(CMR) The United Kingdom's Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee is prepared to mandate and legalize same sex marriages for all Overseas Territories (OT).
This was disclosed yesterday evening as part of other recommendations for the OTs. The committee made it's recommendations in a report titled: Global Britain and the British Overseas Territories: Resetting the relationship
In the 48-page report It stats that:
In its submission, the FCO notes that progress towards same-sex marriage is “notably slower” in the Caribbean OTs than elsewhere and that “rights to same sex marriage are being contested”.
It adds that the Government “has been clear that the OTs must fulfil their international obligations on the issue of LGBT equality. Encouraging legislative change continues to be a priority”.
It is time for all OTs to legalise same-sex marriage and for the UK Government to do more than simply support it in principle. It must be prepared to step in, as it did in 2001 when an Order in Council decriminalised homosexuality in OTs that had refused to do so. The Government should set a date by which it expects all OTs to have legalised same-sex marriage. If that deadline is not met, the Government should intervene through legislation or an Order in Council.
While the Cayman Islands awaits a judgment from Chief Justice Smellie on the matter it will be interesting to see how this report plays into his decision.
The matter continues to be hotly debated with the local Christian community recently starting a petition and North Side MLA Ezzard Miller indicating that at the very least the legislative assembly should have implemented civil partnerships to attempt avoid an order in council.
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