Attorney suggests Marriage Act may not prohibit same-sex marriage

Attorney-at-law Lalu Hanuman believes the time has come to test Barbados’ Marriage Act to see if same-sex unions would be allowed under the existing law.

He contended that even if it is resisted in the local courts, a recent ruling by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) suggests it could succeed there.

Speaking during Monday’s launch of Intimate Conviction 2 Volume – Affirming Peace, Truth, and Justice for LGBTQ People at the St Michael’s Cathedral, he made reference to a CCJ ruling last month, that overturned a local court’s contention that the crime of rape did not extend to non-consensual anal intercourse between men. The CCJ ruled that the Sexual Offences Act is gender-neutral and not discriminatory.

Hanuman said a similar case could be made for same-sex marriage since the relevant law is gender-neutral.

“Most of the Marriage Act is also gender-neutral. Except for that one section – which I think is Section 3 – which speaks about void and prohibited marriages in terms of categories, there is no other reference in that Act saying that only a man and a woman can marry,” the attorney said.

“It does not say in the prohibited or void sections that a man can’t marry a man or a woman can’t marry a woman. I think it ought to be considered a test case where an LGBTQ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer] person approaches the magistrate to get the bands published … and tries to get married to someone of their same gender. I am confident it will be refused at the Magistrate’s Court level, but then challenge it all the way up to the Caribbean Court of Justice and I think it could well succeed.”

Hanuman insisted that several of Barbados’ laws are outdated and require immediate amendments to ensure people are treated equally under the law.

He identified buggery as among those that should be amended or repealed if discrimination against LGBTQ persons is ever to be eliminated in the region.

“A lot of the outlooks and views that we have in the Caribbean can be traced back to slavery; a lot of people don’t appreciate that and don’t know that. But it’s my personal view that a lot of the homophobia that exists in the Caribbean is directly linked to the legacy of slavery, where slave masters and slave owners did not want to have gay slaves, because imagine having gay cattle, you will not be a productive farmer. Unfortunately, people were viewed in that way by the plantocracy,” he said. (SB)