Gay couple ‘waited long enough’ to marry
Vickie Bodden (left) and Chantelle Day are fighting for the right to marry in the Cayman Islands court
(CNS): Chantelle Day and Vickie Bodden have “waited long enough” for the Cayman Islands Government to address the lack of any provision for same-sex couples to marry or enter into a civil partnership, Edward Fitzgerald QC told the court, as he made submissions on their behalf Thursday in the landmark case. He said his clients were in love and wanted to marry. He explained that the women had tried in reasonable, sincere and moderate ways to engage with government and ask for a remedy to the discrimination they faced, but nothing has happened, despite the clear need for the local authorities to address this issue.
Having engaged in a correspondence with the premier, who did not respond, and the governor’s office, which had responded but did nothing to resolve the problem, the couple attempted to obtain a marriage licence anyway in April last year. But when the General Registry refused them a licence on the grounds that they were a same-sex couple, they turned to the courts.
They applied for and were granted a judicial review of the decision by the registrar in addition to the human rights challenge. That is based on the discrimination they are facing over the marriage licence refusal because of their sexual orientation, in contravention of section 16 of the Bill of Rights, as well as the denial of their rights to a private and family life and freedom of conscience under section 9 and section 10.
As he opened the case on behalf of the two women, who have made the first direct legal challenge to the lack of marriage equality in the Cayman Islands, Fitzgerald pressed home the publicly declared position of former governor Helen Kilpatrick that for more than four years, following findings in the European Court of Human Rights, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has been expecting that, at the very least, the authorities here would remedy this lack of provision with civil partnerships.
Kilpatrick spoke frequently and on the public record about ending the discrimination, and Fitzgerald noted that in a statement before she left, she had said the “need for legislation is now pressing to advance the rights” of the LGBTQ community.
But since then, there have been only “hollow words” and “hand wringing” but no action to address the discrimination and denial of rights the couple continue to face. The lawyer said the “crocodile tears” did nothing to help the challenges the women have as a result of the continued denial of their fundamental human rights. Now that they are living in Cayman with their daughter, whom they adopted when they lived in the UK, they have encountered several problems.
While Day is Caymanian and works here for a local law firm, her fiancée, Bodden, is British with family ties to the Bay Islands in Honduras, leaving her immigration status in question. Fitzgerald noted that they had many other challenges relating to their personal and family rights, for example the adoption of their daughter is not fully recognised and they face financial issues, such as pensions and health insurance.
Fitzgerald said that the respondent in this case, which is essentially the Cayman government, “holds all the cards” and has the means to put an end to the discrimination and denial of rights the couple are experiencing. But he said they were arguing that section 14 of the Constitution, which sets out the freedom of single men and women to marry a member of the opposite sex, overrides everything else in the Constitution.
Fitzgerald argued it did not. He said there was simply no justification for the continued denial of his clients’ right to marry.
Setting out copious examples of settled case-law in the west regarding marriage equality and pointing out that the arc of human history was in favour of recognising same-sex relationships, he said the Constitution’s guarantee of marriage for opposite sex couples could not mean that any other kind of marriage could never, ever be recognised.
He pointed out that marriage has evolved throughout history. Once only a religious private institution, in the mid-nineteenth century it became an institution of a secular state. And marriage has adapted to a changing, democratic, free and secular world in may ways, he said, noting that at one time slaves were not permitted to marry, people of different religions could not be married, and in America it was not until 1967 that interracial marriage was permitted in some southern states.
The lawyer spoke of the enforced or arranged marriages and the mistreatment and inequities of women within the institution of marriage, all of which have changed and evolved to eliminate the discrimination. Fitzgerald said that marriage is now a secular, state-controlled institution, which means the state must deal fairly with the public wishing to enter into it and therefore has an obligation to end the discrimination faced by his clients.
He said it could not be that the guarantee that exists in the Cayman Constitution to protect the rights of men and women to marry each other could never be expanded. The senior advocate also argued that this legal case was not challenging the rights of marriage that is guaranteed in the Constitution for opposite-sex couples.
He also noted how it has been settled across the secular developed world that same-sex couples are just as capable of having stable, supportive family relationships as opposite-sex couples and that those partnerships need legal supportive recognition, he said.
In his detailed submissions, Fitzgerald pressed home that there was no justification at all for the lack of same-sex marriage or civil partnerships now, given the case-law, the findings of the European Court of Human Rights, the UK’s own legislation and its position regarding its territories. But he also argued why the women should have access to marriage rather than an equivalent same-sex civil union.
The lawyer pointed out that if an institution which is equal to marriage is created purely for same-sex couples, it perpetuates the discrimination, as it sets these couples apart as being in some way abnormal, adding a stigma to the institution as something for “biological anomalies”. He said the government’s response was going to be based largely on questions of public morality, which was “the horse which they are backing”, as he suggested it was based on the idea that the state should discourage homosexuality, but this has no justification as it is no longer a crime to engage in such relationships.
The government has not explained how the marriage of a same-sex couple poses such a threat to public morality and the lawyer argued the state has an obligation to treat all people equally so there is no justification for this continued denial of rights. Fitzgerald pressed the point that his clients were being treated differently by a democratic state purely because of their sexual orientation. He told the court that the case was about human dignity and the women’s right to be treated fairly, without discrimination, and to be able to enjoy a private family life as a married couple because they both believed in the institution.
The case, which is being heard by Chief Justice Anthony Smellie, continues Friday.
Category: Local News
I am so glad not be called a Caymanian, because with these comments, that would be embarrassing.
So, what ARE you called?
You forgot to mention that part…
3:05 pm, if u so glad not to be called Caymanian, what r u doing on Cayman, go back to your Country and stay there, we don’t need and want u here.
Half of all marriages end in divorce. Those who don’t approve should think about that. Why do you care if they love one another. Whether they would end up another stastistic or not, does it really matter?.? And are they asking you for anything?
Liberalism destroys everything
Yes! Look at the countries that have allowed gay marriage. They have suffered plagues and other horrors as a result.
People, be smart and weigh the grave consequences of certain legislations that look good on the outside, but is a PANDORAS BOX! ?
Don’t cave into this new age gay movement about two people in love wanting their rights on our island. If you grant them same-sex marriage, they will easily argue for more laws to be made on their behalf.
And what they are not saying, is how these laws will be at variance with certain of our rights! Like once you DEFINE DISCRIMINATION to include them, you will need laws to fine or arrest those who speak out against them. Am I correct?
Then these same gay supporters will punish you like you are a racists because you don’t accept their lifestyle or don’t want your child to follow them. Do you see how far discrimination can go? There is no one who is BORN GAY. Yet thru MONEY they have manage to have UK politicians draft civil rights for them, as if they are black people. This is the sad reality.
Caymanians, please be smart. Only shallow minds don’t observe the repercussions of laws legislated. Speak to your lawyers about natural born rights. A right should never be determined by a person’s sexual condition. It is a claimed conditioned, and not what is determined via birth! WAKE UP CAYMAN! If you just pass one law for them wuthout weighing its consequences, you may open the door for others to be passed. And its hard to reverse a draconian law.
Then you find some of your rights undermined for theirs. If you speak out or agree with these leftists, they use the powers that be to punish you! They will call you a hater, a bigot, a confused person, and the peer pressure will be great. But you must not cave in!
The headline they use in their colorful marches to attract youngsters: “LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, all about LOVE and EQUALITY!”
Unison
It seems you could do with some of that love.
We should go ahead and ban meat eating before we turn into cannibals with that logic
I want to send you a box of stones. So you can cast the first one, since you are so pure and Godlike. You make so many awkward generalisations. It’s just embarrassing.
