Premier Denies Adding Civil Unions to Talks
Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley has denied making a unilateral decision to include civil unions in constitutional negotiations between the Virgin Islands and the United Kingdom.
Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley has denied making a unilateral decision to include civil unions in constitutional negotiations between the Virgin Islands and the United Kingdom. Dr Wheatley said the territory’s negotiating position instead seeks stronger constitutional language defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. “I’m going to correct that.
I didn’t make any unilateral decision to include civil unions in the constitutional review,” Dr Wheatley said during a recent press conference. The Premier was responding to a question about whether he had included civil unions in the constitutional review without first securing approval from the House of Assembly or the public. “In fact, we’ve put forward strengthened language in our constitutional negotiation for defining marriage to be between a man and a woman,” he added.
Dr Wheatley said the proposal on marriage was part of the House of Assembly’s report on constitutional reform, which is publicly available. However, he said the question of legal recognition for other relationships arises separately from the United Kingdom’s requirement that its Overseas Territories comply with the European Convention on Human Rights. “And that doesn’t speak to marriage.
That speaks to other types of relationships where you have to be able to have, for instance, equivalency as it pertains to government benefits, etc,” Dr Wheatley stated. “And that’s a separate conversation that we have to have,” he added. The issue previously attracted public debate in the territory.
In December 2022, Premier Wheatley announced that Cabinet had decided to pursue a referendum on whether same-sex marriage should be legal. The proposed exercise was also expected to address whether legislation should give people in domestic partnerships certain legal rights, including inheritance rights, regardless of sex.
The announcement followed a legal challenge brought by Kinisha Forbes and Kirsten Lettsome, a same-sex couple married in the United Kingdom in 2013 who sought recognition of their marriage in the BVI. The High Court began hearing the case in July 2023. Premier Wheatley said he had raised the matter publicly before the constitutional negotiations and noted that Cabinet had already agreed to hold a referendum. “So I wouldn’t conflate the two things,” he stated. “One is more defined language for marriage between a male and a female.
That is what we are seeking to do through our constitutional review,” Dr Wheatley said. “To be ‘looked at separately’ is how we seek to comply with the European Convention of Human Rights and giving persons a lot of education about it and the opportunity to express a view in terms of how we comply with those requirements,” he added.
Primary source: BVI News