Tag: Colours Caribbean
Appeal court blocks JCPC bid over civil partnerships
(CNS): An attempt by Kattina Anglin to take the challenge against local civil partnership legislation all the way to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) has been rejected by the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal. Anglin’s appeal challenging the findings of an earlier judicial review over whether or not the governor has the […]
Privy Council’s stranglehold Caribbean LGBTQIA+ people
(Colours Caribbean): The UK Privy Council, comprising judges of the UK Supreme Court, continues to enable the oppression of LGBTQIA+ people in the Caribbean by reversing progressive lower court decisions and upholding the enforceability and constitutionality of anti-LGBTQIA+ laws in those states (most of which were themselves introduced by the UK).
UK peer’s bill seeks gay marriage law for BOTs
(CNS): Lord Michael Cashman has introduced a private member’s bill in the UK House of Lords to make same-sex marriage lawful in all British Overseas Territories that don’t have marriage equality, including the Cayman Islands. If it passes, it would require the Caribbean territories to legalise same-sex marriage and empower the governors to roll out […]
UK court denies same-sex marriage appeal
(CNS): The UK Privy Council has denied the appeal by Chantelle Day and Vickie Bodden-Bush of the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal’s decision to overturn Chief Justice Anthony Smellie’s 2019 ruling legalising same-sex marriage. The London-based judicial board rejected their argument and upheld the position of the Cayman Islands Government (CIG) that the CI Constitution […]
Activists aim for broad hate crime law
(CNS): Noel Cayasso-Smith, president of the Cayman LGBTQ Foundation, says that efforts by local activists campaigning for hate crime legislation in Cayman have begun to bear fruit. The governor recently held a meeting with representatives from the Foundation, Colours Caribbean and the Red Cross, and an independent expert.
Loss of civil union law would restore rights violations
(CNS): The lawyer representing the Attorney General’s Chambers and the governor’s office told a court Thursday that if it overturned the Civil Partnership Act, which gave legal status to same-sex unions, it would be re-introducing the serious violation of human rights against the LGBT community that had been identified by the Cayman Islands Court of […]
LGBT advocates will have voice in JR of civil unions
(CNS): The Grand Court has ruled that Colours Caribbean, a local LGBTQIA+ advocacy group, has the expertise to intervene in a judicial review brought by a conservative Christian group challenging the way the law that provides for same-sex civil unions was rolled out. Justice Richard Williams said that Colours is not only well aware of […]
Same-sex couples must be heard in JR, says NPO
(CNS): The lives of more than 40, mostly same-sex couples and their children will be “severely disrupted” if a judicial review of the governor’s use of his constitutional power to push through the Civil Partnership Law was to succeed and as a result they need to be heard, a lawyer argued Tuesday.
Pride is not that black and white
Billie “Bee” Bryan writes: “Baby steps.” Those are the words so many have tried to placate me with whenever I’m enquired about my response to “Cayman Gay Pride”. As if to suggest that any action taken to uplift LGBTQIA+ people in the Cayman Islands is without scrutiny and that the event was “at least” a […]
600 to march in historic Pride Parade
(CNS): The premier, the governor, ministers and MLAs will join around 600 members of the public on Saturday when the Cayman LGBTQ Foundation hosts the Cayman Islands’ debut Pride Parade. Noel Cayasso-Smith from the foundation said he was extremely proud to have been able to organise this historic event, and at 53 years old, he […]
Governor tells LGBTs civil partnerships are safe
(CNS): As Colours Caribbean celebrated its first anniversary this weekend advocating for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, members welcomed the support of Governor Martyn Roper in a key note speech at the event. Roper told the community that as well as backing their efforts to fight for justice and equality, he believed the […]