(CNS): A woman from the Cayman Islands and her fiancée are taking legal action after their application for a marriage licence was rejected Monday by the General Register because they are in a same-sex relationship. Chantelle Day, who is Caymanian, and her partner Vickie Bodden, who is British, have been together for more than six years and now wish to formalise their relationship. Currently living in the United Kingdom, the couple want to get married in the Cayman Islands, return to the country to settle with their young child and, like all other Caymanian couples, enjoy a loving and lawful family life.
But, Day told Cayman News Service, unlike other couples in long-term relationships who want their dream wedding and a future with their friends and family in their own country, that is not currently possible for them because of the continued discrimination that exists in Cayman when it comes to same-sex unions and gay couples.
“I am proud to be Caymanian but I am undisputedly a second-class citizen in my own country,” Day said, because equal rights are not extended to all Caymanians. “I would dearly love for my newly expanded family to return to my homeland, the Cayman Islands, so that I can be around my supportive family and friends, and raise our child in a stable and loving environment, teaching our child the Cayman way of life.”
The couple have tried persuasion and have engaged in protracted communications with the Cayman Islands Government and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to pave the way for a legal wedding but they have had no response from the Cayman authorities and little support from the FCO. So, after months of in-depth research, taking extensive legal advice both in Cayman and the UK and gathering the support of their family and friends here, Day and Bodden have made the decision to take on the injustice through the courts.
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