Let me pose a hypothetical question here.
A gay Bahamian couple goes to, say Canada (or any other country where gay marriages are legal) and gets "married". They then return to the Bahamas where they reside. Would that marriage be recognised under Bahamian law in the same way that a heterosexual couples marriage conducted outside the country is?

NO NO NO NO!!!

I wish whosoever will, will hurry go and try to apply for marriage license so that they could be DENIED and end this foolishness.
If you desperately need to say some vows, go do a Anna Nicole and Howard Stern!


Originally Posted by truth_hurts12
Firstly, I am keenly aware that this subject may have caused a degree of comfortableness for some members of this honourable forum...
However, I believe that it is insensitive actions such as this that causes us, as a society, to perpetuate the unwarranted prejudices against our homosexual brothers and sisters, a small minority within our citizenry.
Moreover, those members who validate these juvenile antics by laughing along with the culprits, rather than admonishing them, are equally as gulity...
It is my fervent belief that only through "open" dialogue, mutual respect and an attempt to gain understanding of each other, that all of we, as citizens of this great democracy, could forge a greater Bahamian Society, where no man or woman is discriminated against because of sex, colour, creed, or sexual orientation...


Sweetie I ain prejudice against homosexual's, as a matter of fact, I have a cousin who does play dress up too. Actually they are very cool people, some of my bestest make-up and hair tips come from him.

However, I laughed along with Lurker because the photo was down right funny! And when I am males acting as females I laugh, their behaviour is hilarious. I saw group in Freeport last Friday at the Victoria Inn hotel for some event at Joker's Wild and I laughed until my head hurt.

I accept them for what they were born as and that is a far as my support go.
You can put on all the make-up and get as many procedures done as possible, IN MY OPINION, if your birth certificate say male, that is who I accept you as, the same applies to female. You cannot take an APPLE and turn it into a BANANA.

I will not discriminate, nor will I treat you differently, I simply will not accept, nor will I acknowledge you, as the sex that you want to be.

I gat one male cousin who believes he is a woman too. I treat him now, the same way I treated him when he wore pants and knew he was a man.
You cannot thrust your beliefs on other people.

I have an aunt who is a Jehovah's Witness and she is always trying to convert me and make me believe in her teachings. I will tell you what I tell her, It ain never gonner happen.

What you say is conventionally correct and is the well accepted and time honoured adherence to the English doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty in the Diceyan sense but even under English law doesnt what you say that Parliament is supreme and an Act cannot be declared invalid by a court fly in the face of R v Secretary of State for Transport, ex p. Factortame Ltd (No.2) [1990] EUECJ C-213/89 (19 June 1990) where the European Court of Justice held that "any provision of a national legal system and any legislative, administrative or judicial practice which might impair the effectiveness of Community law by withholding from the national court having jurisdiction to apply such law the power to do everything necessary at the moment of its application to set aside national legislative provisions which might prevent, even temporarily, Community rules from having full force and effect are incompatible with those requirements, which are the very essence of Community law". So, sounds to me that an Act can be invalidated for non-compliance with EC law.

Bulls eye again! :hammer: I'm sorry for neglecting Factortame, which actually changed the face of UK Legislation. but that's EC community law. I thought we were talking about domestic legislation/common law. But you are correct though.

NO NO NO NO!!!
I wish whosoever will, will hurry go and try to apply for marriage license so that they could be DENIED and end this foolishness.
If you desperately need to say some vows, go do a Anna Nicole and Howard Stern!
Sweetie I ain prejudice against homosexual's, as a matter of fact, I have a cousin who does play dress up too. Actually they are very cool people, some of my bestest make-up and hair tips come from him.
However, I laughed along with Lurker because the photo was down right funny! And when I am males acting as females I laugh, their behaviour is hilarious. I saw group in Freeport last Friday at the Victoria Inn hotel for some event at Joker's Wild and I laughed until my head hurt.
I accept them for what they were born as and that is a far as my support go.
You can put on all the make-up and get as many procedures done as possible, IN MY OPINION, if your birth certificate say male, that is who I accept you as, the same applies to female. You cannot take an APPLE and turn it into a BANANA.
I will not discriminate, nor will I treat you differently, I simply will not accept, nor will I acknowledge you, as the sex that you want to be.
I gat one male cousin who believes he is a woman too. I treat him now, the same way I treated him when he wore pants and knew he was a man.
You cannot thrust your beliefs on other people.
I have an aunt who is a Jehovah's Witness and she is always trying to convert me and make me believe in her teachings. I will tell you what I tell her, It ain never gonner happen.