I don’t understand why it matters to you who loves who. One thing I do know is it isn’t any of your business.
They call you a bigot because you make bigoted claims
I love this anti-intellectual movement that the right is trying to push
No one is ever a bigot (even when they repeat bigoted statements publicly)
No one is ever racist (even when they repeat racist dogwhistles and statements public)
You are being called bigoted because you are being bigoted
The description is apt
I am happy that you have very intelligent Caymanians seeing the difference of what really is a “right” versus a minority privelege. Many Caymanians who are not Christian or religious see alot of the absurd arguments these gay supporters are using to impose a culture that is foreign to ours. And the commenters here are good at making this conflict look like its a religion versus atheists conflict. Jokers! The intelligence of our young people will expand and see the flaws of their arguments ?
All people, gay or straight, have the right to a private and family life and the right to be free from discrimination under the law. These are not “gay” rights. They are the rights afforded to every single person under the Constitution, but that the government denies to some (gay Caymanians) while not others (straight Caymanians).
“Judicial review” means :
Judicial review is a type of court proceeding in which a judge reviews the lawfulness of a decision or action made by a public body.
In other words, judicial reviews are a challenge to the way in which a decision has been made, rather than the rights and wrongs of the conclusion reached.
It is not really concerned with the conclusions of that process and whether those were ‘right’, as long as the right procedures have been followed. The court will not substitute what it thinks is the ‘correct’ decision.
This may mean that the public body will be able to make the same decision again, so long as it does so in a lawful way.
If you want to argue that a decision was incorrect, judicial review may not be best for you. There are alternative remedies, such as appealing against the decision to a higher court.
Examples of the types of decision which may fall within the range of judicial review include:
•Decisions of local authorities in the exercise of their duties to provide various welfare benefits and special education for children in need of such education;
•Certain decisions of the immigration authorities and the Immigration and Asylum Chamber;
•Decisions of regulatory bodies;
•Decisions relating to prisoner’s rights.
They can wait longer or they can just go back to the UK and get married.
So they go to the UK, US or anywhere same sex marriage is legally recognized and get married there legally. Come back to Cayman and the marriage will then be recognized ?
That’s what Rosa Parks should have done. Gone back to Africa or moved to New York?
Maybe White people should have gone back to Europe.
Actually, the Whites would return to Europe and the Blacks to Africa….before you say I am racist…think about it.
The only people that should be left in A-mer-i-ca, are the native Indians!
So, with that being said, bring back the Caribs and Arawaks to Cayman please! Out with everyone else!
Why would I say you are racist? What you said makes perfect sense.
However, according to the same books that claim White Europeans “discovered” the Americas, never mind that they found Native and African people (yes, do your research) living here in relative harmony for generations already, there were no Caribs or Arawaks living in Cayman.
By the way, are you aware that Columbus wrote about seeing Mosques in Cuba on his voyages?
I wish someone would inform Trump and his MAGA lemmings of that little detail and we’d all have some fun!
I wish unna would put all of this amazing effort into something useful – take care of our elderly, our children at risk, learn some common courtesies or something useful.
Geez!
One thing does not stop another. Go ahead
Sorry but it does seem like we have our priorities wrong as a species these days…never mind the world is changing everyday around us (not for the better).
Personally, marriage on a whole is just a huge scam!
Stop drinking the kool-aid.
With lack of knowledge, people perish. Before time existed there was only absolute Truth.
Absolute Truth is pure love and absence of all forms of evil.
Every atom and subatomic particle of the dimension that we now occupy has been constructed from pure truth.
Unfortunately, our current dimension has been infected with evil (by design) and we have all succumbed to darkness to one degree or another.
The antidote to darkness walked among us as Pure Light two thousand of our man-years ago.
The fleshly fabric of His Being was torn by unrighteous men and yet, beyond the intentional tear, a portal was opened to enable us to return to our original condition of perfection.
Remember the song by Joni Mitchell?
“We are stardust.
We are golden.
And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.”
Well that man was Jesus Christ. He is our only ticket out of here. There is nothing religious about this post. Organized religion and I parted ways a long time ago.
To everyone seeking the Truth, may your road be clear and sprinkled with times of refreshing.
So where do I stand on gay marriage? I say seek the truth first and let the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.
I wanna try whatever you’ve been smoking. Wow.
Go for it. Breathe deeply and welcome Truth.
Thanks for letting us know your role model is a 2000 year old hippie.
As someone who oppose the LGBT agenda, I say you are a TROLL supporting these ladies. And portraying a most rediculous Jesus-comment!
It is always been a strategy of yours to use religion or church to make your side appear SOLO rationale …
Well its not! Some gay laws are not good for Cayman’s culture. It will contribute more to broken families and justify a moral decline.
I don’t have to use religion or church to understand the absurdity and ignorance of gay laws as the latter does a fantastic job of proving this already.
There is no such thing as a ‘gay law’ any more than there is a ‘heterosexual law’.
You nunce.
Just put it on a national ballot, that will take care of the issue. Should not be decided by a judge to rule the whole island if the majority doesn’t want it
Old Testament Fundamentalists who call themselves Christians do not have a majority in the Cayman Islands or among the modern electorate. Sadly they have ascended to influential positions where they dominate by fear, extortion, and vengence.
So much propaganda from them. They are scared of a national ballot. Maybe, that’s the direction we should take, cns?
The tyranny of the majority does not make something just
democratic principles involve protecting minorities from the majority even when the majority can outvote them
(the disabled, LGBTQ,Religious and cultural minorities etc)
There is a reason why we do not have a direct democracy
People often make rash, illogical and immoral decisions en masse because they will never be held to account for their choices
We select politicians to make the tough choices for us because if we took every slightly controversial issue to a national ballot we would be stuck in perpetual gridlock and likely mired in civil wars between competing factions
BS.
“Democracy values everyone equally even if the majority does not.”
There are some far-right Caymanian Christians that complain about what they perceive to be “class structures” in the Cayman Islands. For example, they feel that they are “unfairly” excluded from invitations to soirées and socials. That is absolutely true, but it isn’t a class division, it is a moral division. Quaint as they may be on the surface, the incompatibility problems stem from their militant theology, a vengeful appetite (ironically non-Christian), and a willingness to subvert civil rights and liberties against anyone…including their own. That makes them a prickly bunch. This issue is a prefect example of why I won’t be inviting anyone from Church of God (for example) to my house for supper.
Only truth matters. Seek ascension to the Light that is Jesus Christ. Leave the religious stuff out.
This is what we believe in!
https://youtu.be/JxdvOLdG_34
Wow. These gay supporters turned that child into a Drag Queen. Probably had a bit of surgery done to his parts. It was not his choice! This child abuse!
Thanks for sharing the video. Many don’t know where these gay rights are heading. Thank you ??
It would make a lot more sense to have a referendum on this than the cruise dock one that is funded completely by secial interests to protect a monopoly.
The only reason Government/Politicians are fighting this is, because if they don’t, there is absolutely no chance to get reelected. Just a costly waste of time. “It wasn’t me, it was the activist Courts”.
Not this foolishness again this will be just another financial burden imposed on us another bill some will use to fleece the economy. Why should we have to pay for this???? Especially if we do not agree with it. Why impose this on others knowing that it’s not legal here stay and make a life where it is legally recognized and excepted.Show us exactly how this benefits Cayman We had modified this place so much for others it has become inhospitable for us. Please stop the madness !!
Respecting a gay Caymanian’s right to a private and family life, and the right to be free from discrimination in the application of laws, ensures protection for every Caymanian’s right to a private and family life, and their right to be free from discrimination.
