Gay marriage not on agenda says Premier

Gays may now have human rights in Bermuda but they will have to wait a while longer to get married here.

The OBA (One Bermuda Alliance) government has no plans to push through legislation to allow same-sex marriage just yet.

Premier Craig Cannonier told the Bermuda Sun: “That was not on our agenda (for this legislative year) and for us, there has not been a lot of noise about moving in that direction. 

“We certainly made our decisions when it came to the Human Rights Act. And I can certainly go back and say our previous administration (the previous Progressive Labour Party government) had been fumbling with this thing for six years-plus.”

Parliament passed a long-awaited amendment to the Human Rights Act this summer, prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation (the Human Rights Amendment Act 2013).

Mr Cannonier said: “It’s a highlight for us within our first legislative agenda, (that) we were able to get the Human Rights Act moved through.

“There can be no prejudice towards one another. That was a ridiculous stance this country had, and I know that the rest of the world was looking at us and saying, ‘When are we going to move forward?’

“But same sex marriage is not on the agenda. We will allow the interest groups to continue to lobby and look at it, but certainly it’s not on our agenda.”