:hammer:

Bulls eye again! :hammer: I'm sorry for neglecting Factortame, which actually changed the face of UK Legislation. but that's EC community law. I thought we were talking about domestic legislation/common law. But you are correct though.
Now you want me to overthrow the dualist theory of international law. I ain ga go quite dat far, except to say that I could.
~The rastaman vibration is positive.~

After reading the news article in today's Tribune, entitled "Bahamian law rules out gay marriage", I am of the opinion that even the President of the Bahamian Bar Association, Mr. Wayne Munroe, wishes for the Bahamas to remain a "Banana Republic", adhering to the antiquated colonial Matrimonial Clauses Act dating back as far as the late eighteen hundreds and the Marriage Act, from the early nineteen hundreds. :taped2:

According to the article, Mr. Munroe stated, "same sex marriage cannot be permitted"... he added, "so there is no any grey and it has been debated and decided in courts as high as the English House of Lords and the European Court of (Human) Rights (which have) laws similar to ours." :footmouth

My fellow Bahamians, remember, the old adage, "knowledge is power, ignorance is bliss"... What Mr. Monroe failed to address in the news article is the tremendous progress that proponents of same-sex unions had made as a result of these often heated debates...

“In the United Kingdom, civil partnerships have identical legal status to a marriage, and partners gain all the same benefits and associated legal rights; ranging from tax exemptions and joint property rights, to next-of-kin status and shared parenting responsibilities.:hammer:

The following are excerpts from an editorial published in a magazine (Bad Subjects: Political Education for Everyday Life):

Same-Sex Marriage: An International Human Right

Ewa Pagacz
Wednesday, April 14 2004, 9:14 AM

Same-sex relationships have been recognized in numerous countries in various forms, such as registered partnerships, civil pacts of solidarity, de facto marriage, or legal cohabitation. What these forms share is an understanding of same-sex relationships as a basic human right.

In 2003, the European Parliament, in its annual European Union human rights report, recommended that homosexuals be allowed to legally marry and adopt children. It urged the EU to abolish all forms of discrimination against homosexuals, both legislative and de facto, including prohibition from entering into same-sex marriages and adopting children.

Further, it stated that Member States should recognize persecution on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in the definition of the status of refugees and asylum seekers. Sweden has already extended its legislation, which makes racial hatred a crime, to cover victimization on grounds of sexual orientation.

Same-sex marriage is by no means a novel idea in Europe. Legislation recognizing and providing equal rights to same-sex couples has reached different stages in EU member states. The Netherlands and Belgium have already recognized full same-sex marriage. Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Sweden allow homosexual couples to register their partnerships and to obtain various social benefits available to heterosexual couples.

Although legislation recognizing and giving equal rights to same-sex couples has not been uniform across Europe, substantial steps towards greater equality have been made in other EU countries. Taking a more limited approach, the UK recently designed a Civil Partnership Bill to give legal recognition to homosexual couples, a bill still under parliamentary consideration.

As Jacqui Smith, British minister for women and equality, stated, the new law is not about being politically correct but rather about bringing law and practice into line with the reality of people's lives.

Changes concerning legal recognition of same-sex relationships have been slower in predominantly Roman Catholic countries, especially given the Pope's declaration that the church regards homosexual acts to be "against natural law." But attitudes towards same-sex relationships are changing even in countries where a majority of population is Catholic.

The influence of European legal developments supporting equal marriage rights has been profoundly constructive. European and international decisions on homosexuality and same-sex marriages are expanding human rights...

Food for thought:
Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe
Written by John Boswell
http://nuntiare.org/imag/boswel2.jpeg


about this book

The result of twelve years of research, Same Sex Unions in Premodern Europe focuses on Boswell's discovery of Catholic and Orthodox liturgies for same-sex unions, here translated into English for the first time. These ceremonies, which were performed throughout Christendom into modern times, are shown to bear striking resemblance to heterosexual nuptial services. Boswell traces same-sex unions from Platonic Greece, where the bonding of brotherly equals was considered the noblest form of human contact; to Rome, with its elaborate systems of legal adoption; to Christianized Europe, in which moral ambivalence toward human sexuality of any kind gradually gave way to intolerance, but not before the Church created liturgies to bless loving unions both straight and gay. The analysis required to place these ceremonies in their proper context makes this book a virtual history of the roots of all modern marriages. Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe demonstrates that same-sex relationships have been sanctioned and even idealized in Western societies for over two thousand years.

