By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY General Allyson Maynard-Gibson said it would be a “terrible shame” if Bahamians vote “no” to the constitutional referendum’s questions because of concerns about same-sex marriage.

This fear has nearly overshadowed the referendum’s attempt to address gender discrimination in the Constitution, with numerous Bahamians telling The Tribune last week that concern about gay marriage will lead them to either vote “no” to the fourth question or all of the questions on the ballot.

Speaking to reporters outside Cabinet yesterday, Mrs Maynard-Gibson expressed hope that this will not be the case while stressing that transgender rights have nothing to do with the referendum.

Last week, representatives of Bahamas Transgender Intersex United held a press conference urging the government to acknowledge the needs of their community, including access to healthcare and education without discrimination.

“This bill is not about the transgender comments,” she said. “We are focusing on what this is about. In 2016 Bahamians are ready and anxious for June 7 to come so that they can vote ‘yes’ to all four amendments, making it very clear that in today’s Bahamas (equality reins).”

The debate about gay and transgender rights is not really controversial, Mrs Maynard-Gibson said, calling it healthy for this country’s democracy.

“It’s healthy for a democracy for people to ask questions and it is very respectful to answer people’s questions, that is what the government has been trying to do and what the constitutional referendum and the ‘yes’ campaign is trying to do,” she said. “I don’t really call it controversy. I think it’s exciting. It sends a message about how strong our democracy is that people are interested in having information. The ‘yes’ campaign is giving them the information that is required and is making it very clear that it would be such a shame to vote for ‘no’ for something that this referendum is not about.

“What it is about is conferring equal rights in the manner in which citizenship is given and bill four is about ensuring that you are not discriminated against as a woman and you are not discriminated against as a man. It would be a terrible shame and the ‘yes’ campaign is doing a good job in this, to vote no for something that the vote isn’t about.”

In 2002, the PLP urged Bahamians to vote “no” in that year’s constitutional referendum, which also dealt with gender equality among other issues.

This call came after members of the PLP, in opposition at the time, supported the referendum bills in Parliament. However, Mr Christie, then leader of the Opposition, successfully led a campaign to get the people to vote against the 2002 referendum. As a result the referendum was lost.

In August 2012, Mrs Maynard-Gibson said former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham was to blame for the referendum’s failure.

She said her party did not support the “flawed process” and poorly drafted, unclear legislation that the then FNM government was trying to push through.

“Of course we want equality between Bahamian men and women but we must, one, respect our Constitution by not trying to pass 10 amendments at once, and secondly, on such a fundamental and important concept as the equality of Bahamian men and women, there must be certainty of intention,” Mrs Maynard-Gibson told the Senate in 2012.

“The process by which Mr Ingraham sought to amend the constitution was so flawed that it was the view of constitutional experts that the issue might have to be resolved by the courts – when Bahamians go to vote for or against a referendum every single one of us should be able to understand what we are voting for, we should be able to pick up that legislation and read it and understand it ourselves, we should not need the courts to tell us what it means,” she said at the time.

Yesterday, the attorney general declined to give her view on the controversy about whether the vote “no” campaigns should receive public funds like the YES Bahamas campaign.

Such groups have threatened to sue the government if it fails to do so and Constitutional Commission Chairman Sean McWeeney has also suggested that the government has a legal responsibility to provide equal access to public funds to both the “yes” and “no” campaigns.

Asked about this yesterday, Mrs Maynard-Gibson said: “You need to speak to someone else about that. That’s a matter for someone other than me.”