Bermuda's Supreme Court has sided with
a gay male couple who were denied a marriage license.
According to The
Royal Gazette, Bermudian Winston Godwin and his Canadian
fiance Greg DeRoche sued the state after the Registrar-General
rejected their application to marry, arguing that denying them a
marriage license violated the Human Rights Act.
On Friday, Judge Charles-Etta Simmons
agreed, writing in a 48-page opinion that “all have the right to
seek love.”
“On the facts of this case the
applicants were discriminated against on the basis of their sexual
orientation when the Registrar refused to process their notice of
intended marriage,” she wrote. “Same-sex couples denied access
to marriage and entry into the institution of marriage have been
denied what the Human Rights Commission terms a 'basket of goods,'
that is rights of a spouse contained in numerous enactments of
Parliament.”
The couple said that they would
resubmit their marriage application “within days.”
An overwhelming majority (69%) of
voters last year rejected a referendum on same-sex marriage. Because
fewer than 50 percent of eligible voters turned out, the question was
deemed “unanswered.”
Preserve Marriage, a group opposed to
marriage equality, said in a statement that “the court has ruled
against many in the community of Bermuda.”
LGBT rights advocate the Rainbow
Alliance called the ruling “historic” and declared that “love
has won.”