Protecting the most vulnerable under the law in a society protects us all.
Are you for real you must be living in lalala land or deliberately ignoring what’s going on right here today on this island. Not even justice is dispense fairly here anymore.Free from discrimination that’s a good one when you are a minority as we are becoming. All this is just another group that will have their rights set out to protect them,who in return will join with larger groups already establish here to marginalize the rest of Cayman. Especially those who do not support this.Those same religious nuts as many refer to them on here quite often.What about their rights??What you don’t seem to understand this place was established by those same God fearing fanatics as some refer and many need or should respect that fact our laws or schools or national symbols and these islands were established on those principles.
The law can respect your faith, while also respecting the rights of gay and lesbian Caymanians to have a private and family life.
All you need is love…..do do do do do???
Courts also decided these 3 men had “waited long enough to get married”.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/03/colombia-three-men-union-alejandro-rodriguez-manuel-bermudez-victor-hugo-prada
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-40655103
In light of so many posts and votes in support of “equality” and “non-discrimination” under the law, I trust all of you also support the prospect of Cayman facilitating these types of unions.
Unless of course there is bigotry and discrimination within whereby you object to allowing more than 2 individuals (who love one another), regardless of sexual orientation, to be legally married, adopt children, and or raise a family, etc.?
* The primary point of contention re gay marriage in Cayman (and elsewhere) is the limitation within the law to “a man and a woman”.
If and when that is amended to read “any 2 persons”, for example, discrimination shall remain in respect to number of partners. *
(Something tells me most readers, if they are honest with themselves, would have an issue sending their 8 year old son to a weekend sleepover party at the male trio’s family home.)
I look forward to your earnest and thoughtful feedback.
– Whodatis
#discrimination #hypocrisy #welcometotheclub
Like another commenter said below, implying allowing TWO consenting ADULTS to love each other in peace and have equal rights would lead to pedophilia and 3 man marriages is like implying allowing us to eat turtle will turn us into cannibals.
Amending the legal definition of marriage (as a means to address “discrimination”) has led to “3 man marriages” already.
This is not theory, but reality.
Do not believe for a second that this campaign represents the final destination.
– Who
Totally agree. You give them an inch, they’ll take a mile. Next thing is we’ll allow people to self-identify as 65 years old and eligible for Government sponsored pensions. Tired of the crazy snowflake agenda.
I would have a problem sending my 8 year old child to sleepover at an adults house irrespective of how many people were involved, their sex or sexuality.
Would you be happy sending your child to sleep over at your gay cousins house, Who?
Yep.
Do so all the time.
What is the relevance of your question?
– Who
You must have caught the gay by now then.
doesn’t give me any pleasure to say so, Who, but she who unnecessarily stirs the shit should have to lick the spoon.
Think.
The ignorant regard it as shit, the thoughtful regard it as logic.
(Kindly refrain from taking us down the shallow river of personal insults and snide remarks – if at all possible. Otherwise, just remain silent.)
– Who
As a heterosexual male atheist, I generally judge people based on how they wish to impose their religious beliefs on others who seek a same-sex union or access to abortion (neither being something I will ever need.)
Those who deny access to either just because of their own magical man in the sky says so can go F themselves and rot in some dank, dark hole.
Powerful words, but do they originate from truth or opinion?
Hashtag truth
Pound sign truth.
– The fool says unto is heart, there is no God.
To Jebus:
Most people are atheists because they think it makes them look cool and intelligent. It’s _a la mode_ to be atheist so pigeons unable to have a single original thought of their own, become atheists so they can at least appear to be intelligent in the front of other arrogant pseudo intellects.
For example, the odds of building a single protein randomly is so incredibly high, you might as well believe in magic.
To build single protein randomly is the equivalent of winning the Florida lottery, every single day for 30 million years in a row, without missing a single day, or you have to start over. The universe is not old enough to sustain those sort of probabilities. (See Dr. Francis Collins, Head of the Genome Projects under President Bush and Obama – See source below)
That is for _ONE_ protein.
— Protein molecules are often very large and are made up of hundreds to thousands of amino acid units. Though large, the protein typically has a small working region, such as a pocket located on the three-dimensional surface of the folded protein chain which acts as a binding site. The 20 amino acids are combined in different ways to make up the 100,000 or so different proteins in the human body. —
This is also not even considering the genome “CODE” which is *Immaterial* *Software*. REQUIED to assemble the proteins from amino acids to create DNA via mRNA messages (stored intelligence).
What you believe is actually worse than believing in magic, as at least with Magic, you have magician.
What you believe is that nothingness, originating from nothingness, created the universe without any cause. This is not only incoherent it is complete absurdity.
Dr. Francis Collins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Collins
He is director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, United States. Before being appointed director of the NIH, Collins led the Human Genome Project and other genomics research initiatives as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the 27 institutes and centers at NIH. Before joining NHGRI, he earned a reputation as a gene hunter at the University of Michigan.[1]He has been elected to the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Science. Collins also has written a number of books on science, medicine, and religion,
*including the New York Times bestseller, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.*
Wonder why they didn’t get married in the U.K or why the don’t get married in the bay islands…I truly wonder why??
Because: Day is Caymanian and she has a right to live in the Cayman Islands with her spouse and their daughter. Spouses and dependents should have the legal authority to be allowed to stay with her, give instructions when she’s sick, and inherit their common property at the end. The Cayman Islands is already obliged to provide and DEFEND these rights. But most of all, the addition of these legal rights will not affect you or your household at all. Rights are not pie.
Is Day Caymanian? Has she proven that “fact.”
Great numbers of God fearing Caymanians love to pontificate on homosexuality with the moral justification they find in the bible; but change the topic of conversation to Adultery in Cayman and they will slink away like wounded sheep.
The hypocrisy is deafening.
so if cayman is such a great christian nation why did it let gay cruises dock here???? debate over.
caymanian hypocrisy is never ending
what an absolute wast of time discussing this nonsense in 2019. let adults make their own decisions. end of story.
another story to make a mockery of notion of cayman christianity……
what would jesus do?
jesus never said a word about homosexuality.
What?! The prophet spoke about homosexuality clearly:
“Likewise as it was in the days of Lot—they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom fire and sulphur rained from heaven and destroyed them all”
Luke 17:28-29
And you don’t find it interesting that, when Jesus speaks about the sins of the Sodomites in Luke 17:28-29, he speaks only or gluttony and greed, and breathes not a word about homosexuality?
On the subject of rights who decides who gets what rights? Man has decided that a baby in the womb does not have the right to live before achieving a certain date. In other words man decided when it was considered a life but science says the moment cell division begins, life has begun. Who decided same sex couples have rights? If it is agreed they have rights why are unborn children not afforded the right to live?
All people, gay or straight, have the right to a private and family life and the right to be free from discrimination under the law. These are not “gay” rights. They are the rights afforded to all under the Constitution that the government is improperly denying to some (gay Caymanians) but not others (straight Caymanians).
I see this as a simple argument:
If you legalize same-sex marriage and unions in Cayman, then you must legalize the following also:
1. Abortions
2. Cannabis (Medicinal & Personal use)
3. Gambling
Question, now that we have a number of Muslims and Hindus residing on island and if it is their wishes to have more than one wife and have arranged marriages (against one will), will this now be accepted bearing in mind their respective religions and human rights? I keep hearing of LGTB rights but what about these other people’s rights?
Reading this thread is a constant reminder of how many f**ktards surround us.
Bullet
Just dumb. You folk promoting bullet. I hope you know what that is. Gay marriage is not accepted here. Learn to accept that and respect people’s free speech.
