ve had two years of trying to sway public opinion – clearly this is improper. There is nothing to prevent the government to reschedule it.”

Mr Moss is a panelist on the pastor’s forum hosted by Save Our Bahamas. The religious group is lobbying against the fourth Constitutional Amendment Bill, which seeks to end discrimination based on sex. However, Mr Moss is also against the second bill, which seeks to give women the same right as men to pass on citizenship to their foreign spouse.

He noted that the third bill was unnecessary because Article 13 of the Constitution gave Parliament the ability to make provisions as it related to citizenship. Bill three would grant any unmarried Bahamian man the right to pass on his Bahamian citizenship to any child he fathers with a foreign woman with proof of paternity.

The first Constitutional Amendment Bill seeks to give Bahamian women who are married to foreign men the right to pass on their Bahamian citizenship to any child of that union no matter where that child is born.

Mr Moss said that while he felt the first bill was worth passing, most persons have told him they will vote against all four bills because of their distrust of the government.

He maintained that the referendum was just a smokescreen for the fourth Constitutional Amendment Bill. He said that he has received numerous calls from public servants in various departments, including the Passport Office, who say that members of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) community have already contacted them to state their intention to change their gender on government documents once the bill has passed.

“What is distressing,” Mr Moss said, “what is disconcerting, surprising, is to see the government’s continued attempt to sway the opinion of the people in what is meant to be an independent referendum.”

“Moving from subverting the presumed independence of the Constitutional Commission by turning them into a propaganda machine, but to go beyond that and launch a campaign using public funds to sway public opinion.”

He added: “What I think is the most surprising development is the release that came out from the Office of the Attorney General. The desperation that’s showing right now is amazing, trying to manipulate public opinion and tarnish and abuse institutions that are supposed to be independent, to prostitute them trying to advance a political and social agenda that doesn’t coincide with the will of the people.”

He said: “This level of propaganda we have not seen this in the world since Nazi Germany, maybe to a smaller extent Cuba but they have not gone to this level to use public money to sway public opinion.”

The Office of the Attorney General issued a statement this week in response to fears that the fourth bill will set legal foundation for same-sex marriage. The statement said that it was not possible for judges to interpret bill four as giving people the legal right to same-sex marriage in the future.

“While it is the role of judges to interpret the Constitution and statutes, they must do so according to established legal rules,” the statement said.

“They are not free to ignore the language of the amendment or the will of Parliament.”

Yesterday, Mr Moss said the statement was both scandalous and “absolute nonsense” because the court was free to interpret the Constitution and laws. He said he was appalled by the amount of misinformation and dishonesty from the government about the bills. He said the government was becoming increasingly desperate in its attempt to subvert the will of the people.

“They are engaged in social engineering,” Mr Moss said, “they clearly want to change this country into an image that does not represent the people. It’s absolutely scandalous but I don’t believe that the people will be fooled.”