McLean: Gov’t should have appealed the appeal
(CNS): Opposition Leader Arden McLean said that government should have appealed the appeal it won in the controversial gay marriage case last year because of the directive delivered by the senior justices that the legislature implement some form of marriage equivalence for same-sex couples. As he confirmed his objections to the Domestic Partnership bill, McLean said government was rushing the law.
But government has known for more than five years it was in breach of the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights as a result of its failure to enact a framework supporting legal unions for LGBT couples.
McLean claimed that if the chief justice did not have the power to legalise same-sex marriage from the bench, then the Court of Appeal had no power to tell the parliament what to do. He also dismissed the Premier Alden McLaughlin’s warning that if the Legislative Assembly did not pass this bill, there was a very real danger that the UK would change the law to allow same-sex couples to marry rather than create a separate institution, as this bill did.
The opposition leader said marriage was a devolved issue and believed the UK would not intervene, despite the fact that the governor is responsible for the rule of law and good governance.
McLean dismissed the discrimination and breach of rights that Chantelle Day and her fiancée, Vickie Bodden, have suffered as a result of government’s admitted failure to address their desire to marry, or at the very least enter into some form of legal civil union. Both the Grand Court and the Court of Appeal have found that the couple’s family and other rights provided in the the Constitution have been infringed.
McLean suggested that the government could somehow find different ways for the couple to enjoy inheritance rights. However, that is only one part of the problem facing Day and Bodden and the appeal court found that Constitution requires a functionally equivalent institution to marriage.
But setting the tone for the opposition debate, with most of the official opposition members objecting not just to same-sex marriage but any kind of civil union, McLean disregarded the couple’s continued plight.
McLean accused government of pushing through the legislation because of its fear of the courts. He said there needed to be much more debate or even a vote on the issue. Questioning “the reason for the rush”, he suggested that government had failed to pass many laws that would benefit Caymanians and instead was rushing this law, which would not.
When the premier pointed out that Chantelle Day is a Caymanian, the opposition leader, “But the other one isn’t,” referring to her partner, Vickie Bodden, who is British with Caymanian ancestry.
The opposition leader took up all of his allocated debate time to say he was not supporting the legislation and implied that no law specifically designed to meet the needs of same-sex couples would be acceptable.
However, he claimed that there had always been “people like this” and they were never a bother. But now they wanted rights, he said, and suggested that had created problems between “them and us”, as he hinted that they may want more rights in the future.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Not against the LGBTQ community but one right will lead to many other rights they feel they are entitled to.
CNS: You should probably take a minute to read the Cayman Islands Bill of Rights, which is Part 1 of the Cayman Islands Constitution and can be found here. The LGBT community feel they are entitled to the same rights that you enjoy, and the courts have agreed. The same-sex marriage case was argued on three sections: Section 9, which is the right to Private and Family Life; section 10, which is freedom of conscience and religion; and section 16, which is freedom from discrimination. What other human rights do you think LGTB people will want that they don’t already have? Just curious.
It’s true, they have always been around either loved or hated and no one cared for how they chose to live life. But to take my human rights away to give preference to another’s is just unfair. You give them an inch (domestic partnership) and eventually they will want the full yard!! Stand tall LA members!!
CNS: Pretending to be a victim in this is disgraceful. You’re not. Have another look at the Bill of Rights and tell us which right you will be deprived of when same-sex marriage or civil unions are imposed. It will not affect your right to hold whatever views you do now, i.e. freedom of conscience. When you say “you give them and inch..” you are promoting the idea of “other”, which is the definition of discrimination. Starting your comment with “Not against the LGBTQ community….” does not negate that.
When the premier pointed out that Chantelle Day is a Caymanian, the opposition leader, “But the other one isn’t,” referring to her partner, Vickie Bodden, who is British with Caymanian ancestry.
The opposition leader took up all of his allocated debate time to say he was not supporting the legislation and implied that no law specifically designed to meet the needs of same-sex couples would be acceptable.
However, he claimed that there had always been “people like this” and they were never a bother. But now they wanted rights, he said, and suggested that had created problems between “them and us”, as he hinted that they may want more rights in the future.
What a donkey of the highest order.
I think such intolerance and anger were very much at the heart of the teachings of Jesus. That was definitely what Jesus was about.
The Hon. Attorney General, Sam Bungling, could not have been any clearer in his contribution yesterday. This is not a bill for gay marriage. It is a bill to put into effect the declaration from our own Court of Appeal.
Yet these idiots who have been elected refuse to see it for what it is. Ranting on about Black Lives Matter and trying to give us an education into American societal struggles bears absolutely no relevance to the matter at hand. Absolutely none!
I hope the England goes ahead without delay and imposes this legislation forthwith. Let’s see what the brainiacs will say then.
Endorsed!!
