Bhms: The artful dodger

Prime Minister Perry Christie addressed the controversial gay cruise Monday as he called on the "church" not to be selective in confronting immorality in the country.

"Don't march down Bay Street and curse me for one moral deviance or one segment of immorality," said Mr. Christie. "Examine what contributes to the immorality of this country and show me the consistency on a sustained basis to help us remove it from this country."

Mr. Christie was speaking at the renaming ceremony of the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union's administration building.

The nation's leader said while the country is exposed to different cultures and dispositions, he is resolute that The Bahamas "must never be used or held out as a country that welcomes wholesale immorality."

On the other hand, Mr. Christie said, "We must ensure that we do not communicate to our people that one sin is greater than the next, one degree of immorality is greater than the next."

"The same scathing commitment must be manifested to those who sin," he said.

"Now once you do that, you feel you could take me out, take me out," charged Mr. Christie. "I would thank God for the fact that God gave me a season in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas."

On Thursday the Norwegian Dawn "family values gay cruise" stopped in Berry Islands before sailing into choppy seas in New Providence on Friday where an anti-gay rally was organised by the Save Bahamas Campaign to protest their disapproval to the homosexual lifestyle.

Prime Minister Christie said his government would speak with the companies that organise the cruises, stressing, "There has been no difference, no deviation, no distinction, to be drawn between the governments of The Bahamas when it comes to this."

Said Mr. Christie: "I told you I'm conservative. You don't have to look far on my point of view on ships coming to The Bahamas filled with homosexuals."

Mr. Christie said too often serious problems are "glossed over" and urged Bahamians not to allow this to happen.