Cursing folk like you show your true colors. I would never want to join your gay group if thats how foul language you are. Maybe if you believe in a bit of morals folk will join your crew.
Be good.
This straw-polling of up and down votes is heavily skewed by those opposing same-sex unions. Paid Puritan-bots from overseas maybe. More likely, all it takes are a couple hardcore Old Book crusaders refreshing their cashe, and using VPNs to down-vote all the sensible comments 10 times each. It sounds like an incredible waste of time that anyone would actually go to this bother. It doesn’t help that MLAs are actively promoting hatred and using our public funds to fight for the denial of equality.
This Island us so unfair for our own Caymanians. We have the same sex people here on WORK PERMITS so why not allow our own to be here?
Caymaninans have not rights here but the foreigners can be here as a couple. This Government has to sit down and not a day or so but for a while and see the laws they passing is not for CAYMANINANS but more for the people on WP. If this continues we will have to get them out sooner than later.
This place we call home is only so many miles long and wide but when looking at the laws it not for Caymanians but we can’t blame the visitors or residents it is our law makers and sometimes one has to sit and wonder where did they come up with such laws. But we know it’s for those friends that they make certain laws to accommodate. We running out of land for CAYMANIANS but every day you have Work Permit holders get Mortgages to get homes. Other Caribbean Islands that us 2-4 times the size of this place don’t allow Work PERMITS but if there is a few WP they have to rent and will never own a piece of that Island. Caymaninans stand up for Caymanian cause this GOVERNMENT is all for that dollars from that outside person.
Trust me I know it not right as the BIBLE speaks of a union to be a MAN and a WOMAN and I don’t like to see this but why import and we can’t accommodate our own.
A very angry Caymanian.
“Same sex marriage is not gay privilege, it’s equal rights. Privilege would be something like gay people not paying government duties. Like churches don’t.” – Ricky Gervais
In a world where anything goes, these ladies have a point. Aleister Crowley, the renowned Satanist lived by the mantra, do what thou wilt.
That’s is all fine and Aleister Crowley had every right to voice his opinion as does everyone on this planet.
Some folk like to quench freedom of speech.
There are 3 points of view here.
1. There is no God and we can do whatever we like.
2. There is a God and as long as you have good intentions then pretty much anything within reason goes.
3. There is a God and He (and She) have standards.
God does not subscribe to our standards.
It takes faith to believe in a God you cannot see.
It takes faith to believe that a God you have not seen does not exist.
Everyone has faith, but where does yours lie?
Contemplating more important issues than whether a make believe Father figure. I got bills to pay!
Why is faith something to be heralded and proud of? What about logic and reason?
I was forwarded a message from Juliana Conolly on my phone:
“FYI…Judicial Review – Re SAME SEX MARRIAGE before Hon Chief Justice Smellie …….starts this Wednesday 6th …Grand Court.. 10 a.m. Court hearing estimated to last 3 days …
What time is it Cayman Islands??
FASTING AND PRAYING TIME … ”
People, this is real. I am not siding with Juliana on political issues, but this is a serious issue. And I stand with her. What looks good, sounds good, and feels good, doesn’t mean its good. Cayman, teach your children well about the arguments these gays are using to make sin look like its not sin. Pray for our leaders to make the right decisions for our country.
What a foul and wretched campaign against a Caymanian. I suppose the upside is that there is clearly indictable evidence of a conspiracy to deprive citizens of their rights being led by Cabinet members. The ACC will now know to subpoena their phone records when this is done. Thanks for the tip.
It’s amazing they’ve managed to stay in power so long. I’m a caymanian and I want these girls to get through and win this!
Leave it to the religious fanatics to use “the children” to drum up feelings of protection and urgency. What’s so unfair about this is that underlying this reasoning is the age-old assumption that LGBT people are looking to recruit or molest children. This is strange considering every recent child-molestation case in cayman within memory involved a heterosexual man with a little girl.
Please stop comparing homosexuality to pedophilia. Pedophilia is a serious and separate issue that speaks to criminality and mental illness. These two ladies are seeking the right to marry through legal channels. It’s not the same people.
The politicians we have are very simple. They have all used the system for personal gain and now it is time to pay the piper.
There is no way that you can steal from your people, lie to them while pronouncing your own integrity and then have the guile to deny a same sex marriage because it does not fit your voting base.
You should have thought about that before you embarked on your political careers.
If you actually believed in a righteous God, we would not even be in this situation. You believe in power, influence and money and now you are found out.
You have sown indifference to the winds of change and now a tsunami of change will devour you.
This is going to create a veritable shitstorm for these islands.
This is probably only the beginning.
I am sure you will be in Church this weekend feigning morality.
I am going to exclude Anthony Eden from this diatribe because at least he had the balls to stand up for what he believes.
God help us all.
Fasting would at least make a start on the obesity problems.
Heyyy girls , you both looking Beautiful , as usual ,remember when you guys would walk by my condo and see me with different women ? I found them at the churches lol , their are one hell of a lot of hypocrites on this island , btw Love the hairdos looking Great . Keep up the good fight ladies you will Win . And for anyone giving thumbs down / stick it you no where , the church choir needs more sopranos . All my love and Respect , God Bless . Hoping to get together soon .
Congrats to those who oppose them ??????? Keep up the work.
But why? Why is it your purview to be concerned about them in any way? What do they make a difference in your life or lifestyle? You, who enjoy full rights here as guaranteed by our Constitution.
That is all they want. The same rights as you, as guaranteed by our Constitution. Tell me in your own words — not talking points — why you think any Caymanian citizen should be singled out to be excluded from the rights guaranteed us in our Constitution. That’s right. US. All of us. We are one people with one primary document to govern us. We are not governed by faith.
My faith is my own and my relationship with God is private and not for display. Yours should be also. Don’t be ashamed of your relationship with God, but please don’t ever use it as a weapon against others. You aren’t that smart, and you sure aren’t that holy.
These two women simply want the same rights afforded us all. They don’t want any ‘brottah’, nothing special or extra.
Describe for me, please what right YOU have to oppose them. Don’t be ordinary, person, and don’t be petty. I’m sure you’re a good person. Just rise up and do the right thing. This isn’t just about two women, but their child, and our children and their lives going forward in this great nation.
Do we set a framework of repression or inspiration for our children and theirs?
I wish you would spend as much time on introspection and consideration as you spent creating your graphics for your post.
That was me, just now, who wrote the novella to you about rights and our children. I have hopes for my children that they won’t grow up in an oppressive world. I wish the same for yours.
I also have hopes that my children won’t have to grow up seeing gays all around wanting to impose their lifestyle on the rest of us.
I lived with a gay guy as a roommate in college and I didn’t catch the gay. Still straight. It isn’t contagious.. getting married to my girlfriend soon. Wish they could be given the same right to happiness.
When has that EVER happened ANYWHERE???? Where have gays/lesbians “imposed their lifestyle” on anyone??
It is outrageous that the Govt are spending our money fighting such an obviously hopeless case
If it was hopeless, it would not have gone to court and there would not be arguments to present on both sides. These ladies are attacking Caymanian culture. Sorry but that is exactly what they’re doing.
Attacking? They are the victims of your ignorance! You want to deny fellow your Caymanians the same rights you have just because you think you are the majority. You cannot maintain this discrimantion so pull your socks up and get ready for change! Dont worry, it wont hurt!
Exactly what rights do they not have. Do they not have the right to get married just as everyone else? Answer, yes of course they do. The issue here is not one of human rights but one of the rights as individuals to form a society and live as they choose. Caymanians have chosen to to define marriage as being between a man and a women.
