Dear Sir,

If my memory serves me correctly, we did have a referendum on the issue of gay marriage not too long ago. Am I right? Maybe you could help me here because I am a bit confused. I am of the understanding that the results of that referendum showed that Bermuda was not ready to accept gay marriage or civil unions at this time. Am I right?

I’m sorry to say, Sir, but I find myself in the predicament where I am afraid I have to place the blame just where I think it belongs. It became very clear to me that Michael Dunkley did not want the referendum to be successful when he announced that it would be made non-binding. He knew that making the referendum non-binding had a psychological intent, which was to discourage as many people as possible from turning up at the polls.

Not only was the referendum intended to be a waste of the taxpayer’s money, it was about deception at its best. Remember how Mr Dunkley said that he wanted to be on the right side of history and to keep that promise to himself he decided to dodge his responsibilities as the so-called leader of the Government and the country, and went and sought refuge in the chambers of the courts.

He then had a judge do his dirty work for him; we now know, Sir, that Mr Dunkley lacked any real courage or genuine leadership skills.

If you don’t mind me asking you, Sir, do you remember any judges being elected to Parliament in the last election? I don’t think so. Since which the General Election has come and gone, and the old has made way for the new. It seems that some people need to be reminded that the One Bermuda Alliance had been swept away and dumped into the political dustbin of history by a huge landslide.

It appears, Sir, that there seems to be some leftover OBA residue still stinking up the place. But, not to worry, what is needed is just a few squirts of “know their place” sanitiser and the stink will go away.

Sir, we have the right to protest, but you can’t have a small minority group of people thinking that they have the power to threaten the Government by going to the Governor on the hill and suggesting to him that he should not sign a Bill that has been passed in the Lower House and in the Upper House, especially when the majority that had been polled in a referendum not too long ago stated that they did not want gay marriage or civil unions on the books.

Are these people saying that they are more powerful than the legitimately elected government? The Progressive Labour Party was brave in taking the stand it did, taking slams from its constituents for passing a Bill that included civil unions.

Sir, I knew that something had to be done in trying to iron out this issue; it was not going to be easy, for same-sex marriage was not going to go away anytime soon.

Sir, I have told you before where I stand on this situation: I see marriage as the natural engagement between a man and a woman. Anything else is contradictory to the laws of nature and cannot be placed on that same platform. Sir, only a man and a woman can produce a child — that is not based on my say-so, it is based on common sense and logic that is grounded in the fact of nature.

Sir, the world would not survive if we did not have the natural physical interaction between a man and a woman to produce the next generation. Otherwise, mankind as we know it will surely die. Sir, only marriage between a man and a woman could take first place on the prize-giving pedestal, since only they have the ability to produce. Anything else after that comes in second.

E. McNEIL STOVELL

Pembroke