Petition To ‘Save Marriage Equality In Bermuda’
An online petition has been launched to “Save Marriage Equality in Bermuda”, with the petition saying that “Bermuda is on the cusp of being the 1st country on planet earth to roll back Marriage Equality,” and asking people to sign the petition “and tell the Bermuda Government to keep Marriage Equality in place.”
The petition — which was started by Tony Brannon and has 360 signatures as of this writing — says, “Marriage Equality became legal in Bermuda on May 5th 2017. The Premier of Bermuda and his political party, The Progressive Labor Party, want to roll back rights via legislation. Equality, Civil Rights and indeed Human Rights are all at stake here.
“Same Sex Couples finally got to sit in the “Front of the bus” by being able to marry. But, Bermuda is on the cusp of being the 1st country on planet earth to roll back Marriage Equality. This from a Government that has the word “Progressive” in its name.
“Please sign the petition and tell the Bermuda Government to keep Marriage Equality in place. Do not allow the PLP to overturn the historic Supreme Court ruling of May 5th 2017.”
Screenshot of a section of the online petition:
The Domestic Partnerships Act was tabled in the House of Assembly on November 24th, and is set to be debated on December 8th.
The Government previously stated the Bill will “essentially replace same-sex marriage with a domestic partnership arrangement which can be entered into by both same-sex and heterosexual couples.”
Speaking at a press conference last month, Minister of Home Affairs Walton Brown said, “We are at this point legislatively because we have a rift in our community between two competing positions; one in support of same-sex marriage, or marriage equality, the other fundamentally opposed to it and who view marriage as that between a man and a woman.
“The more immediate political consequence is that there was a very high likelihood – a very real likelihood – that a private members bill would have been tabled in Parliament which would have outlawed same-sex marriage and afforded no rights whatsoever to same-sex couples.
“The majority of MPs would have supported that Bill, and we would have been in a position that is fundamentally contrary to what is currently in place.
“This Government took leadership on the issue and has decided to bring forward this Bill, which will ensure that same-sex couples will have a raft of legal benefits – more so than they currently have under the existing legislation.
The Bill’s Explanatory Memorandum says, “This Bill seeks to make provision for the formalisation and registration of a relationship between adult couples, to be known as a “domestic partnership”, to clarify the law relating to marriage, and to make connected and related provision.”
As far as “Provisions relating to marriage,” the Bill states, “Notwithstanding anything in the Human Rights Act 1981, any other provision of law or the judgment of the Supreme Court in Godwin and DeRoche v The Registrar General and others delivered on 5 May 2017, a marriage is void unless the parties are respectively male and female.”
“Nothing in the Bill shall invalidate any marriages which took place under the Marriage Act 1944 or the Maritime Marriage Act 1999 between two people of the same sex after 5 May 2017 [the date of the Supreme Court judgment in Godwin and DeRoche v The Registrar General and others] and before the commencement date.”
The Domestic Partnership Act 2017 follows below [PDF here]
“The more immediate political consequence is that there was a very high likelihood – a very real likelihood – that a private members bill would have been tabled in Parliament which would have outlawed same-sex marriage and afforded no rights whatsoever to same-sex couples.”
Ok, so much for the *political* consequence. What about *human* consequences? Why should gay people be denied rights given to people of colour, blind people, deaf people, people in wheelchairs, people with a different religion, a person born out of wedlock or people with a different political opinion?
On that last point, by Walton Brown’s own admission this Bill is being introduced to placate political opinion when the right to hold a different political opinion is one of the *human* rights specifically protected by our Human Rights Act. The Government of Bermuda is – by its own admission – taking away rights from a minority group to placate political ambition. Sad.
STAND BY….. as this cannot be right in the eyes of the LAW.
How does one politician wield so much power that he can demand that the Human Right’s Act be amended to placate him? Would any other politician table a private member’s bill if Flip Flop’s is withdrawn? Is there no politician prepared to stand up for the rights of a minority group in Bermuda?????