What these women are doing is definetly an attack on Caymanian culture!
Don’t be sorry, just be responsible for your own narrow-minded views. They want the same rights as you enjoy. Nothing more or less. Nothing to do with culture, which will be preserved with or without them.
They were saying the same thing when they were announcing the old sodomy laws were being struck from the books back in 2001. Everyone was up in arms about what God would do to Cayman and how Cayman culture would be eroded. I’m still waiting…
@4:39 ‘Caymanian culture’. LOL! WTF is that? Spousal abuse and incest?
you forgot adultery
I’m a born and raised caymanian and the aren’t attacking anything. People like you are why we are labeled as ignorant.
Homosexual caymanian? “oh no say it ain’t so”.
Get over yourself. I am one. Raised in a heterosexual household. I am what I am and I am allowed to have the same rights as heterosexuals. So for what it’s worth I hope with everything in my being that they win this as cayman needs a wake up call. We aren’t influenced by any outside forces, we are born here and born the way we are. Go have a lemon.
You obviously weren’t in court to see the government lawyers present their ‘argument’. LOL
Haha it was cringeworthy and hilarious watching them trip over themselves
It would be outrageous if they did not.
Duran Duran considered cancelling its Saturday night (April 16) concert at North Carolina’s PNC Music Pavilion in protest of the state’s newly passed HB2 law, which requires transgender people only use bathrooms that correspond with their sex at birth.
Similarly, Bryan Adams pulled the plug on a show in Mississippi.
https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7334129/duran-duran-pledge-support-for-lgbt-community-at-north-carolina-bathrrom-law
KAABOO Cayman is an international social justice platform that shouldn’t be ignored.
Civil Equality shouldn’t be on trial in UK Territories in 2019. Tweet about this, and use these tags:
@iamwandasykes @TheChainsmokers @duranduran @SimonJCLeBON @bryanadams @jasonderulo @MarenMorris @TheSaltNPepa @BlondieOfficial @CountingCrows @DiRealShaggy @MissMargoPrice @MaxiPriest @TRANSVIOLETBAND @chants6 @ColoursCayman @iAMjasonfelts @KAABOOCayman
You can take Duran Duran and shove it
Ka who?
But … you guys (8:54 and 9:05) talk about rights. But fail to understand that the protection of rights must work for both homosexual and heterosexual couples. A homosexual right granted must not infringe on other rights.
And this is the major flaw in this sexual experimentation.
I will not be silenced and watch natural rights … like the right of a child to have a biological parents put on the back burner because two same-sex adults want their rights to parent a child despite the wishes of the real father or mother. This is just one example of rights infringing the rights of others.
And isn’t it the role of the government to protect EVERYBODY’S rights. You have freedom speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom to voice your own conscience, parental rights, and the list goes … no “gay right” should ever infringe on these rights; or, else,
What’s the reason for democracy???
There is a dark side to this lgbt global revolutionary agenda that they are not saying publicly. And if you speak out against it, you are either branded as a bigot, hater, religious fanatic, a person not for equality or love. They make sure to assasinate your character.
The proof is in the pudding. Look at news articles in the U.S. and U.K. and see for yourself how so many cases are being brought before the courts because “gay rights” are conflicting with other people’s rights, including children!
But the Most High knows the children of light, and after death, they will be rewarded for keeping the moral laws, and the mother of all faiths. ?
Regards,
Unison
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/oct/23/children-raised-by-same-sex-parents-do-as-well-as-their-peers-study-shows
https://whatweknow.inequality.cornell.edu/topics/lgbt-equality/what-does-the-scholarly-research-say-about-the-wellbeing-of-children-with-gay-or-lesbian-parents/
https://journals.lww.com/jrnldbp/Abstract/2016/04000/Same_Sex_and_Different_Sex_Parent_Households_and.1.aspx
### Conclusion: Children with female same-sex parents and different-sex parents demonstrated no differences in outcomes, despite female same-sex parents reporting more parenting stress. Future studies may reveal the sources of this parenting stress.
I think you should spend your energy on the wastemen we have here that like to breed and create a lot of single mothers who become forced to raise children on their own while relying on NAU or look for a sugar daddy.
Spend your energy on the adults looking for relationships with underaged teens.. These are two consenting adults.
Jesus here we go, it takes two people to have a baby. No one stuck a gun to any woman’s head and insist they have children for dead beat men. How about vetting your choices versus dealing with the outcomes
Just my two cents peace to all
smh … lol … so does random stats including the entire population of a country??? No, it doesn’t.
You can’t speak for millions of children from a few biased or random studies. If you had a bit of sense, you would look at yourself where you came from. Im sure it wasnt from two men ?
Indeed. Same-sex marriage will mean Same-sex parenting. And it being taught in the classroom, against parental rights. Moreover, government “legislating” marriage is a leftist ideaology. Will the NATURAL rights of others be protected? You give them an inch, they will take a mile☝?
Yup why couldn’t they just be happy with the drinking fountain we gave them, no they had to demand the right to use ours. (you give them a drinking fountain, they will take ours) When rights are not freely given, they must be fought for
What about the rights of a child to consent to their birth? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47154287
(since we’re spouting off absurdities)
What about the rights of an unborn child to consent to their abortion?
What about the rights of an unborn child to live?
Fool. You destroy the children of this country more than ever. You destroy the family. What you think will happen?!
We have enough crime and broken homes already. The last we need is more broken family ties.
You, Alden, Unity regime supporters, are all standing on the reprehensible, immoral, and tyrannical side of history. Not coincidentally, the same dark path where cruel autocratic dictators, poor governance, and redacted process thrives – all the tools of Satan.
Don’t be fooled…Alden et al wants it. They just can’t appear to want it or their base will note vote them back into office – “not on my watch bobo.” Just sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
You forgot freedom “from” religion and it just so happens religion is the only arguement the homophobes bring to the table to debate sexual orientation.
As well, it so happens, you folk make up sides like “church versus lgbt.” There are many irreligious that see your irrational arguments for gay lifestyle
Care to elaborate why homosexuality is irrational without invoking a wizard or by implying people who are unable to have children naturally shouldn’t be given the right to marry? Or are you just talking out of your arse?
arse, mostly. It’s the natural thing. speaking otherwise involves thought and deduction.
If the only reason you adhere to “Gods Laws” is so you can be rewarded when you die, then you must not be a good person. How about treating people the way you would want to be treated for no reward?
All of our primping MLAs with their DART-comped VIP tickets, will have to endure each of the KAABOO artists, in turn, renouncing the Cayman Islands’ shameful same-sex policies through their microphones. Looking forward to watching them squirm with the boos from the crowd.
Kaaboo is also a load of rubbish. They are charging you idiots here two or three times what a ticket cost at other venues but you all still drinking their koolaid. If it was left to me they would have had to drop their tickets down to 10.dollars each.
Kaboo is shit.
Please consider supporting these brave women:
https://www.gofundme.com/equalmarriage
No. They have jobs like the rest of us.
Why? Isn’t she a well paid lawyer ? I rather support a poor mother who is struggling to feed her kids because the law firms won’t hire Caymanians
The irony – she is a Caymanian hired by a law firm!
Marriage is a contract between two people. The constitution states it is impermissible to discriminate on grounds of sex. Therefore, they should be permitted to enter into the contract together.
Morality should be and is irrelevant. This is because it is no more than an immeasurable opinion.
Upholding the Constitution is a moral prerogative as well as a legal one. You can’t excise the moral component from this fight. That will be the lesson when these women win.
