Bermuda becomes first country ever to revoke same-sex marriage
Winston and Greg (above) were the original plaintiffs in a Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
Bermuda has become the first country to revoke legalized same-sex marriage. Instead, it has replaced marriage equality with domestic partnerships.
Governor John Rankin signed the Domestic Partnership Act 2017 into law on February 7.
The bill clarifies that ‘a marriage is void unless the parties are respectively male and female’. A domestic partnership is essentially an interpersonal relationship between adults who share their lives without marriage.
Bermuda legalized same-sex marriage on 5 May 2017.
The Supreme Court of Bermuda heard the case of same-sex marriage in early 2017. Chief Justice Charles-Etta Simmons issued the ruling in favor of it.
Winston Godwin and his Canadian fiancé, Greg DeRoche (pictured above), were the original plaintiffs.
Simmons ruled that the Registrar must ‘act in accordance with the requirements of the Marriage Act’. Ultimately, she declared ‘same-sex couples are entitled to be married under the Marriage Act.’
However, when Progressive Labour Party gained a majority following the July 2017 elections, MP Wayne Furbert announced his intention to introduce a bill banning same-sex marriage. They introduced the Domestic Partnership Act in November. It passed the House by a 24-10 vote and the Senate by an 8-3 vote.
All it needed after was royal assent from the governor — which it consequently received on Wednesday.
Minister of Home Affairs Walton Brown praised the Act, saying it ‘gives same-sex couples rights equivalent to those enjoyed by heterosexual married couples’.
‘The Act is intended to strike a fair balance between two currently irreconcilable groups in Bermuda,’ he continued. ‘By restating that marriage must be between a male and a female while at the same time recognising and protecting the rights of same-sex couples.’
Ty Cobb, Director of the Human Rights Campaign Global, called it a ‘deplorable action’.
‘This decision strips loving same-sex couples of the right to marry and jeopardizes Bermuda’s international reputation and economy,’ he further stated.
However, he also added the fight in Bermuda is not over.
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7 Comments
trystham
February 09, 08:05Call it whatever name u would, but in as much as partners can be recognised as the next of kin with all privileges due, ba wahala
Mandy
February 09, 08:51May other nations who’ve sanctioned marriage equality not follow this lead.
Malik
February 09, 11:50Let the church say amen!
Gaia
February 09, 16:19Lolz… Amen
Absalom
February 12, 00:23Left to me, straight people can keep their overrated and dilapidated M-word.
Rivadu
February 14, 17:59Guess there won’t be gay honeymooning in Bermuda anytime soon. Bermuda’s Governor John Rankin signed a repeal on marriage equality that strips same-sex Bermudan couples of the right to marry. “Governor Rankin and the Bermuda Parliament have shamefully made Bermuda the first national territory in the world to repeal marriage equality,” said Ty Cobb, director of Human Rights Campaign Global. “Despite this deplorable action, the fight for marriage equality in Bermuda will continue until the day when every Bermudian is afforded the right to marry the person they love. ” The Bermuda Tourism Authority also had some choice words for the Governer.
Bermuda legalizes same-sex marriage — again, months after banning it – KitoDiaries
June 09, 05:07[…] legalized same-sex marriage in May last year. But then it became the first country in the world to repeal same-sex marriage legislation in February this year. The repeal officially came into effect just days ago, on 1 […]