If the Governor is sitting there, he has an obligation to remind the Acting Speaker to remind the House, what the limits of parliamentary privilege actually are. It doesn’t seem like anyone thinks there is a hate speech limit that can be exceeded on a recorded broadcast that will survive forever, and on a topic where they have been proven to be on the wrong side of the law more than once. There is an indelible point where lawmaker privilege ends, and personal liability and career disqualification begins. That none of the lawmakers have the sense to read and onboard the legal findings from several cases, is deeply worrying and destabilizing.
Free speech.
Perhaps Arden should read the judgment before he starts gibbering about it.
“ 6. What Ms Rose [Counsel for the Government] did accept was that under section 9(1) of the BoR, the Legislative Assembly of the Cayman Islands was required to provide the Respondents with a legal status functionally equivalent to marriage, such as civil partnership. That is something it has so far signally failed to do so. Not only does this inaction place the Legislative Assembly in breach of the law, it also means the Government of the United Kingdom is in violation of Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights (“ECHR”).
7. The failure either to permit marriage or provide for a functionally equivalent status, has affected the Respondents’ lives in the Cayman Islands in many deleterious ways, as the Chief Justice set out in detail. Not least of all, it has affected the legal status of their child.”
So Arden is complaining that the Government should have appealed against its own concession.
Idiot.
Not only that, but this transcript/video, and tens of hours of other supporting downloads, bolsters the damages and oppression claims Chantelle and Vicky deserve to file at the Privy Council. Or separately, they and a Colours Cayman consortium could sue each MLA individually for oppression, propagating hate speech, and their exceeding parliamentary privilege. They should not only be held in contempt for these statements, but each hit individually to their own personal wallets this time. Go get ’em girls.
After seeing some of the debate contributions by the lily whites we have as MLAs I can only conclude that they are afraid as they have always been of the personal consequences of introducing this bill. This proves what many of us knew they are only interested in doing what is politically expedient and ensures their own political survival. This bill likely will not pass, the UK government will likely institute same sex marriage, and what will these politicians say then?
Moreover, this issue could cause a breakup of the cabinet resulting in an early election and if that were the case this issue will become nothing more than an election distraction from the more pressing social issues that are plaguing this country.
I also want to make it abundantly clear I am no supporter of this current government and their unholy matrimony.
Let’s hope he lives long enough to see all the rules created through hatred that he so loves, come crashing down.
People like this are a waste of breath, and an embarrassment to the islands
I love the manipulated downvotes. Last night, most anti-stupid comments were about 15 to 1 ratio in favor of upvotes. This morning, several now have large amount of downvotes.
Person doing this, get a life. You’re fooling nobody x
Sorry you were up all night.
Lets hope you dont.
Ouch. You’re wishing death on someone via a keyboard. You’re such a tough guy. Blow harder, blow hard.
England won’t do a thing. They had the chance to do something about it before but didnt thanks to Boris and other conservitives. Now he is PM
Would that those who know the skeletons in the closet of those sitting in the LA spoke and told all that they know of our leaders behaviour behind closed doors.
Arden is the epitome of ignorance. “Appeal the appeal”? The government won the appeal! That’s like me winning first prize in a competition then appealing the judges for giving me first prize. But let’s pick sense out of nonsense – so government should appeal the appeal. Which court should they then go to? The Appellate court already granted them what they wanted. The only other court to go to would be the Privy Council. If the Cayman Grand Court legalized SSM, and the Appellate Court commanded government to legalize civili unions, what do you think the Privy Council is going to do?
East End, try so vote in someone else other than this ignoramus.
The issue Arden says the government should have appealed was actually conceded by the government. See para 6 of the Court of Appeal’s judgment
And yet we elect profoundly unqualified, uneducated, and unprepared folks to “lead” us. WE are to blame!
High school drop-outs for office; garbage truck drivers for office… This is a pity. Our country does not have a long enough system of education for our “Caymanian Educated” Leaders to be qualified to lead a country.
I know this will not be well received, but we need to get to the point where our “OWN educated citizens” are competent to be legal, legislative and judicial leaders. We are not even close, but this is where we need to be.
In several posts recently, some have commented on the “hope for the future generation to do better”. I also hope for this – I do suspect that the next generation of Caymanian Citizens will wash away the bigotry of the past, wash away the intolerance, and wash away the comments of those that hold to uninformed religion to justify bigotry. (e.g., Anthony Eden).
As we do away with these incompetent, uneducated, unqualified officials we will progress into the next level of self-regulation and self-sufficiency. If we do not wash away these incompetent fools, we are destined to repeat the same cycle. Do not be deceived, elect the past or elect for the future!
Go back home if you have a problem with how our government work or speak.
I couldn’t stop laughing…. “we”, “our” “our country”… Peter, you are telling a Caymanian to go back home if they have a problem with how the Government work[s] or speak[s], thereby proving the point of the need for better educated and qualified people in positions of office! 🤣
Arden please put your hatred to rest. You do not speak to or for the majority of any tolerant and compassionate persons in this country of which we are many.
