Referendumb

So here we are. While Britain (England, in particular) has voted to #Brexit from the European Union, Bermuda has voted to #remain in the last century. A little while ago I made a prediction on how the Bermuda referendum on gay marriage would turn out:

More than likely, it's going to be a narrow majority against. Then what? The OBA will either wuss out because the people don't support it, or they'll do the right thing and move ahead with legalizing it and make themselves even more unpopular than they were in the first place.

Well, I was right about the majority against, but it wasn't narrow. About twice as many voters opposed civil unions and same-sex marriage. But, only 46.89% of voters even showed up to the polls. Here was my summary on Facebook:

While everyone was paying attention to Brexit, Bermuda was holding a little referendum of its own, this one on same-sex marriage and civil unions. Yes, the OBA Government had decided to turn to the masses for guidance on the granting of rights to a vulnerable minority. Great idea! Unsurprisingly, both same-sex marriage and civil unions were rejected by voters, proving the whole exercise to be an extraordinary waste of everyone’s time. The silver lining, however, is that so few people took the idea of a referendum on human rights seriously that only about 47% of the electorate voted. So technically, the outcome can’t even be treated as a valid representation of Bermuda as a whole. Not to imply that the referendum was even binding in the first place, as the OBA made clear from the outset… Did I mention how this was a waste of time? Now we just need to wait a little bit, let emotions calm, and watch the OBA brush the whole thing under the rug and hope that no one holds it against them.

Spoiler alert: people are going to hold it against them.