Daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres
and actress Patricia Arquette are among the celebrities who have
pledged to avoid travel to Bermuda after lawmakers there repealed
same-sex marriage.
Gay and lesbian couples in the British
overseas territory gained marriage equality in May after a judge
ruled in favor of gay couples seeking to marry.
Lawmakers in February reversed the
decision, approving a bill that recognizes the unions of gay couples
with domestic partnerships, not marriage. Heterosexual couples can
either marry or enter a domestic partnership.
“Bermuda just banned marriage
equality,” DeGeneres tweeted. “I guess I'm canceling my trip.
Anybody else?”
Arquette accepted the offer, messaging:
“Bermuda just overturned marriage equality. Boycott #Bermuda.”
Canadian pop duo Tegan and Sara
retweeted DeGeneres' tweet along with a link to a crowd
funding campaign to raise money for a legal challenge to the
marriage law.
“Thinking of our friends in the LGBTQ
community in Bermuda,” the sisters wrote. “'Bermuda is the first
country in the world to remove the right to marry for gay and lesbian
couples.' Learn more here and consider supporting the fight for
justice and equality.”