Progressive Liberal Party(PLP) Chairman Bradley Roberts yesterday called for solidarity between his party and the Free National Movement(FNM) on the four constitutional amendments on gender equality.
Mr. Roberts noted that the bills were near unanimously voted on in both houses of parliament, and he said this is an indication that there is bipartisan support for the proposed constitutional amendments.
It is on this premise that Mr. Roberts said he invites Opposition Leader, Dr. Hubert Minnis to publicly support the prime minister in pursuit of the passing of the four bills.
“Dr. Minnis should be seen educating Bahamians on the legal facts surrounding these four bills and condemning misinformation and conspiracy theories because the courts of this country hand down judgments based purely on the facts as they appear in law – not based on opinions, supposed conspiracies and not on suppositions,” Mr. Roberts said.
“At the political level, I am willing to stand in solidarity with FNM chairman Sidney Collie in a public display of unity as we deepen our democracy by ensuring that both men and women are treated equality under the law and to prevent any future parliament from passing laws that discriminate against any Bahamian because of their sex – meaning male or female,” he added.
There has been much controversy particularly surrounding bill number four, which seeks to end discrimination in the constitution based on sex.
Many individuals throughout society have expressed fears and concerns of the fourth amendment transitioning into same sex marriage.
Over the past few months, the church has even been divided on the issue, whereas some clergymen, namely Grace Community Church pastor, Lyall Bethel, maintains that there is a hidden agenda attached to bill four, whereby urging Bahamians to vote no.
Meanwhile, on the other hand other clergymen, namely Global United Fellowship Presiding Bishop Neil Ellis, recently urged Bahamians to vote yes, as he maintained that there is no hidden agenda, only the purpose of bringing about equality between men and women under the law.
Bill one states that a married Bahamian woman will have the same right as a married Bahamian man to pass citizenship on to her child, while bill two proposes that the foreign spouse of a Bahamian woman will have the same right as the spouse of a Bahamian man to become a Bahamian citizen.
Bill three proposes that an unmarried Bahamian man will have the same rights as an unmarried Bahamian woman to pass his citizenship on to his child, while bill four proposes that discrimination be removed from the constitution on the basis of sex.
