British Overseas Territories face challenge to gay marriage ban

BRITISH Overseas Territories could be forced to recognise gay marriages, following a landmark ruling billed as a “victory for equality”.

Chantelle Day, 32, and her fiancée Vickie Bodden Bush, 44, have been in a relationship since 2012. The couple, who are parents to a young daughter, were denied the right to marry because they lived in the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory (BOT). The Caribbean islands had refused to recognise overseas marriages or civil unions between same-sex couples.

However, following multiple legal battles, the couple yesterday won a landmark case after a judge ruled that the Cayman Islands constitution requires that same-sex couples have the right to marry – and for their marriage to be legally recognised. The case is being hailed as a major victory for equal rights “with a healthy dose of common sense”.

As a result of the ruling, the Marriage Law in the Cayman Islands was yesterday modified with immediate effect. Legal experts said the judgment put into “sharp focus” the lack of same-sex marriage in both Northern Ireland and the four other BOTS which lack civil partnership, which are also Caribbean.

It is now believed that similar court cases could be fought and won in these BOTS. Speaking after the result from outside court in the Cayman Islands yesterday, Ms Day, who works as a solicitor, told The Daily Telegraph: “This is our dream come true! We’ve just got the ruling that changes the definition of marriage. It’s a massive relief.”

Ms Day, the daughter of a Caymanian mother and British father, and Ms Bodden Bush, who is British and who resides in the Cayman Islands on a work permit, were refused a marriage licence in April last year,

Following the refusal, they filed an application in the Grand Court for a judicial review of that decision.

Peter Laverack, a barrister at 5 Essex Court acting on behalf of the couple, said the court ruling “brings into sharp focus” the other BOT countries that fail to accept same-sex relationships.

“Their continual refusal to legislate in favour of it means they are putting Westminster in continual breach of their obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights.”

Jonathan Cooper, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers who originally advised the couple, said: “Chantelle and Vickie should not have been forced to litigate in order to have their relationship recognised in law.

“It’s a scandal that the FCO made them do this. When will this Government put its money where its mouth is and mainstream LGBT equality across the board?”

An FCO spokesman said: “We welcome this decision, which now permits same sex marriage. The UK believes that the strongest, safest and most prosperous societies are those in which all citizens can play a full, equal and active part.”