Natl. security minister suggests referendum may be needed for marital rape consensus
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Free National Movement (FNM) Senator Michela Barnett-Ellis said yesterday that the government must lead the movement for criminalizing marital rape, adding that laws are not based on guaranteed convictions but protections of people.
Barnett-Ellis’ comments came in response to statements made by National Security Minister Wayne Munroe, who addressed the Progressive Liberal Party’s men’s branch meeting on the matter on Sunday.
Munroe sought to explain the legal implications surrounding the longstanding controversial issue and questioned whether a change of the law would mean a change in the social structure of a marriage.
He said: “The reality of this change in our law will be that we will be changing a bit of our social order.
“If we are going to change a part of our social order over something as important as this, the question will arise as to whether you should seek the will of the people before you do it.
“If they say yes, it’s yes. If they say no, then it’s no.”
We need to know where this new day administration stands on the issue. We are getting mixed messages from this administration and we need certainty.
– Senator Michela Barnett-Ellis
In an interview with Eyewitness News, Barnett-Ellis indicated that the government must lead the discussion and movement of the issue.
“I find it interesting now that they don’t want to make the decision. They don’t want to do the right thing. They want to pass the buck to say: ‘Oh well, I tried,’” she asserted.
“Everybody is quoting the Bible, so I would say this is a Pontius Pilate moment and they are washing their hands of the issue.
“We need to know where this new day administration stands on the issue.”
She added: “We are getting mixed messages from this administration and we need certainty.”
During his presentation at the men’s meeting, Munroe put forth the view that the current “Christian concept” of marriage between a man and a woman is that the two become one.
He suggested consent is given at the beginning of the marriage.
He then noted that marital rape must be defined by a type of behavior for it to be a convictable offense.
“If we decide that we want consent to sex given at marriage to be able to be withdrawn at any time and for any reason, so that you can commit an offense of having intercourse with your spouse without their consent, if we want to succeed in getting convictions for it, we better call it something other than rape. That’s just the reality of it,” Munroe contended.
“When we engage this debate, it should be in this fashion — what behavior are we wanting to outlaw?
“After we define what behavior we want to outlaw, we can write it down and you can come up with any name to call it. But if you call it rape, in the modern-day Bahamas, it will have a very low conviction rate.
“Then, you would only be successful if your objective was to call it that as opposed to get people punished for it.”
This is about protecting the rights of women, protecting the wives and saying that you…have the right to say no.
– Senator Michela Barnett-Ellis
However, Barnett-Ellis hit back at the suggestion, saying it is just a deflection of the issue.
“What we want to do is protect rights. What we want to do is say to the wives in our community that when they get married, they don’t lose the ability to decide what happens to their bodies, particularly in relation to one of those intimate acts that two people could do,” she said.
“If we made laws based on whether we would get a conviction, beastiality is still on the books.
“This is about protecting the rights of women, protecting the wives and saying that you…have the right to say no; this is still your body and you are the person who determines what happens to it and what you do with it.”
The FNM senator urged Bahamians to call their representatives and share their views on social media.
“I believe we have a silent majority on it and that more people think this is egregious and can’t possibly believe that we are still having this discussion,” she said.
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