This is a right that will not stop you from living your hateful life nor will it create any havoc that your narrow mind is envisioning.
It is about due rights that should be afforded to adults that want to solidify their ‘togetherness’ in the sight of the Law.
Use your time, that you are being paid quite a hefty salary, a lot better and do something that quantifies why you are still in the MLA.
Leader of the idiots.
Remember when the bigots were pretending that they would accept compromise as long as marriage was left as is?
Remember all of the nonsense about not being hateful just trying to protect the sanctity of marriage?
I remember it well, and anyone with an inkling of integrity now has to admit it was all a farce
Funny thing about bigotry, rarely will people admit it even when it is plain for all to see, because we now live in a world where even plainfaced hatred can be explained away as tradition and moral.
Embarrassing utterly embarrassing
This is our elected Gvt! We are to blame. Can we do better this next election cycle???
Yes, if you get rid of whatever voting system you have and use a national vote for premier.
Has anyone else noticed that the popular word ‘bigot’ is used almost exclusively when discussing lgbt isues, but it occurs in many areas of discussion, must be the hard ‘g’ that makes it sound cogent perhaps.
To be fair the term “bigot” is far more appropriate than the commonly used “racism”, even where race itself is not necessarily involved. Such as the favourite subject of expat – born Caymanian – paper Caymanian.
Many years ago, there was a man who was living in Savannah, though not from that district, and he was married to a young lady from George Town from a well respected family. One day or night, they had a fight. He beat her in a terrible temper, stripped her naked and turned her out naked into the street. Years later, he became an MLA. And yet, such people are “debating” whether two people of the same sex should have equal rights in a relationship. Utter madness.
Wonderful comment 5:28, many of us know exactly what and who you mean.
5:28 irrelevant!
Wow, who is that pray tell….
Is that really so? How is that just coming out.?
Hint, 10:22: he voted “no” today.
Like you said “many years ago”. Lets bring up everyones past mistakes because that always solves situations
3:20, if you think that what was done to that poor woman was a mere “mistake” then it explains why we are in the mess we are in today with domestic violence at even the highest levels. What was a “mistake” was that in those days women did not dare bring charges against strong aggressive men like this. But I suspect you might be the perpetrator of that vile attack, or one of your family members, trying to deflect attention away from it. Some of us will NEVER forget.
The world is watching.
No one cares
Oh my. SMH. CNS was all this on live broadcast? How embarrassing.
Jesus Christ. Could the hate be more apparent from this man? How do we allow people like this to continue to be elected officials? How?
I pray the Caymanian voters will see merit to remove the following incompetent politicians from parliament in the general elections 2021
Arden McLean
Alden McLaughlin
McKeeva Bush
Joey Hew
Moses Kirkconnell
Juliana O’Connor-Connolly
Tara Rivers
Dwayne Seymour
Austin Harris
David Wight
Barbara Connolly
Eugene Ebanks
Anthony Eden
Alva Suckoo
Bernie Bush
Kenneth Bryan
4 42 Agree with some but be careful what u wish for as they may be replaced by much worse.
I’m sure this is a very sore subject but I’ll throw it out there. Wouldn’t a good governor by him/herself be able to handle all this better than the bunch of fools you just listed? Honestly I’m not Caymanian but I could still take better care of the Caymanian people than these folks do. It’s frankly the most ridiculous load of nonsense I’ve ever seen and just keeps getting worse. XXXX Look what’s happening in the US as people revolt against racism. They’re taking it too far and people have died in the protests but surely there’s a middle ground. XXX
4:42 You should CONCENTRATE on the REPLACEMENT LIST!
You need to be removed from Cayman.
Arden is an ignoramus.
He unfit for any leadership role and must never be allowed to act as Premier or a Cabinet member.
He is telling my friends in East End that he is going to be the next Premier. Because he deserves it. Mac had it, Alden has it, now it is his turn.
Can you even comprehend this bullshit
What a complete Twit (with an ‘a’)
LOL
At least the face mask rulings will help us avoid catching “gay”
God must be preparing to smite those who vote yes to this bill In between allowing kids to die of cancer- we should absolutely follow the guidance of this benevolent being…
Change is coming and not before time. Love wins in the end.
Hanging my head in shame. How can he refer to a spouse as “the other one”? Maybe if Mr McLean were to lose some of his rights (maybe personal liberty or private and family life?) then he would be more understanding?
Because he is an idiot.
McLean, you are wrong on the facts and wrong on the morals. To the eternal shame of Cayman, it will forever be recorded in Cayman history that you and the other bigots did all you could to block fairness and equality. What an embarrassment. You think this behavior will earn you a place in heaven? You call this “religion”? If so, count me out. This is hate mongering, plain and simple. And a great many of us in Cayman want NO PART IN IT.
Speak for yourself you bigot!!
Free speech.