By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas would be in “deep trouble” if voters in the upcoming constitutional referendum succumbed to misinformation and fear when casting their ballots, an award winning filmmaker told The Tribune yesterday.

Kareem Mortimer, co-founder of production company Best Ever Film, weighed in on the intense debate surrounding the upcoming gender equality referendum scheduled in less than ten days.

Mr Mortimer, who expressed full support for all four referendum bills, expressed concern for the country’s future and its international reputation should the bills fail to pass due to confusion and bigotry towards some sects in society.

“I support all four bills wholeheartedly as a man with three sisters. I strongly believe that they should be equal in every way to me as citizens of this country,” Mr Mortimer said.

“I also believe in having a forum for criticisms and opposing viewpoints but the tone that has been set at times has been really discouraging with the open sexism, xenophobia and homophobia that has allowed to enter the conversation through the radio waves and social media has exposed a side to our country that is completely heartbreaking. History has taught us that nothing good comes out of fear and those who engage in fear-mongering lead us to a path of destruction.”

“In The Bahamas, we do not exist in a bubble. The world is watching us – as the world visits us – but most importantly we have an opportunity to say what our values are with the referendum. And if we determine our values from an uninformed, fear-based perspective then we are in deep trouble.”

A report by the World Bank Group, titled “Women, Business and the Law 2016,” listed The Bahamas as one of 22 countries in the world whose constitutions do not allow for married women to convey their nationality to their children and spouses in the same way that men can.

Similarly, the report noted that The Bahamas is one of 44 countries in the world in which spouses do not have equal rights to convey citizenship. As such, the report cited The Bahamas as being one country of many that hosts “gender-based legal restrictions”.

The first Constitutional Amendment Bill would enable a child born outside The Bahamas to a married Bahamian woman and a non-Bahamian father to have automatic Bahamian citizenship at birth. However, the government does not plan to have the clause operate retroactively.

The second bill would allow a Bahamian woman who marries a foreign man to secure for him the same access to Bahamian citizenship that a Bahamian man has always enjoyed under the Constitution in relation to his foreign wife.

The third bill would give an unwed Bahamian father the same right to pass citizenship to his child that a Bahamian woman has always had under the Constitution in relation to a child born out of wedlock, provided proof of paternity.

The fourth bill aims to remove discrimination from the Constitution based on sex, being male or female.

Mr Mortimer admitted his shock at the number of people opposed to the bills who seem “hell-bent” on confusing an issue that seems pretty clear from the wording and explanations by the education campaigns.

He also questioned whether the opponents towards the bills were merely motivated by “how many quotes they can get in a newspaper, maintaining a faulty status quo, and withholding rights from their sisters, wives, and daughters.”

“I believe in democracy...I have to believe there are still Bahamians with common sense,” Mr Mortimer said.

Mr Mortimer is a Bahamian filmmaker who is known for such projects as Chance, The Eleutheran Adventure, Float, I Am Not A Dummy, Children of God, Wind Jammers and Passage.

The latter film, which is now being developed into a feature film called Cargo, was screened in New Zealand at the Commonwealth Writers Forum, The Aruba International Film Festival, among other festivals.

He was also the editor of “Womanish Ways: Freedom, Human Rights and Democracy”, a documentary on the women’s suffrage movement in The Bahamas that was produced and directed by acclaimed writer Marion Bethel.

• See Insight for more on the referendum vote.