Cayman Islands lawmakers and UK officials have both assured the public that neither same sex marriages nor any union similar to them will be legally allowed under the country’s constitutional reform plans.
Education Minister Alden McLaughlin said during a press conference last week that one of the reasons to change the current constitution was to allow elected leaders more control over legislation.
“So that we don’t have to live in fear or concern about the input of EU directives or specific UK legislation relating to things like civil unions,” Mr. McLaughlin said.
UK Parliamentary Under–Secretary of State Meg Munn previously said Britain has no intention of forcing Cayman to accept civil unions or civil partnerships, even though she is personally in favour of allowing such arrangements to exist.
However, despite claims from both sides on the issue, the phrases “civil partner” and “civil partnership” actually do appear in legislation that has recently been gazetted in the Cayman Islands.
The British Nationality (British Overseas Territories) Regulations, 2007 set out certain guidelines for how a person applies to be registered as a British Overseas Territories citizen. It essentially advises governments in overseas territories on how those matters should be handled in accordance with the British Nationality Act of 1981.
The government intends to prohibit same sex marriages by amending the Cayman Islands Marriage Law to reflect that marriage here will be considered solely the union of one man and one woman.
However, it’s not known whether such an amendment would legally prohibit the formation of civil unions, or any other legal arrangement similar to marriage.
There has also been some confusion over whether government would attempt to ban same sex marriage in a bill of rights. Mr. McLaughlin said that would be handled under the Marriage Law, not in any human rights section of the constitution.
“One wouldn’t put that (language outlawing same sex marriage) in a bill of rights,” he said. “A bill of rights is about affording people rights, not ––– making prohibitions about various things.”
Precisely what language might be placed in the constitution regarding marriage isn’t certain. The first summary of constitutional proposals released by government said “the right to marriage between members of the opposite sex” would be considered.
No comments:
Post a Comment