Bermuda’s Supreme Court has overturned the ban on same-sex marriage.
In response to legal challenges, Bermuda’s Supreme Court has overturned a ban on gay marriage. Earlier this year, Bermuda became the first country in the world to repeal same-sex marriage.
Speaking about the overturn, Human Rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell said, “Bermuda’s Supreme Court was right to rule that the repeal of same-sex marriage by the country’s parliament was unconstitutional.
“Under Bermuda’s constitution and its international treaty obligations the state is duty-bound to guarantee equal treatment and non-discrimination to all its citizens.
“This ruling will encourage and empower legal challenges to criminalisation and marriage inequality across the Caribbean, many of which are bound to succeed. It is indicative of the unstoppable global trend towards LGBT+ equal human rights.”
Rights won and loss
In 2017 Bermuda legalised gay marriage after a couple won the right to marry on the island after a Supreme court challenge found that not allowing gay couples to wed would be discrimination.
The couple used the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda’s Human Rights Act to argue their case. They said that not allowing them to marry constituted as discrimination on the basis of their sexuality, something that the act expressly forbids.
2016 Referendum
In 2016 Bermuda held a non-binding referendum on the issue of same-sex marriage and were asked two questions:
“Are you in favour of same-sex marriage in Bermuda?” and “Are you in favour of same-sex civil unions in Bermuda?”
Both votes were lost by 69 percent and 63 percent respectively with just 46.89 percent of the electorate turning out to vote on the issue. The low turn out makes the referendum invalid according to The Royal Gazette.