BU continues to monitor the battle by same-sex couples to be married in the Church.  A recent report out of the UK indicates the first legal challenge to the Church of England’s (C&E) ban on same-sex marriage was filed on 2 August 2013. When the issue of same-sex marriage is distilled the real issues which global societies must accept is that marriage is a matter for the state. And inherent in a marital arrangement are considerations like spousal privileges, tax concessions, issues to do with estates etc. On this basis should the Church be allowed to discriminate and possibly lose its license (issued by the state) to perform marriage?

Traditionally Christian societies, Barbados included, have adopted and institutionalize marriage as a religious ceremony. However if we are to be dispassionate about this issue, the question which Barbadians and other countries will soon have to answer is: How do we safe-guard the rights of same-sex couples under the law? Even if we were to deny same-sex couples the opportunity to equal privilege to be married in the traditional form, how does the law render unto Caesar the rights that are Caesar? In the current scenario we can have same-sex couples who have co-habitated for years but are left unsupported in law with regard to the rights to property accumulated during the union.

We have two issues playing here in the context of Barbados 1) the right to marry in the traditional way and not be discriminated against and 2) the right to access laws which safeguard the rights of same-sex couples. A scan of the international news communicate that both these issues have been and are being addressed. Even if we agree that the C&E or Churches generally should not be compelled by the Court to marry same-sex couples because it is an issue for governments. what about the law? In any event the question of whether the Church is above the law and can visibly discriminate will remain on the radar i today’s litigious world. Unfortunately for Barbados and other conservative societies, this is a matter which will not go away.

In previous BU blogs we hitched the issue of the refusal of the C&E to ordain women priests at the highest level.  Using simple analysis here is a case for discrimination as well. And the lawyers will admit there is precedent for the C&E’s position against female priests to be challenged.

In the case of Barbados BOTH Ministers Stephen Lashley and Adriel Brathwaite have been vocal about defending the traditional position of marriage. We have to conclude that this is the position of the government of Barbados. In fact BU senses that it is being fashioned as a political campaign angle to be used against a Mottley Barbados Labour Party (BLP) in 2018. Mottley has long been associated with the Gay movement.

The difficulty which Barbados and other countries who defend the traditional have is that Canada’s laws allow gay marriage and the UK will likely follow given the first challenge mentioned. Given our ‘closeness’ to the USA we have been following the battle play out in the US and there is an inevitability to it. Barbados is a tourism destination, and like many countries are bound to follow positions under accepted international arrangements. BU family members listened to Jeff Cumberbatch expound on this matter a few months ago. Why the hell have we signed international accords if there was never the intention to implement relevant local law to comply?

If we are a tourism and offshore destination at some point Barbados will have to accord citizens from countries who live and work here and who enjoy certain rights in their home countries the same. If we don’t the media backlash will be painful given the planks upon which our economic base rests. We can chose to be emotional about it or face a growing reality.