Christopher Edwards and Shelby Williams in pink sand Horseshoe Beach in Bermuda
Bermuda’s Supreme Court re-instated marriage equality today (June 6) after becoming the only jurisdiction to allow marriage and then repeal it.
Dallas Voice recently profiled Christopher Edwards and Shelby Williams, a Bermuda couple that now lives in Dallas who were among the original litigants suing for the right to marry.
In February of this year, Bermuda repealed marriage equality that took effect on June 1, less than a year after it took effect. Today’s Supreme Court decision ruled against the section of the Domestic Partnership Act that banned marriage equality.
In a statement, OutBermuda said in a statement, “Love wins again! Our hearts and hopes are full, thanks to this historic decision by our Supreme Court and its recognition that all Bermuda families matter. Equality under the law is our birthright, and we begin by making every marriage equal.”
The litigants who sued to have marriage reinstated said, “We all came to the court with one purpose. That was to overturn the unfair provisions of the Domestic Partnership Act that tried to take away the rights of same-sex couples to marry. Revoking same-sex marriage is not merely unjust, but regressive and unconstitutional; the Court has now agreed that our belief in same-sex marriage as an institution is deserving of legal protection and that belief was treated by the Act in a discriminatory way under Bermuda’s Constitution. We continue to support domestic partnership rights for all Bermudians to choose, but not at the expense of denying marriage to some.”
— David Taffet