Bermuda Parliament Bans Gay Marriage After Supreme Court Approval

By: Paul Goldberg, Staff Writer

After only a few months where LGBT couples in Bermuda were allowed to conduct same-sex marriages under a Supreme Court ruling, the country’s parliament reinstated a ban under a new law refuting the Supreme Court ruling.

Member of Parliament Lawrence Scott stated….”The Domestic Partnerships Act of 2017 helps the LGBTQ community by giving gay couples “benefits it has been asking for,” while keeping traditionalists happy because it doesn’t change the the “traditional definition of marriage. As it stands now, they can have the name marriage but without the benefits. But after this bill passes, they have the benefits and just not the name marriage. The benefits are what they really want,” said Scott

The bill passed with a majority of Bermuda’s Parliament with a vote of 24-10.

In what many are calling a step backwards, Bermuda has become the only country to reinstate a ban on gay marriage once its supreme court had ruled it legal.

One of the opponents of the bill, Shadow Economic Development Minister Grant Gibbons, told the Jamaican Observer… “This marks a step backwards for Bermuda. “This is a human rights issue. We are taking away marriage equality rights from the LGBTQ community,” said Gibbons.

Like many countries, gay marriage has been a sensitive and controversial topic in Bermuda. In fact back in 2016, 69 percent of voters rejected a referendum to approve same-sex marriage. However it is important to note that less than 50 percent of eligible voters in Bermuda cast a ballot which of course made the vote invalid.

However in a major victory of gay marriage, in May of 2017, Bermudian Winston Godwin and his Canadian fiancé, Greg DeRoche, scored a legal victory in Bermuda’s Supreme Court to allow gay marriages to take place in the country for the first time in history. This paved the way for gay marriages throughout the island.at least until Friday’s vote. THere is a clause in the new law, those already married before Friday will not be affected and are guaranteed to be grandfathered in.

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