With less than one week away from the gender equality referendum, Agriculture Minister and MICAL MP V. Alfred Gray yesterday said the church is the main body responsible for “hijacking” bill number four.
The MICAL MP expressed disgust and annoyance as he urged Bahamians to vote yes for the four proposed bills.
“They’re suggesting that it opens the door to same sex marriage. To me, it is a fallacy. Intelligentsia will not accept that because all the bill says or seeks to do is to define the word sex. In section 15 of the constitution it says no one should be discriminated against on the basis of religion, creed, and sex. But it did not say in the constitution presently what sex is. This bill seeks to define sex as male or female. I do not know and I honestly do not understand how same sex marriage gets involved in this,” he said.
Mr. Gray reiterated however, that there will be a door open to same sex marriage if in fact Bahamians vote no.
“If we do not vote for bill number four, that’s where the door gets open. I can see some people going to the courts not long after this bill either passes or fails to test it. And because the constitution is the supreme law of The Bahamas if we do not have in our constitution what sex means the court will be left to interpret it,” he said.
“And if you have a liberal court that interprets it to mean a change of your gender by operation, a change of your gender by some imposture’s feel. If you feel like you’re a man, you’re a man, that’s bull. A man is a man at birth, a woman is a woman at birth,” Mr. Gray exclaimed.
Over the weekend, Chairman of the Constitutional Commission Sean Mcweeney QC charged that politicians who supported the bills’ passage in Parliament have been too quiet with urging constituents to get out and vote.
Mr. Gray in his defense said he has done his part in that regard.
“I have done what I could. I have five islands with which to deal in that regard. My visits to some of them, not all five, have always been to read the bills, get educated, and if they educate themselves as to the content of the bills, they will vote yes,” he said.
Referendum day is set for June 7th.
