By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Perry Christie yesterday conceded that the June 7 constitutional referendum went “hopelessly wrong” and said he was “shocked” to be accused of having a hidden agenda that sided with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

Speaking in the House of Assembly, Mr Christie said the government accepted the outcome of the failed equality referendum but seemed to place blame of its outcome on Free National Movement Leader Dr Hubert Minnis and some church leaders who did not communicate their reservations during consultations with the government.

Still Mr Christie admitted that the entire referendum process may have been “hopelessly flawed” because of a compelling urgency by some to “pay back” the PLP. This, he said, affected the supremacy of the issues presented during the vote.

He further defended the government’s decision to fund the YES Bahamas campaign saying it took this position because “that was all that it was about. It was never about ‘no’.”

He added: “We ensured that there was full and uncompromising levels of consultation and we made it absolutely clear to the ministers of the gospel that we were together, the leader of the opposition and I.

“ . . . The leader indicated to me that his wife and my wife would lead the charge and we gave full assurance to the ministers of religion present that this was the purity of our position.

“They had a trust in the commitment in the leadership of the Free National Movement and the Progressive Liberal Party. (But) whatever happens we accept the result.

“This is why I feel bad those church leaders who got together and committed themselves did so because they trusted us.”

He continued: “But things went hopelessly wrong when we who sat together had to witness the leader of the opposition telling people go vote your conscience.

“This whole thing may have been hopelessly flawed because of a compelling urgency on the part of some to pay us back (for) what they perceived to be a payback to the PLP and therefore the supremacy of the issues of equality were lost in a payback.”

However Dr Minnis took exception to this, saying he told the House of Assembly from as early as July 2014 that he was urging Bahamians to vote their conscience. He reread the excerpts of a 2014 speech into the record of Parliament to substantiate the point.

The Killarney MP said he supported the referendum and that the FNM always supported equality for women.

“He attempted not only to impugn my character but my honesty and sincerity,” Dr Minnis said. “And with respect to the referendum the prime minister eluded to this House that he was not familiar with my position in terms of me informing people how they should vote.”

At the height of national discourse on the referendum, particularly bill four, many Bahamians accused the government of having a hidden agenda because it sought to prevent discrimination based on sex or being male or female. Some thought this would lead to gay marriage.

Recently sitting Court of Appeal President Dame Anita Allen has said this proposed amendment neither opened the door nor closed it to same-sex marriages, pointing to “difficulties” inherent in the existing marriage laws that do not present any clear provision that parties to a marriage must be male and female.