Time to end this

It will not happen today or tomorrow

Leave it alone for another Administration

NO NO NO NO!!!
I wish whosoever will, will hurry go and try to apply for marriage license so that they could be DENIED and end this foolishness.
If you desperately need to say some vows, go do a Anna Nicole and Howard Stern!
Sweetie I ain prejudice against homosexual's, as a matter of fact, I have a cousin who does play dress up too. Actually they are very cool people, some of my bestest make-up and hair tips come from him.
However, I laughed along with Lurker because the photo was down right funny! And when I am males acting as females I laugh, their behaviour is hilarious. I saw group in Freeport last Friday at the Victoria Inn hotel for some event at Joker's Wild and I laughed until my head hurt.
I accept them for what they were born as and that is a far as my support go.
You can put on all the make-up and get as many procedures done as possible, IN MY OPINION, if your birth certificate say male, that is who I accept you as, the same applies to female. You cannot take an APPLE and turn it into a BANANA.
I will not discriminate, nor will I treat you differently, I simply will not accept, nor will I acknowledge you, as the sex that you want to be.
I gat one male cousin who believes he is a woman too. I treat him now, the same way I treated him when he wore pants and knew he was a man.
You cannot thrust your beliefs on other people.
I have an aunt who is a Jehovah's Witness and she is always trying to convert me and make me believe in her teachings. I will tell you what I tell her, It ain never gonner happen.
Accepting or condoning a person's beliefs is seperate and distinct from showing them respect...in light of the nature of this thread lurker's photo was perhaps insensitive...and those that laughed came across disrespectful... but to find the comedy in the photo I guess you would have to know Lurker for the jokester that he is...

I respect your views as you have stated in this post, while I humbly disagree I won't degrade, insult or make fun of you for them...

PS: I would assume that the "denial" of a supposed marriage license is only the beginning...I assume (or hope) that it won't end there...or to be honest it was a waste of time to begin with..

Time to end this
It will not happen today or tomorrow
Leave it alone for another Administration
They said the same thing 15 years ago in:
Canada
In June of 2005, the Canadian Parliament enacted a law allowing legal marriage for same-sex couples.


Belgium
The second nation to legalize same-sex marriage in 2003.

Netherlands
The first country to grant gay marriage in 2001.

South Africa
South Africa became the fifth nation to recognize gay marriage in 2005.

Spain
Spain became the fourth nation to allow gay marriage on June 29, 2005.

US states that recognize gay marriage:

California
On May 15, 2008, California's Supreme Court ruled that banning same-sex marriage in the state was discriminatory...

New Jersey*
New Jersey is the third U.S. state to offer same-sex civil unions behind Vermont and Connecticut. The new same-sex civil unions law, which goes into affect on February 19, 2007, grants gay and lesbian couples the same rights as marriage. *(Although same-sex unions in New Jersey are classified as civil unions, couples are granted the same rights as married heterosexual couples.)

Massachusetts
On May 17, 2004 Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage. The State of Massachusetts also issues licenses to gay couples from New Mexico and Rhode Island since neither state explicitly prohibits same-sex marriage.

Nations that allow same-sex partnerships or unions:


Croatia
Civil partnerships for same-sex couples have been granted since 2003.

Denmark
Legal civil partnerships have been allowed since 1989.

Finland
Has offered registered partnership benefits since September 2001.

France
Pacte Civil de Solidarité” (PACS), or “Civil Solidarity Pacts,” were instituted in France on November 9, 1999.

Germany
Gay couples can register as "Life Partnerships," granting lesser financial and pension benefits than marriage.

Hungary
Gay couples have been protected under common-law marriages since 1995; however they are not eligible for legal marriage.

Iceland
Since 1996, gay Icelanders have been protected under registered partnerships.

Luxembourg
Civil partnership legislation modeled after France's PACS were introduced in Luxembourg in 2004.

