HRC hopes DP bill will address inequality
(CNS): The Human Rights Commission has said that the world will be watching when the Legislative Assembly debates the “emotive” Domestic Partnership Bill next week, as it implied that legislators should treat everyone with courtesy, dignity and respect. The HRC members said they hoped the bill would address the current inequality within the Cayman Islands legislative framework.
“The principle that there is an inherent dignity and worth of all persons underpins the foundation of human rights in general and the Cayman Islands Bill of Rights. During the debate the Commission reminds us all that in the face of divisiveness and intolerance, we should continue to treat everyone with courtesy, dignity and respect,” the commission stated in a short press release issued Wednesday.
The commission is now chaired by Dale Crowley and members include Reverend Yvette Noble-Bloomfield, Joni Kirkconnell and Dorothy Scott.
The HRC was chaired for five years by James Austin-Smith, who endured insults and calls for him to be sacked for much of that time as a result of his strong public advocacy for the Bill of Rights in general as well as the need for government to enact legislation to address the same-sex marriage question.
Since his departure, the commission has been much less publicly active in campaigning for LGBT rights. Before today’s statement, over the last year the HRC had issued just one statement on the inequity over marriage for same-sex couples and the order by the appeal court for government to address it.
Nevertheless, the commission stated that its primary responsibility is to promote understanding and observance of human rights in the Cayman Islands.
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Inequality of…..tobacco smokers infront your face but the medical plant cant light up or even grow ya?
Hard Lol, or its the imaginary rights for bullied kids who just became adults and grown a pair to come out the closet… hmmmmm yogi bear..twisted world indeed.
Wow. What a lackluster response from the HRC. I wonder if they’ve even read the bill.
I miss James Austin-Smith
I think the DP bill is a step in the right direction. The UK didnt change the definition of marriage but they introduced civil partnerships which appear to have all the rights and responsibilities marriage carries whether as a UK citizen or EU citizen (for now).
In Cayman, this Bill needs to achieve the same – all other related legislation needs to be amended accordingly or at least have the bill state that all other related laws must be read to include civil partnerships. That way, our intestacy laws, wills, trust and estate/probate, family laws etc have to extend to DPs.
We also need to introduce cultural sensitivity awareness as this does represent a significant change in our culture – education and sensitivity should accompany the new law in terms of what our society’s expectations should be regarding how DPs are treated.
The approach should be holistic and managed humanely and fairly.
In the UK Civil Partnership came first, but later the marriage law was indeed changed to recognise the right of same-sex couples to marry. They may marry in religious or civil ceremonies. People in same-sex marriages have equal rights under the law in the UK.
DP Bill is the Trojan Horse to get into society long term changes that will have damaging effects in our fundamental value system.
The DP Bill creates more problems for an already confused Cayman Islands.
The DP Bill is the politically correct flavour of the day.
Nonsense. If two men, or two women, marry, how on earth does that affect YOU? They don’t interfere in your marriage, so why must you interfere in theirs? You may think you know what’s best for everyone, but the truth is that you only know what’s best for YOU. So, stop the hatemongering and let others be.
It won’t it was never intended on providing remedies for existing issues just creates the “separate but equal” system that is designed to finally cement the idea into law that heterosexual relationships are legitimate and anything else is just an inconvenience that people need to shut up about once they get this sad excuse for a bill passed.
Odd specifics in the proposed law exist purely to inconvenience any persons attempting to gain a Domestic partnership like being forced to appear in person before the Registrar whereas for a marriage the Registrar only needs to be notified. So without a face to face meeting with a civil servant in a government building you cannot even begin the process of entering a domestic partnership.
The Registrar also has the power to summon and compel information from ‘any person who may reasonably be expected to have knowledge of the true facts relating to the domestic partnership” under oath, so we are giving carte Blanche to a civil servant to bring people to a government building and interrogate them under penalty of law without a shred of due process or reasonable doubt or oversight there is no limit to that ability, and no prescribed scope to what can be asked and what persons options are in terms of preserving privacy. I have looked at the marriage law quite a bit and have seen no evidence that those sections and powers are present in that law.
Creating extra hoops for people to jump through is a standard tactic for legislators who want to reduce, discourage or limit the usage of a policy or programme which is exactly the intent of the current members of the Legislative Assembly
The article out today by the compass goes into more detail on the discrepancies with the general marriage law and the “equal” Domestic partnership law
https://www.caymancompass.com/2020/07/23/domestic-partnership-bill-heads-to-la/
Look Cayman. All is wanted here is a law that provides legality to the union. Why should same-sex unions not be afforded this? Stop being so hypocritical and understand that such unions really do not affect your life and do not prevent you from living it.
Honestly, I applaud these two ladies for their efforts to have their union recognised but in actual fact, all I wish is to have my partner live here legally and have him be able to work and spend the rest of our lives together in my own country which he loves to heart too without have to keep going through the immigration bullsh**.
Give us this right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Exactly. How can the same religious people that preach kindness and respect for all be the same ones using foul language to describe these people. Make it make sense…
It’s unfortunate that I, as a Caymanian, must split my time between here and the US, essentially pay for 2 households, when my partner should be able to live here, an island he loves, and secure work, same as my sister’s foreign husband did many years ago.
Turn up and start doing it. They cannot prosecute you if they have put in place illegal restrictions that prevent you from getting the permissions otherwise required.
A damp squib from the human rights commission
The HRC still exists? haven’t heard from them for a while! Maybe they can make a statement on the continues restrictions of our rights to go to Rum Point and the sandbar under the public health regulations, even though the premiere indicated last week the continued restrictions have nothing to do with COVID!