UK will not challenge Bermuda’s reversal on same-sex marriage

BERMUDA: The British government has said it is ‘‘disappointed’’ with Bermuda after it revoked same-sex marriage rights for its citizens, but that it was not appropriate to block the move.

The government came under pressure from MPS yesterday to explain why it had given its assent to the legislation, which reverses a Supreme Court ruling last year giving same-sex couples the right to marry.

The legislation was signed into law on Thursday by the island’s governor, British diplomat John Rankin. It replaces the right of the island’s 60,000 citizens to enter same-sex marriages with a ‘‘domestic partnership’’, which is available to couples of any sexual orientation.

Rankin said he made the decision ‘‘after careful consideration in line with my responsibilities under the constitution’’, but declined to comment further.

Following the announcement, MPS from across the House of Commons floor demanded to know why Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had approved the move.

Harriett Baldwin, a foreign office minister, told MPS that the government was ‘‘obviously disappointed’’ with the decision but that British overseas territories were ‘‘separate, self-governing jurisdictions with their own democratically elected representatives that have the right to self-government’’.

‘‘The secretary of state decided that in these circumstances, it would not be appropriate to use this power to block legislation, which can only be used where there is a legal or constitutional basis for doing so, and even only in exceptional circumstances.’’

Labour MP Chris Bryant said Cunard and P&O’S Bermuda-registered ships would no longer be able to hold same-sex marriages at sea. Bryant said it was a ‘‘backwards step for human rights in Bermuda and in the overseas territories’’.

Walton Brown, Bermuda’s minister of home affairs, whose ruling PLP party proposed the act, said he was pleased with the decision.

‘‘The British government recognises that this is a local government decision,’’ he said, adding that the act struck a compromise 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’’.

Bermudans were first granted the right to same-sex marriage after a Supreme Court ruling in May 2017, but many people on the socially conservative island were outraged.

While that has now been revoked, same-sex couples who wed recently will not have their marital status annulled.

International human rights groups say the new Domestic Partnership Act 2017 contradicts Bermuda’s constitution, which guarantees freedom from discrimination. – Telegraph Group