Pride Around the World
Legal and Social Background The Bahamas, a former British colony, was the first country in the Anglophone Caribbean to decriminalize consensual same-sex conduct, in 1991.52 However, a discriminatory provision in the Sexual Offenses Act sets the age of consent at 18 for same-sex sexual acts, and at 16 for different-sex sexual acts.53 No law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.54 According to the Matrimonial Act, marriages are considered void under the law if the parties are “not respectively male and female.”55 A proposed referendum in 2016 regarding a constitutional amendment that would have expanded citizenship rights for children born of mixed-nationality couples led to a moral panic sparked by claims that the amendment would also institutionalize marriage equality.56 While activists interviewed by OutRight said that social attitudes had generally improved in recent years, backlash against LGBTIQ equality remains a fact of life in the Bahamas, at times inflamed by hostile rhetoric from politicians and faith leaders. One MP suggested transgender people be exiled to “their own island” during the heated referendum debate in 2016. When the US Embassy hoisted the Pride flag in June 2021, the Bahamas Christian Council decried the gesture as “overreaching and insensitive,” asserting that heterosexuality was the Bahamian way of life: “The Bahamas believes in the traditional family structure of one man and one woman.”57 52 Human Dignity Trust, “A History of LGBT Criminalisation,” updated 2022, https://www. humandignitytrust.org/lgbt-the-law/a-history-of-criminalisation (accessed 24 May 2022). 53 Statute Law of the Bahamas, Sexual Offenses Act, arts. 10,11, 16. 54 The Constitution protects against discrimination on the basis of “race, place of origin, political opinions, colour, creed of sex,” while the Employment Act protects against discrimination in employment on the basis of “race, creed, sex, marital status, political opinion, age or HIV/AIDS.” The Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, 1973, https:// www.bahamas.gov.bs/wps/wcm/connect/04fb4632-1bd7-414f-b66e-9c499b382480/ Chap+3+Protection+rights+and+freedoms.pdf?MOD=AJPERES (accessed 26 May 2022), art. 15; Statute Law of the Bahamas, Chapter 321A, Employment, 2006, http://laws.bahamas. gov.bs/cms/images/LEGISLATION/PRINCIPAL/2001/2001-0027/EmploymentAct_1.pdf (accessed 26 May 2022), art. 6. 55 Statute Law of the Bahamas, Chapter 125, Matrimonial Causes, 2001, http:// laws.bahamas.gov.bs/cms/images/LEGISLATION/PRINCIPAL/1879/1879-0006/ MatrimonialCausesAct_1.pdf (accessed 26 May 2022), art. 21(c). 56 Equality Bahamas, CEDAW Shadow Report on the Bahamas for the 71st Session, October 2018, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/BHS/ INT_CEDAW_CSS_BHS_32599_E.pdf (accessed 26 May 2022). 57 “Christian Council Slams US Embassy over Pride Flag,” Nassau Guardian, 2 June 2021, https://thenassauguardian.com/christian-council-slams-us-embassy-over-pride-flag (accessed 24 May 2022).
THE BAHAMAS
The Bahamas: “The Most Powerful Weapon”
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