Same-sex marriage has been legal in Gibraltar since 15 December 2016. A bill for the legalisation of same-sex marriages was approved by the Parliament on 26 October 2016 and received royal assent on 1 November 2016. Gibraltar has also allowed civil partnerships since 28 March 2014.

Civil partnerships

In January 2014, a civil partnership bill was published for community consultation and headed for introduction in the Gibraltar Parliament.[1] On 21 March, the bill was approved by Parliament with no noticeable opposition.[2] It was given royal assent on 25 March by Governor James Dutton, officially becoming the Civil Partnership Act 2014. The law and related rules and regulations took effect on 28 March.[3][4][5][6] The law also allows adoption by civil partners, as mandated by a court ruling in 2013.

21 March 2014 vote in the Gibraltar Parliament[7]
PartyVotes forVotes againstDid not vote
  Socialist Labour Party - -
  Social Democrats
6
 -
  Liberal Party - -
Total1601

Civil partnerships offer the same rights and benefits as marriage in terms of inheritance tax, property rights, social security, pension benefits, next of kin rights in hospitals, adoption rights, and others.

Same-sex marriage

Laws regarding same-sex partnerships in Europe¹
  Marriage
  Civil union
  Limited domestic recognition (cohabitation)
  Limited foreign recognition (residency rights)
  Unrecognized
  Constitution limits marriage to opposite-sex couples
¹ May include recent laws or court decisions that have not yet entered into effect.

The GSLP–Liberal Alliance, re-elected in 2015, included the following commitment in their election manifesto: "We will now publish a Command Paper in order to take the views of the public on how to best deal with the request by some for civil marriage to be extended to same sex couples. We are totally committed both to ensuring that religious denominations are not forced to change their practices, beliefs or sacraments in any way and to the principle that the State must not discriminate between individuals based on the grounds of sexual orientation. The results of the responses to the Command Paper will be published by June [2016]."[8] The Equality Rights Group said it did not go far enough and asked for more commitment to introduce same-sex marriage.[9] On 22 December 2015, a command paper on introducing same-sex marriage was published and was under public consultation until 15 January 2016.[10][11][12] On 4 January 2016, it was announced that the consultation period had been extended to 29 January 2016.[13][14][15] On 5 January, a government spokesman said that a referendum on the issue would not be ruled out until all the comments submitted by the public had been considered.[16]

On 18 January 2016, in his New Year's message, Daniel Feetham, leader of the Social Democrats, declared his support for same-sex marriage and, despite allowing members of his party a free vote on matters of conscience, said that his parliamentary colleagues all supported the issue as well. He said that it was up to the Government of Gibraltar to decide on how to proceed with the issue when the time comes.[17][18] On 20 January 2016, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo announced that there would be no referendum on same-sex marriage after a parliamentary debate on the issue was initiated by the opposition Social Democrats.[19][20] In that same debate, the Chief Minister said that he expected the feedback from the consultation process to improve the same-sex marriage bill.[21]

On 21 March 2016, the government announced that it had received 3,490 responses in regards to the public consultation and that, due to the controversial nature of the subject, it would establish an Inter-Ministerial Committee (composed of four government ministers: Gilbert Licudi, Samantha Sacramento, Neil Costa, and Albert Isola) to listen to the views of the various groups and many of the individuals who had expressed a view on the subject, and report its findings back to the cabinet by June 2016.[22][23][24] In response to the announcement, the chairman of the Equality Rights Group (ERG), Felix Alvarez, questioned the commitment of the governing GSLP-Liberal Alliance to legislate on the matter and urged both "the LGBT community at large and their friends and supporters to remain calm and reserve their responses until the government comes up with a definitive answer on how to handle this situation". Based on its own statistics and past advocacy efforts, ERG claimed that over 63% of those consultation responses were in favor of same-sex marriage and that the situation should not be made more complicated than it should be.[25]

A government bill on the legalisation of same-sex marriage was published on 15 August 2016.[26][27][28] On 26 October 2016, the Civil Marriage Amendment Act 2016 was passed in the Gibraltar Parliament with unanimous support from all 15 members present during the vote. An amendment to remove a controversial part of the bill which allowed deputy registrars to opt out of conducting same-sex marriages was defeated 11 to 4 with only some of the Opposition MPs voting in favor.[29][30][31] The bill required that, in circumstances where a deputy registrar did not agree to officiate a same-sex marriage, an alternative registrar had to be assigned to conduct the marriage.[32] The bill received royal assent from Deputy Governor Nick Pyle, acting for Governor Ed Davis, on 1 November and took effect on 15 December 2016.[33][34] The first same-sex marriage in Gibraltar was performed the following day at the Registry Office between Aaron Mills and Adrian Charles Triay-Dignam.[35][36]

26 October 2016 vote in the Gibraltar Parliament[37]
PartyVotes forVotes againstDid not vote
  Socialist Labour Party -
  Social Democrats -
  Liberal Party - -
  Independent - -
Total1502

In May 2017, a same-sex couple seeking to convert their civil partnership into a marriage were told to divorce first by authorities, who cited a lack of legislation for converting a civil partnership to a marriage. This occurred despite the Equality Rights Group confirming that such a provision existed in the law, and that the matter was simply one of excessive paperwork.[38][39]

The law was officially amended in late 2019 so that deputy registrars are no longer able to opt-out of performing civil same-sex marriages. The amendment was assented by Governor Ed Davis and gazetted shortly thereafter.[40]