The silence is deafening.
* Is there no politician prepared to stand up for the rights of a minority group in Bermuda????? *
Not as long as they make the mistake of believing that no one in that minority group are part of their support base AND in the knowledge that their core supporters hate that particular minority group .
Simple: he has the support of his colleagues. The PLP is very right-wing and its members will support the bill along with some of the conservative OBA members.
Bermuda made the map of countries where Same Sex Marriage is legal.
NOW the new Bermuda Government want to overturn the historic Supreme Court ruling made on May 5th 2017.
This cannot be right. It is a backwards step. A regressive step. Indeed it is an immoral step to reverse rights granted to a minority by the courts after the politicians of Bermuda failed to do the right thing.
MAP
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage#/media/File:World_marriage-equality_laws.svg
Umm, have you noticed that in the first 6 months of their reign the Bermuda Government has actually taken away human rights based on place of origin and is now seeking to take away rights based on sexual orientation?
Get a grip, this CAN be right. This IS what the Government wants to do.
This petition shall hold the same weight as the referendum on same subject
Sadly, I fear you are correct.
All part of a larger objective. Connect the dots. Stay tuned.
FYI…. 76 countries in the world DO NOT have Gay rights neither Same Sex Marriage so please don’t try to make Bermudians that don’t subscribe to the lifestyle feel bad and say its a Human Rights thing!!! Its a choice not a RIGHT!!!!!!
Marriage affords rights. Equal access to those rights is important.
And things that are choices are protected by the HRA… for instance, religion.
As for your ad populum argument? This year alone, at least three countries have given their citizens marriage equality, Bermuda included.
There are Fewer and fewer countries that don’t have Marriage Equality. That argument is invalid.
Do you have a reason to remove people’s access to rights available to others? One you’d be willing to defend?
“Its a choice not a RIGHT!!!!!!”
Assuming you’re straight. When and why did you choose that lifestyle?
Also, Including Bermuda in a group of countries, such as China or the UAE isn’t really something to be proud of. Hey look, we’re just like a these dictatorships, where women have no rights and black people aren’t allowed etc…that’s what you want?
https://www.change.org/p/premier-of-bermuda-save-marriage-equality-in-bermuda/u/22096251
Bermuda made the map of countries where Same Sex Marriage is legal.
NOW the new Bermuda Government want to overturn the historic Supreme Court ruling made on May 5th 2017.
This cannot be right. It is a backwards step. A regressive step. Indeed it is an immoral step to reverse rights granted to a minority by the courts after the politicians of Bermuda failed to do the right thing.
PLEASE SIGN and TELL YOUR FRIENDS – EVERYWHERE
DEC 5, 2017 — PLEASE SIGN and tell the PLP GOVERNMENT it is NOT ok to trample on the rights of others.
The PLP are pushing a homophobic, religious and political agenda on the #lgbt community of Bermuda and the world by reversing #marriageequality.
It is a violation of global civil rights and indeed human rights. The Supreme Court of Bermuda made history on May 5th 2017 by ruling in favor of a gay couple to have the right to a marriage license.
This awful “regressive” step by a Government who call themselves “progressive” will cause all manner of harm and hurt to Same Sex Couples. It will damage Tourism and indeed Bermuda’s image in the eyes of the world.
https://www.change.org/p/premier-of-bermuda-save-marriage-equality-in-bermuda/u/22099176
I’ve always been proud to represent myself as a Bermudian and proud of my Bermudian heritage. My family can trace it’s roots back hundreds of years on the island.
I was proud that Bermuda had joined the countries that allow same-sex marriages earlier in the year.
This, however, is just embarrassing. For the first time in my life, I will be ashamed to be a Bermudian. This is disgraceful. The entire island should hang its head in shame. To actually be passing legislation to scale back human rights for a segment of the population?? There shouldn’t be different tiers of rights in a civilized society.
I would think this is a lesson the PLP should have learned a long time ago. Shame their bigotry and discrimination is blinding them.