The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

THE YES Bahamas campaign yesterday accused Marco City MP Greg Moss of fearmongering in response to his comparison of its efforts to Nazi propaganda.

The campaign shot back, stating that Mr Moss’ statements were “reckless, fallacious and wholly disingenuous”, adding that the MP’s actions were more in line with the infamous propaganda campaigns that relied on fear and misinformation.

“Mr Moss’ continued assertion that amendment four will open up the door to same-sex marriage is completely inaccurate,” read the campaign’s statement.

“Voting ‘yes’ on amendment four will only ensure that the government of The Bahamas cannot make laws that privilege men over women or women over men. It is about ensuring that Bahamian men and women, our sons and daughters, have equal opportunities and protections under the law.”

The statement continued: “The Nazis relied on conspiracy theories about minorities in their midst to convince citizens to be complicit in decisions that ultimately landed Germany on the wrong side of history. Mr Moss should be careful that his own fear-mongering does not result in the same for the Bahamian people.”

On Tuesday, Mr Moss compared the government’s support of the gender equality referendum through the YES campaign and its officials to “propaganda” methods utilised by Nazi Germany. He forecast the total failure of the gender equality referendum, citing that there was widespread distrust in the government among the electorate.

Mr Moss called the referendum an exercise in propaganda and social engineering, and proposed that the democratic and responsible option would be to postpone the vote until the government could ensure equal funding and time were given to the campaigns that oppose the bills.

The Marco City MP insisted that three of the bills were just smokescreens for the fourth Constitutional Amendment Bill - which seeks to end discrimination based on sex.

In response, the YES campaign reiterated that the fourth bill would not create the legal framework to allow for same-sex marriage.

The statement read: “Since 1879, marriage has been defined as between a man and a women and amendment four will not change that. Furthermore, Article 30 of the Constitution preserves the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, and Article 26(4)(c) ensures that this definition could stand after the proposed amendment since it allows legislation to discriminate when it comes to marriage.

“These are the facts,” it continued, “and they have been supported by one former chief justice, a host of Queen’s Counsellors, the attorney general, the bipartisan Constitutional Commission, Bishop Neil Ellis of Global United Fellowship of Churches, Bishop Laish Boyd of the Anglican Diocese and Archbishop Patrick Pinder of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese and a number of other religious leaders.”

“Greg Moss, MP, likened the government’s support for the YES Bahamas campaign to Nazi propaganda,” the statement read.

“Mr Moss’ statements are reckless, fallacious and wholly disingenuous. Nazi propaganda campaigns relied on two factors; fear and misinformation, the very same elements that have constituted Mr Moss’ campaign against the June 7 referendum.”

It added: “The YES Bahamas campaign believes that when Bahamians are informed and fully understand the four amendments we have been asked to consider, when the time comes to vote, their conscience will guide them to vote ‘yes’.”