The Bahamas does not endorse same sex marriages

Bill Denies Same Sex Marriage

By Sasha Lightbourne
The Bahama Journal
Nassau, The Bahamas



The government has made it clear – the proposed amendments to the constitution to promote gender equality between men and women will not open the door for same sex marriages, yet concerns continue to flare with those who remain unconvinced with the government’s assurance, therefore prompting the attorney general and others with a bird’s eye view of the proposed law to clear up the misconceptions.

While appearing on Jones and Company on Sunday, Co-Chair of the Public Education and Advocacy Committee for the Constitutional Commission Theresa Moxey-Ingraham told host Wendall Jones that “none of the bills open the door for same sex marriage.”

“My retort is to try and explain what sex means when people ask me about same sex marriages,” she said.

“I would say that the Constitution defines what a bogus marriage is and those are my words. One of the categories of non-marriage is people of the same gender and that is already in our law and in the Marital Clauses Act and so you say to people do not be afraid here are the facts. These bills have nothing to do with same sex marriage.”

In response to critics, Attorney General Allyson Maynard Gibson recently spoke out to set the record straight on the highly controversial issue.

Using her legal expertise, the attorney general said the bill will not provide gays with an opportunity to marry in The Bahamas nor will it allow a transgender the right to marry under the Constitution.

“The Matrimonial Clauses Act says that in The Bahamas a marriage is a union between a man and a woman, I also want to add interestingly that the word ‘sex’ has been in The Bahamas Constitution since 1964, it has always been known to mean a man or a woman,” she said.

“Further the cases make it clear, even the Privy Council cases – even where someone has had a sex change for the purpose of a marriage your sex is your biological or your chromosomal composition at birth, that is XX for women and XY for men. There are many reasons to be confident and assure the Bahamian people that the word ‘sex’ does not open the door to same sex marriages.”

The attorney general said as much during a press conference with members of the Commonwealth Women of Parliamentarians (CWP).

The fourth Constitutional Amendment Bill has become the centre of debate on the proposed controversial bills that seek to promote gender equality between men and women

Mrs. Maynard –Gibson also took the time to address those persons who oppose the component of the bill that would allow a Bahamian woman to marry a foreigner and secure future citizenship for her spouse in the midst of views that Bahamian women could possibly be taken advantage of as a result.

“Who is doing best in schools, elementary and high school,” she asked.

“Girls, they’re being trained to make good decisions, go to our universities, The College of The Bahamas (COB), universities all over the world, who’s excelling? Women. So you’re going to tell me that women don’t have anything between their two ears that enables them to make a sound decision that impacts their lives positively and impacts the community in which they live.”

Given the concerns over the word ‘sex’ in the constitution, Chairman of The Constitutional Commission Sean McWeeney recently said that the commission is drafting a change to the bill to include a definition for the word ‘sex’.

The commission also announced that it would reword the proposed referendum questions to ensure an ease of understating for the average Bahamian.

Debate on the four bills continue in the House of Assembly, if all goes as planned, a constitutional referendum is slated for November 6.

August 18, 2014

Jones Bahamas

...the House of Bishops and Standing Committee of the Church in the Province of the West Indies urge Caribbean governments to turn a deaf ear to the international community which encourages same sex marriage

Anglican Bishops Take Strong Stance Against Gay Marriage

Jones Bahamas:




West Indian Anglican Bishops have officially taken a firm stance against same-sex marriage.

During a meeting this past Thursday, the House of Bishops and Standing Committee of the Church in the Province of the West Indies released a draft provincial statement urging Caribbean governments to turn a deaf ear to the international community that encourages same sex marriage.

The body, which is the body of leadership in the West Indian Anglican community, said that they were aware that Caribbean political leaders were being subjected to pressures from nations and institutions from outside the region.

“Frequently they are pressured to conform to the changes being undertaken in their redefinition of human sexuality and same-sex unions, under threat of economic sanctions and the loss of humanitarian aid,” they said.

“We urge our leaders of government and of civil society, as well as the people of our nations, to resist any attempt to compromise our cultural and religious principles regarding these matters.”

The collection of bishops in the region described the international pressure as the ‘dangling of a carrot’ to bring economic assistance to faltering economies, but added that Caribbean governments should not give in.

The bishops also noted that during their deliberations they paid note to the fact that during numerous international forums, the same-sex issue is being pushed as a promotion of human rights, one that must be accepted in a developed nation.

“Frequently, failure to conform by developing nations, like our own, results in the threat of various sanctions, including the withholding of economic aid,” they said.

“More specifically, there is a redefinition of gender to accommodate gay, lesbian and transgendered people, and the creation of a plurality of definitions which leaves the issue of gender to self-definition, thereby dismissing traditional definition of male and female.”

“Additionally, there is the passage of legislation among a number of metropolitan nations whereby marriage is defined as a human right in which any two persons may be joined, inclusive of persons of the same sex,” they added.

The bishops used as a point of reference the Pastoral Statement from the House of Bishops of the Church of England in 2005 which defines marriage as “a creation ordinance, a gift of God in creation and a means of his grace.”

The statement also defined marriage as a faithful, committed, permanent and legally sanctioned relationship between a man and a woman and said it is central to the stability and health of human society.

They also spoke of the cultural and theoretical grounding of Caribbean family life as being between a man and a woman and said the idea of marriage being between two persons of the same sex is “totally unacceptable.”

“While we recognise that the church’s mandate is informed by pastoral and doctrinal concerns and in drawing the attention of the faithful to the source and purpose of marriage, and in solemnising such unions, we accept that governments have the responsibility of providing the kind of legal framework for protecting, but not defining, this most basic social institution on which the stability of society and the socialisation of its members rest,” they said.

“However, the threat and use of economic sanctions are not new experiences to the region’s people, neither is the claim to a superior morality convincing for people who have known the experience of chattel slavery in our past.”

Back in January Archbishop Laish Boyd came under heavy scrutiny after his address to the Constitutional Commission was taken out of context and he was accused of supporting gay marriage.

The archbishop has since dismissed those claims and said that he supports the human rights of all individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation, but believes that marriage should remain a union between a man and a woman.

April 29, 2013

The Bahama Journal

Bahamas Blog International