(CMR) The Privy Council is expected to make a ruling within weeks in an appeal to reinstate same-sex marriage in the Cayman Islands as the case opened in the British court on Tuesday.
Chantelle Day and her partner Vickie Bodden-Bush took their case to the PC to appeal a ruling by the Court of Appeal to overthrow Chief Justice Anthony Smellie's decision to allow same-sex marriage in the Cayman Islands.
The couple had filed a human rights case in the Cayman Islands courts after they were refused a marriage license in 2018.
Justice Smellie, in March 2019, made a ruling for changes to the country's marriage laws after finding that in refusing them a marriage license, the government breached several of their human rights.
The ruling was a victory for the couple and other gay couples in the country.
However, their victory was short-lived when the Cayman Islands Government argued that the Chief Justice erred in the initial decision. The Court of Appeal then overturned the decision while issuing directives for the government to find a solution.
After the Court of Appeal overturned Cheif Justice Smellie's ruling, Governor Martyn Roper implemented the Civil Partnership Law, but this has also been challenged.
Day and Bodden-Bush have continued to fight for the right to be married and filed an appeal to Privy Council last year.
On Tuesday, their lawyer Edward Fitzgerald QC argued for the Privy Council to reinstate the decision made by Justice Smellie to legalize same-sex marriage in the Cayman Islands.
CMR has spoken to the parties, and they are expecting a ruling from the Privy Council within a few weeks.
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