Not many people realise that CNS has a very small staff and therefore limited reporting capabilities.This article is a great example of their efforts, despite these limitations to cover matters of human rights and interest in detail. Well done CNS, plaudits for your stellar performance over the last few years are long overdue.
CNS: Thank you!
I also applaud CNS for enduring so many moronic posts evidently the same ones who gave 62 thumbs down (at last count) to my earlier comment.
Oh you poor dear.
Putting God to one side for the moment – there is a limitless source of biological and evolutional information that speaks against same sex unions, or in other words, naturally endorses heterosexual unions.
Biological regeneration is but one.
(People mistakenly automatically refer to holy text at times like these because the easily conditioned human brain has convinced itself therein lies the code of life. Failing to realise, nature itself is enough and often behind the inherent resistance to certain concepts, e.g. same-sex families. Holy text is but mankind’s attempt to codify the most primal of urges and safeguards shown to us over time.)
However, it appears the modern world is hell-bent on preserving every aspect of earthly natural life – except that of human relationships and natural structure.
Y’all enjoy the little social experiment. We’ll be right here when nature pimp-slaps you, back-hand style, as a rude wake-up call.
We will destroy the planet with our lack of care for the environment before going extinct due to not reproducing.
Are you implying allowing homosexuals equal rights will lead to everyone turning gay and stop having kids? Please.
What about straight couples who refuse to have kids? Must I turn back in my marriage certificate because my wife and I prefer dual income no kids?
Get over yourself.
1.) No, I am not implying allowing homosexuals equal rights will lead to everyone turning gay and stop having kids. (Btw, yours is such a basic mindset, smh.)
2.) My wife and I have no children, yet my position remains the same.
3.) I have no dog in this fight – nothing to “get over”. I am simply a respecter of rules of nature and acknowledge the almighty essence thereof.
The rules of nature says that we aren’t supposed to inhale smoke.
Yet smoking is common and seen as acceptable adult behavior to so many that I can take smoke breaks on government compounds.
Your argument has no substance. Because nature and you are against smoking, it gives you no right to say they aren’t supposed to smoke. You have no authority over another adult’s life choices that don’t affect you.
Wow.
*I’m sorry but, LMAO!!
– Who
Actually you are wrong. Those choices impact the rest of us whether we see it, admit it, like it or not. So using your example, the Government had to introduce laws to educate about the dangers of smoking because it is whether you see it, admit, like it or not a destructive thing.. much like the topic under current conversation. Then Government had to take it a step further and introduce law to try to prevent persons who smoke from harming others with the smoke. Much like the topic under current discussion. The harm is there, whether you see it, admit it like it or not. Some will say its spiritual, some will say it is one of the things that degrades and weakens society. Some will say it is against nature. Regardless of whether you see it, admit it, like it or not, there are consequences that we all pay.
….but in the end smoking kills 80% of smokers, another 15% will die from 2nd hand smoke and the remaining 5% are just fortunate enough to escape it, so now what is your point?
Same sex unions are just what it is, unnatural which is why it cannot procreate.
If the LBGT people have rights, what about the rest of us, don’t we have rights too? Legalizing homosexuality/lesbianism takes away from the rights of those who want to live in a society where men don’t call another man husband and women don’t say my wife and children don’t say in our family we have two moms or two dads.
If this lifestyle wasn’t unnatural, there would not be so much controversy.
People, whether you accept it or not, God is real and He will pour out His wrath on the wicked. Same sex marriage must not be legalized in Cayman.
You know what really perplexes me, when disaster strikes, everyone is praying and waiting for the all powerful and merciful God to save them, remember Ivan? Remember the prayers and worship songs on Radio Cayman?
When sickness hits, prayers are the only request people make. They are afraid like little children and God suddenly becomes oh so real to them then.
I thank God that He is not like man and that He is merciful, kind, loving, full of grace, and is long suffering. Otherwise, places like the Cayman Islands would have already disappeared under the vast deep ocean that surrounds it.
God have mercy on the Cayman Islands.
Why you acting like our population of <100,000 is so significant when there's millions of gay people on this planet? That legalizing it here would cause revelation? lol.
Just like how people thousands of years ago thought that the Earth was the centre of the universe.
Be quiet flat earther when knowledge speaks
Solid post. Well done.
But isn’t it interesting that the religious texts, aligns with the biological and evolutionary information regarding reproduction. As people rebel against the natural order, they are doing exactly what these texts prophesied.
9:26 Who gives a **** about what religious texts say? They also state that a virgin birth is possible and dead people can be resurrected.
Well you are about to find out.
If you have no “dog in this fight” then why do you care? Why not err on the side of live and let live? What compels you to try to impose your lived experience on other people’s lives?
There are plenty of examples of animals engaged in homosexual partnering to current date; this is despite the precept that behaviours and characteristics not suitable to progenation would, over time, be eliminated from a species’ gene pool. From that perspective, I would sincerely call into question the claim that there is “a limitless source of biological and evolutional [sic] that speaks against same sex unions…”
In (other) primates, homosexuality is used as a means by a dominant male to humiliate a weaker male in front of the female primates for which they compete…for heterosexual purposes.
After witnessing said humiliation, the buggered male is instantly demoted in terms of a desirable mating partner.
Let me guess, those chimpanzees and gorillas are just politically-incorrect, huh?
– Who
stay out of this one, Who. It isn’t your fight. You are walking the wrong road. I know you care about equal rights, I KNOW it. Why can’t you see this is just the same?
1.) Address the content in the post to which you replied, or don’t bother.
2.) What in your mind gives you the authority to dictate to what issues I should contribute?
3.) “Stay out of this one.”? Maybe I am the original poster?
– Who
Speaking from experience?
Oooh, cheeky monkey!
– Who
*Stay classy.
Wild animals much….are you the same?
The Mrs tends to think so, yeah.
You?
– Who
What a horrible person you must be.
You obviously see the harsh reality ringing true in my words, otherwise you wouldn’t have limited your response to a personal insult.
It just is what it is sometimes.
9:11 am you are so cocky and so sure that it scares me. Research indicates that various forms of homosexuality and bisexuality is found in every major geographic region and every major animal group. Maybe if you thought to read more than your one “Good Book” you might actually learn about the world.
Animals also rape and eat their own kind. Thank the “Good Books” and conscience, the world keeps safe from irrational thinkers like yourself ??
You sir, are the irrational thinker. Would bet you think the earth is flat and only 6000 years old as well…
“Limitless” other reasons but you failed to name even one? Name one without falling into a sexist trope – “men fix the cars and women fix the dinner, so gay marriage is wrong. “
There are examples of same sex behaviour across many species, so the “natural” argument is simply an excuse. It is also perfectly “natural”, for me, to be attracted to the same sex. I, personally, was born that way and am perfectly happy with my lot.
Society looking after the margins and catering for diversity and variety is the pinnacle of civilisation. We are not wild animals uncaring of our fellow beings. There is no social experiment going on here. Merely evolution of understanding of the human condition.
In observing anything… and i mean anything… one cannot say that because something happens in a very small number that means it should. Yes there is evidence of homosexual behaviour in all species, 5% maximum, but real evidence points to 1-3% including human beings. that is the strongest indicator that what is happening is not supposed to happen. Otherwise the numbers would support the argument that it is ‘natural’. It is not natural, it serves no biological function. If we then venture into human condition, then we have to also give the church its say, and they say that sexual sin (all forms) are evidence of the destruction of positive human condition… so why wouldnt they fight against it. Psychologists used to point to childhood trauma as one of the determining factors of homosexuality, but they arent allowed to anymore. So their analysis of the human condition has also been attacked, labeled as bigoted and silenced. At the end of the day we all have our beliefs, but arguments to change major institutions for what amounts to 3% of the population are suspect at best, regardless of who the 3% are and what it is they want.