Mexico
Same sex civil unions were legalized in Mexico City in November 2006 and in the state of Coahuila on January of 2007, essentially making civil unions legal in all of Mexico (by law, each Mexican state must recognize the laws granted to individuals of the other states).

New Zealand
In December, 2004, New Zealand enacted legislation recognizing same-sex civil unions.

Norway
Since 1996, gay Norwegians have been protected under registered partnerships.

Portugal
Same-sex partners have the same rights as opposite-sex partners in common law marriage.

Sweden
Swedish same-sex couples have been able to register under domestic partnership laws since 1995.

Switzerland
Same-sex couples are given limited legal benefits with civil recognition.

United Kingdom
Domestic partners can register under the Civil Partnership Act. This legislation took affect in December 5, 2005 giving registered same-sex couples all of the rights, privileges and responsibilities of married heterosexual couples. The Civil Partnership Act applies across all of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

US States that allow same-sex partnerships or unions:

Connecticut
Although Connecticut defines marriage as between a man and woman, it became the second U.S. state to grant same-sex civil unions in April, 2005.

New Hampshire
New Hampshire, home of the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson, became the 4th state behind Vermont, New Jersey and Connecticut to offer civil unions. Same-sex partners were allowed to register for civil unions in January 2008. More on New Hampshire Civil Unions

Oregon
Under Oregon's new domestic partnership law gay and lesbian couples are eligible for all the state-wide rights and benefits of marriage. Oregon also outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Vermont
The first U.S. state to offer same-sex civil unions in 2000. Learn about Vermont civil unions.

Washington
On April 21, 2007, Washington's domestic partnership bill was signed into law giving gay and lesbian couples many of the benefits of marriage.

time to end what?
munroe could say what he likes
all RAB asked for in the tribune was for someone from the legal community to state what they think the position is
only a judge can determine whether the law is good law or not
all dese lawyers
what an amusing morning

Would the introduction of same sex civil unions be acceptable, where GLBT couples have legal rights vs. marriage which IMO is a religious institution?
Is it equal (legal) rights that the GLBT community are pursuing, or something else...... I believe that the average Bahamian is concerned that gay marriage will somehow normalize a lifestyle which is not perceived as Christian.

Would the introduction of same sex civil unions be acceptable, where GLBT couples have legal rights vs. marriage which IMO is a religious institution?
Is it equal (legal) rights that the GLBT community are pursuing, or something else...... I believe that the average Bahamian is concerned that gay marriage will somehow normalize a lifestyle which is not perceived as Christian.
bahamians are afraid the sun will fall out of the sky before they play they numbers:jawdroop:

NO NO NO NO!!!
I wish whosoever will, will hurry go and try to apply for marriage license so that they could be DENIED and end this foolishness.
If you desperately need to say some vows, go do a Anna Nicole and Howard Stern!
Sweetie I ain prejudice against homosexual's, as a matter of fact, I have a cousin who does play dress up too. Actually they are very cool people, some of my bestest make-up and hair tips come from him.
However, I laughed along with Lurker because the photo was down right funny! And when I am males acting as females I laugh, their behaviour is hilarious. I saw group in Freeport last Friday at the Victoria Inn hotel for some event at Joker's Wild and I laughed until my head hurt.
I accept them for what they were born as and that is a far as my support go.
You can put on all the make-up and get as many procedures done as possible, IN MY OPINION, if your birth certificate say male, that is who I accept you as, the same applies to female. You cannot take an APPLE and turn it into a BANANA.
I will not discriminate, nor will I treat you differently, I simply will not accept, nor will I acknowledge you, as the sex that you want to be.
I gat one male cousin who believes he is a woman too. I treat him now, the same way I treated him when he wore pants and knew he was a man.
You cannot thrust your beliefs on other people.
I have an aunt who is a Jehovah's Witness and she is always trying to convert me and make me believe in her teachings. I will tell you what I tell her, It ain never gonner happen. Well said... WELL SAID... but your signature.. is that the newton family of Freeport ?

Well said... WELL SAID... but your signature.. is that the newton family of Freeport ?

No, North Andros, the few Newtons in Freeport are from Andros. The family is not very big. Descendents from Red Bays Andros.

No North Andros. Ok. thanks..