Tag: human rights
Chief justice legalises gay marriage
(CNS) UPDATED WITH FULL STORY: In an historic landmark ruling for the Cayman Islands, Chief Justice Anthony Smellie has legalised same-sex marriage. In his judgment delivered on Friday in the human rights case filed by Chantelle Day and Vicky Bodden, who had been refused a marriage licence because they are a same-sex couple, the country’s […]
Miller gives his backing to civil unions
(CNS): Ezzard Miller has given his support to the introduction of civil unions, offering the same legal rights as married couples to same-sex couples as well as opposite-sex couples in common-law relationships. Speaking for himself and not the official opposition group, he said he still does not support marriage equality but said “in my personal […]
Prison investment plans too slow, says HRC
(CNS): It is no secret that for many years conditions in Cayman Islands prisons have been dire and in desperate need of investment. But in a newly published document the Human Rights Commission detailed the human rights challenges, describing Cayman’s prison system as “overcrowded, chronically underfunded and in need of urgent investment”. The HRC warned […]
CIG wasted public cash on LGBT case, says HRC
(CNS): The Human Rights Commission has accused government of an “inexcusable waste of public funds” that are “purely for political reasons” in its fight against Chantelle Day and Vickie Bodden, a same-sex couple who were refused a marriage licence last summer. In a paper submitted to the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee’s inquiry into […]
Jowell all but concedes on civil unions
(CNS): The constitutional expert representing the Cayman government in its defence of a legal claim by two women wishing to marry all but conceded that there was little he could do to argue against the need for introducing civil partnerships in the Cayman Islands, which would allow same-sex couples to have some form of legal […]
‘Right or wrong’, marriage inequity deliberate
(CNS): Sir Jeffrey Jowell QC, whom government has instructed to defend a legal case challenging the Cayman Islands’ ban on same-sex marriage and the lack of equity for gay couples, told the court Friday that “rightly or wrongly”, the intention of the Constitution is to ensure that marriage remains a union between opposite-sex couples only. […]
Gay couple ‘waited long enough’ to marry
(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 […]
Governor won’t intervene in marriage equality case
(CNS): Governor Martyn Roper says he will not intervene to prevent the Cayman Islands Government from fighting the legal challenge filed by Caymanian Chantelle Day and her British fiancée, Vickie Bodden, who have been refused the right to marry by the registrar on the grounds that they are a same-sex couple. Although Roper said he […]
Premier hints Roper should tackle marriage equality
(CNS): In an address to the Legislative Assembly yesterday, the premier appeared to signal that he wants the new governor, Martyn Roper, to deal with the contentious issue of same-sex unions and demonstrated his own reluctance to tackle it. Welcoming the UK’s representative to Cayman and speaking off the cuff, Alden McLaughlin gave a potted […]
Homophobia
In light of the current events, we are re-posting this VP about homophobia by ‘Pax Vobiscum’: “Why is it that if I am against homosexuality I am referred to as a homophobic as if I have some kind of ailment?” This was a question asked by a CNS reader in one of the comments. It […]
CJ clears way for judicial review of gay marriage
(CNS): Chief Justice Anthony Smellie will be hearing what is likely to be a landmark case in the Cayman Islands after he approved on Wednesday the application for a judicial review of the General Registry’s refusal to give two women a marriage licence. Chantelle Day and Vickie Bodden, who were denied the right to marry in April […]