So you seem to be saying that having an innate trait with an occurrence rate of less than 3% makes one “not supposed to happen”. I guess I’m pretty screwed then: 6’5″ tall (2% of population), and ginger hair (2.5%). Apparently you believe my existence is proven to be wrong based on these statistics.
Or is it just that you are simply making up stuff that you think sounds clever, to advance your dumb, outdated, homophobic opinion?
Hmm.
Yes, as a close example, homosexuality DOES occur in primates – our closest relatives in the animal kingdom.
HOWEVER, it is NOT as an expression of care, “love” or reproduction – BUT as a means to HUMILIATE a competing male in FRONT of the FEMALE members of the tribe – as an ultimate expression of DOMINATION over said weaker male.
Are you sure you want to rely on examples of “same sex behaviour across many species” to support your stance on gay marriage?
Nature is brutal – be careful how you call thereon. No rainbow flags waving over there buddy.
– Who
Thank you. truly.
Protip: Even if they are not allowed to marry, gay people will stay gay.
Hi there, fun fact: Did you know there is an ancient tribe in Africa that has ONLY homosexual relationships?!? A tribe MUCH older than The Cayman Islands, or most of the “civilized” world. Do you think this tribe that has survived the test of time is doing a social experiment?!?! No. They are not. Your ignorance is astounding. Homosexuality is happening and has been happening, so it IS natural. And procreation is not the only reason humans are on the Earth. Homosexuality has been around since the dawn of time, and anyone who doesn’t know or understand this is uneducated and fearful of something they don’t understand. Get out and see the world, the real world, and your myopic view might change.
Um, how can this tribe have only homosexual relations and survive. I’m not judging, pro or con, but just sayin…
Ancient tribe, older than Cayman, only practice homosexuality, and they are not extinct? Your story does not add up.
Off you go then.
Hear ya now bwaahaaa
And they’re aren’t extinct? What’s the name of the tribe and where in Africa can they be fined? I would like to join them, they sound like they can live for hundreds of years…..lmao
With 7+ billion on the planet, I hardly think these two girls marrying is a threat to the continuity of the species.
Have you ever considered that same sex attraction may just be natures way of trying to regulate a species population?
Why do you care what the government thinks about your love or your desire to get married. Being married on this island gives you no advantage in life. Gather your friends and family, go to the beach and tie the knot…F$@K the CI Government’s permission or approval.
So ignorant. Do you not have the attention span to actually read the entire article?
Without a legal institution to recognize their union on island, the non-Caymanian partner has no immigration rights on island and there is a complete lack of recognition of their legal adoption from the U.K. (which would be recognized if they were an opposite sex couple), no succession rights (i.e. if one dies the other is not recognized as their next of kin), no recognition as the beneficiary of each other’s pension etc. and the list goes on.
Honestly this rhetoric of marry elsewhere and move back to Cayman or have a symbolic wedding with no rights attached needs to stop because even if a same sex couple where one is Caymanian does so, they are still riddled with the issues above because the Cayman Islands does not currently recognize oversea marriages of same sex couples involving a Caymanian.
The only reason why marriage is not available to same sex couples is because the Cayman Islands government discriminated against same sex couples solely due to their sexual orientation, which is not acceptable.
Well done to CNS for this accurately detailed article!
^^^ you tell em and you tell em good!!
It’s not that simple. Parents with dependent children must be responsible grownups. They need to consider their collective household’s welfare. The Cayman Islands currently bars these ladies, against the Rights afforded in the Constitution, and against legal precedents in our hemisphere of influence, from becoming a legally recognized and bound family household.
For starters, there needs to be medical visitation rights, estate succession planning, household inheritance rights, and shared property rights. That could have been accommodated easily. It’s unfortunate that the public will be made to loose our money, defending an indefensible position in court, and will be paying these women their costs, interest, and penalties that the court may deem fit to assign.
Heterosexual partners stand to benefit as well by having these common law rights applied to them without the historically compelling requirement to get married simply to satisfy our prehistoric Immigration Department.
so shall we annul everyone else’s marriage too? Or is there, perhaps, some social value applied to being married?
All of this controversy over some god no one can prove exist.
Cut to the flying spaghetti monster metaphor.
Neither can you prove that God does not exist. You need faith to support your point of view….lol. Isn’t that a bitch?
You cant prove that the Flying Spaghetti monster doesnt exist either. you say Pastafarians must believe in a literal Flying Spaghetti Monster to be True Believers, then you can make a similar argument for Christians. There is a lot of outlandish stuff in the Bible that rational Christians choose to ignore.
What’s wrong with them going back to the UK? Why the big fuss about doing this in Cayman?
You’re not getting it. If the union is not recognized, they have no legal rights.
Two examples, the Brit being able to remain in Cayman w/o a work permit and insurance… Duh
Then stay in the UK.
Why don’t you go and find a different place that will never recognize same sex love? I think you should try Nigeria. Bye and have fun with that.
Why should a Caymanian have to leave their country to find rights to protect them. They have every right to fight for that protection from The Cayman Islands, just as you do for your rights.
So be banished from your own country? Why don’t you just pick up and live elsewhere. Absurd.
They plan to live here as a Caymanian family and need to be a legally recognized family for a variety of grownup reasons.
imagine if you couldn’t be married in your country.. how would you feel. What’s wrong with a caymanian wanting to be married in cayman? I for one hope they get through as this would be a welcomed step forward.
Yes! Rosa Parks could have moved to Africa too.
They didn’t have buses in them days.
It’s funny how CNS commenters are all about the rights of Caymanians to live and prosper on their island, until one of them happens to be gay
The government has no business getting involved in what is essentially a religious institution. If any number of individuals want to enter into a partnership agreement then that is where the government can get involved by creating a legal framework for those agreements.
Sorry, but modern marriage is a civil institution. You can choose to add a religious element to the process but it stopped being a religious issue when the government started attaching rights and obligations to it.
So as I said….. The government has no business getting involved in what is essentially a religious institution.
The government has, for its own reasons, hijacked the institution of marriage and as a result has introduced many of the relationship and family problems that exist today. Let the various religious groups have back the institution of marriage and then let the government create whatever legal framework is needed for two, three, four, five etc. number of people to enter into whatever partnership agreements they see fit.
Are you incapable of reading? The institution of marriage in Cayman and across most of the world is secular…..
(google it: sec·u·lar
adjective
1. denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis.)
People are not required to be religious to have access to marry. Religious views and arguments against the inclusion of same sex couples to the institution of marriage are simply put, not relevant.
The end.
Are you incapable of understanding what you are reading? You seem to have recently learnt how to do a Google search and want to share your accomplishment with the world. Congratulations!
You clearly get very angry and belligerent when presented with the facts so it is best not to say anything more that might get you triggered and in need of a safe space.
Thank you. You make alot of sense. The government should only be involved in marriage like
– when it comes to the maintainance of children and during divorce, the fair divide of assets.
Hence, to impose SSM is draconian and against liberty.
Unison
It’s so sad that the same church people that say love your neighbors are the ones with so much hatred for anyone not indoctrinated into their cult. Such hypocrisy is why I stopped attending ..
They can’t get any offering from Chantelle. No wonder they’re trying to ‘cure’ them by denying a deserving Caymanian human rights.
Despite all the hatred and bigotry, they’ll continue to be gay as WE HAVE LEGALIZED GAY RELATIONSHIPS ALREADY! Now just give equal rights.