Statistics

By October 2017, 39 same-sex marriages had taken place in Gibraltar, with 32 of these being between couples from overseas; 25 between two men and 7 between two women.[41]

Religious performance

The Methodist Church of Great Britain has allowed its ministers to conduct same-sex marriages since 2021. The Methodist Conference voted 254 to 46 in favour of the move in June 2021. A freedom of conscience clause allows ministers with objections to opt out of performing same-sex weddings.[42][43] Reverend Fidel Patron of the Gibraltar Methodist Church responded in July 2021 that the church was "not in a position to answer yet" as to whether the church would perform same-sex weddings.[44]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Command Paper on a draft bill to make provision for civil partnerships
  2. ↑ Gibraltar approves civil partnerships bill
  3. ↑ "CIVIL PARTNERSHIP ACT 2014" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  4. ↑ CIVIL PARTNERSHIP (FEES) REGULATIONS 2014
  5. ↑ CIVIL PARTNERSHIP RULES 2014
  6. ↑ CIVIL PARTNERSHIP
  7. ↑ "Proceedings of the Gibraltar Parliament (Friday, 21st March 2014; Morning Session)" (PDF). 21 March 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  8. ↑ GSLP/Liberals Manifesto 2015, pages 95-96
  9. ↑ "ERG asks for more commitment on Equal Marriage". GBC: Gibraltar News. 16 November 2015. Archived from the original on 17 December 2016.
  10. ↑ "Command Paper on a draft Act to make amendments to the Marriage Act to make provision for same sex marriage and enable civil partners to convert their partnership into marriage" (PDF). Government of Gibraltar. 22 December 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 December 2016.
  11. ↑ Command Paper published on same sex marriage
  12. ↑ We welcome Same Sex Marriage announcement – but we’re not quite there yet!, Equality Rights Group
  13. ↑ Consultation period extended for same-sex marriage Bill (GBC)
  14. ↑ Jan 04 - Extension Of Same Sex Marriage Consultation Period (YGTV)
  15. ↑ Extension to Consultation Period for Command Paper on Marriage Act
  16. ↑ Referendum on the question of gay marriage has apparently not been ruled out (GBC)
  17. ↑ Opposition would support same-sex marriage legislation, says Feetham (GBC)
  18. ↑ Jan 18 - New Year’s Message By The Leader Of The Opposition (YGTV)
  19. ↑ BREAKING NEWS: there will be NO Referendum to decide same-sex marriage! (ERG)
  20. ↑ Jan 20 - ERG Welcomes Parliamentary Announcement (YGTV)
  21. ↑ New members debut in Parliament (GBC)
  22. ↑ Over 3,400 responses to ‘Equal Marriage’ Command Paper (Gibraltar Chronicle)
  23. ↑ Nearly 3,500 submissions on equal marriage command paper (GBC)
  24. ↑ Equal Marriage: Responses to Command Paper
  25. ↑ Mar 21 - ERG Says Government's Behaviour Regarding Equal Marriage Consultation Is "Fidgety And Indecisive" (YGTV)
  26. ↑ "Bill to allow civil marriage between same-sex couples". GBC: Gibraltar News. 15 August 2016. Archived from the original on 17 December 2016.
  27. ↑ Gibraltar puts same-sex marriage bill before Parliament
  28. ↑ "Civil Marriage Amendment Bill 2016" (PDF). Government of Gibraltar. 15 August 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 December 2016.
  29. ↑ "Equal marriage bill passed by Parliament". GBC: Gibraltar News. 26 October 2016. Archived from the original on 17 December 2016.
  30. ↑ Gibraltar approves same-sex marriage
  31. ↑ Gibraltar votes unanimously to legalise same-sex marriage
  32. ↑ "Parliament passes same-sex marriage law". Gibraltar Chronicle. 27 October 2016. Archived from the original on 17 December 2016.
  33. ↑ "Civil Marriage Amendment Act 2016 [No. 22 of 2016]" (PDF). Government of Gibraltar. 1 November 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 December 2016.
  34. ↑ "Civil Marriage Amendment Act 2016 - Notice of Commencement" (PDF). Government of Gibraltar. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 December 2016.
  35. ↑ "First same-sex marriage takes place on the Rock". GBC: Gibraltar News. 16 December 2016. Archived from the original on 17 December 2016.
  36. ↑ "Gibraltar celebrates first same sex marriage". Gibraltar Chronicle. 17 December 2016. Archived from the original on 17 December 2016.
  37. ↑ "Proceedings of the Gibraltar Parliament (Wednesday, 26th October 2016; Morning Session)" (PDF). 26 October 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  38. ↑ "Gay couple must get divorced to receive wedding certificate". Gibraltar Olive Press. 25 May 2017.
  39. ↑ "ERG accuses Government of not delivering on drug rehabilitation improvements & other social issues". GBC Gibraltar News. 28 June 2017.
  40. ↑ "Marriage Act officially amended so Deputy registrars will no longer be able to opt-out of performing same-sex marriages". www.gbc.gi. 27 December 2019.
  41. ↑ Gomez, Eyleen (20 October 2017). "Gib becomes popular as same-sex marriage destination". Gibraltar Chronicle.
  42. ↑ Harriet Sherwood (30 June 2021). "Methodist church to allow same-sex marriage after 'historic' vote". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  43. ↑ Harry Farley (1 July 2021). "Methodist Church allows same-sex marriage in 'momentous' vote". BBC News.
  44. ↑ "Gibraltar Methodist Church 'not in a position to answer' as to whether it plans to allow same-sex marriage". GBC Online. 7 July 2021.
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