Guernsey to vote on same-sex marriage next month

Politicians in Guernsey are set to vote on redefining marriage next month, following a consultation.

Earlier this year, Guernsey dropped plans to replace marriage with a ‘Union Civile’, which would have abolished marriage entirely in law, and replaced it with a partnership agreement.

But in December, Deputies in the Guernsey Parliament will vote on a proposal to legalise same-sex marriage.

Oppose

In response to a public consultation the Policy Council, which is responsible for constitutional and external affairs, put forward the proposal.

Evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics on the island oppose any change in the law.

The gay-rights campaign group Liberate has been pressuring the Guernsey Government to redefine marriage.

Faith groups

The BBC reported Liberate’s Martin Gavet saying that they did not expect all faith groups to want to perform gay weddings immediately.

According to the 2014 census, Guernsey has a population of 62,711 people, and as a Crown dependency is not governed by the UK Parliament.

In September, the Government of neighbouring Jersey approved a move to introduce same-sex marriage.

Blocked

On Monday, an attempt to introduce same-sex marriage was stopped in Northern Ireland.

A motion calling for the Executive to bring forward legislation to redefine marriage was blocked after the DUP tabled a petition of concern.

MLAs narrowly backed the motion, which has been defeated by an outright majority on four other occasions since 2012.