It is not hatred to disagree, nor is it hatred for the people you disagree with to fight to have things the way they feel is right. Hypocrisy is bashing the Church because you want to deny it the same right to affect life in Cayman that you applaud these ladies for exercising.
I’m vegan and hate animal cruelty. I think it’s entirely wrong that we consume so much meat.
Yet I have no reason or right to protest outside of KFC and stop people from entering the premises.
Understand yet?
You would have an easier time trying to herd cats than they to talk sense and logic to a religious person.
I can and do disagree with you without penalty or consequence. If the government disagrees with them, they are officially excluded from the tenants guaranteed us by the Constitution. Their consequence is measurable and enormous.
How is that right?
They are already living here with their daughter. Being a religious bigot isn’t stopping them from being gay. They deserve equal rights so that they can get their health insurance.
This is two consenting adults. We have no right to dictate what two consenting adults can do in their bedroom if no one is being hurt.
Claiming that allowing gay marriage would lead to pedophilia is like saying if we allow people to eat meat they’ll spiral into cannibalism!
So your’re ignoring pedophilia groups are on the rise, and they are using LGBT banner???? Like hello. You need to read a bit more
Man, are you colossally uninformed. Really, sad, dude. I will pray for you.
You’re * full of it. You see any P in there ?
I am a Christian and my family doesn’t eat certain foods due to their uncleanness..
That being said that doesn’t give me a right to prevent grown adults from eating said unclean foods.
You bigots fighting against equal rights for Caymanians are disgusting. Throw the first stone ye without sin.
You are a prime example of what Jesus meant when he said we must be either hot or cold but being lukewarm is vomit in His mouth. How can you say you don’t eat certain foods because of its uncleanliness? Then you call people bigots for trying to uphold God’s word that a man should not lay with another man as he does with a woman. That too is unnatural, unholy and an abomination in God’s sight.
How did tonight’s burnt offering go for you? Have much of a crowd? Bit windy, yeah? That cotton/poly shirt you’re wearing… better burn it. Mixed fabrics are a no-no, and I mean the stoning kind.
Don’t worry. You can probably get a mulligan if you do your crop rotations right.
My God is not angry, and you don’t have the right to judge in His stead.
How appalling was it to see Julie on Facebook saying that we must pray for their case to lose. An mla fighting against equal rights for a Caymanian lady that simply wants to come home because her religion is against it. If you’re vegetarian, you can make it illegal to eat chicken too based off your personal preference??
Just like how everyone should have the right to pray to Buddha and go to church in peace, we should allow two adults to marry regardless of orientation.
Let go of your holier than thou attitudes and just let two adults love each other in peace. None of these ladies are trying to dictate what you can do in your own privacy.
Any MLAs speaking out against equal rights should be suspended or disqualified from office. Anywhere else they would be told to resign immediately.
Amen
Brackers still going to vote her in they love juju boy.
I like her personally, to an extent. Professionally, I think she is distant, unapproachable and a poor representative of her district. It’s partially my fault. I voted for her. Lesser of wevils. Then.
Lots of Brackers are stupid take it from me a Bracker
She should also remember she has people in her family that are gay.
She is not saying she doesn’t love them.
Or her security.
Equal opportunity ignoring.
“because you don’t share my religion and sexual orientation, I, as a political figure will influence my congregation to fight against you having the same rights as me.”
BS about her loving Caymanians! Equal rights for all re/Caymanians!!
Just denying them the same rights that she is able to have ?
Keep following that bullish statement “love is love”!
You got dumb love too! The kind that does nothing good for the country.
what a blah blah blah blah news article?!
cns, spinning the discrimination wheel again.
Who am I as an individual to tell anyone else how to live thert life? Let them be married and happy!
Let’s focus on ACTUAL issues, like how we graduate kids who can’t read, rising crime rates, court system that let’s people off of assault for “quoting Shakespeare.”
Y’all need Jesus!
Exodus 31:14 says that you must kill anyone you see working on the Sabbath.
If you all are quoting leviticus to be against it, why pick and choose? Common sense..
movement of Jah people….
Wear clothing with two different fabrics? Straight to hell.
Eating shellfish? Straight to hell.
A man and you wear your hair long like Jesus? You guessed it, hell.
Using the Bible to show how stupid the Bible is in 2019? Priceless.
And you need evolution.
He is yet to fully evolve.
Jesus was a closet homosexual.
Not so closeted.
Why do you presume these women don’t have Him in their lives?
no, YOU need Jesus! Apparently (in this story book) Jesus condemns gays 0 times. He condemns divorce 63 times. And hmmm I’m guessing you are divorced OR have a divorced friend or family member you love unconditionally. God is not very happy with you. Best get that pitchfork and torch and get those divorced people!!!!!!!!
Family Guy aisle 12 row 16 says “bird bird bird the bird it the word” let us rejoice in the glory of stewie
All the best Chantelle & Vickie. This will be worth it in the end. Let marriage be about love.
From a straight 8th generation local, who cannot believe that my tax money is helping to fund this review.
I cannot believe we’re in 2019, have freedom from religion written in our constitution, gay relationships are legal and common, yet politicians like julie are fighting against allowing two adults equal human rights on the grounds that the old testament didn’t allow it.
I long for the day that a younger generation is elected and maybe then Cayman can be a secular democracy. Maybe then we can grow past Julie’s bigotry to ensure equality for all Caymanians. Nepotism isn’t about being family or friend – many benefits come if you’re a part of a certain religious cult here, entirely unfair.
Don’t forget Anthony Eden and his puppet! Our politicians should be fighting FOR equality, not against! Homosexuality is NOT a crime in Cayman! It also isn’t contagious unless you’re lying to yourself.
Eden became irrelevant long ago.
…and this regime is concurrently pledging to spend millions of our public money gifting a church in Bodden Town to an ultra-conservative Christian splinter-faction who are taught the world is only 4000 years old. You really can’t make this stuff up.
What you mean “our money” What have you contributed to the Government coffers?
Or are you on Social welfare sucking it up?
What does the BT Church of God Project has to do with these two grown women wanting to change the Cayman Islands Laws. ?
Why do they not do that In Honduras Roatan, or UK.
How many have not arrived and say they love the Cayman Islands, but need it to change after they get comfortable.
More than half of the world do not support same sex marriage. So stop making it seem that Cayman Islands is restricting anybody rights. Rules and Laws are in place for a reason. Get the Roatan girl a UK passport and both of you can travel around Europe and take advantage of the real world out there. No need to be stuck in this little Cayman Islands.
And by the way. Cayman marriage Certificate would be useless in other countries. For all intent and purpose, it would only be a show.
I agree with you up to the point where you said that a CI marriage certificate is useless elsewhere. Am a American citizen and for my Jamaican/Caymanian husband to get residency in America, we had to provide a certified copy of our Cayman marriage certificate in order for him to even proceed with his application. Once that was done he was given residency based on marriage to an American citizen.
Guess what you go buy a snickers chocolate bar and you’re paying income duty aka indirect TAX. Anyone who lives here longer than a week pays tax. We just don’t see it.
Yeah for real. If they love each other, let them have a civil union. Dear Christians, if you have not good to say, then say nothing at all. It is not your place to judge. Y’all even read your own scripture?
Matthew 7:1-3 King James Version (KJV)
1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
oh y’all thumbs-downing your own Bible now?
Not my bible. I prefer non-fiction.
They don’t want a civil union they want a marriage XXXX
CNS: That’s it. They want a legal marriage with the legal rights of any marriage.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. Genesis 2:24
Exodus 31:14 go kill Saturday workers before casting your judgement based on the old testament
Where do we sign up?
um, no, let the marry like anyone else!
let them be miserable like us lol