Same-sex marriage in Guernsey

Same-sex marriage is legal in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a Crown dependency of the United Kingdom. It became legal in the jurisdiction of Guernsey on 2 May 2017, in Alderney on 14 June 2018, and in Sark on 23 April 2020.

Recognition of abroad civil partnerships and same-sex marriages

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.

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In Guernsey, civil partnerships performed in the United Kingdom and other relationships treated as such by UK law have been recognised for succession purposes in inheritance and other matters respecting interests in property since 2 April 2012, after approval of a bill allowing such recognition by the States of Guernsey on 29 June 2011. It received royal assent in the Privy Council on 16 November and was registered in the records of the island on 5 December 2011.[1][2]

On 10 December 2015, the States approved an ordinance to recognise same-sex marriages and civil partnerships performed abroad for the purposes of the Income Tax (Guernsey) Law, 1975. It took effect on 1 January 2017.[3][4][5][6][7] On the same day, the States directed the preparation of legislation to amend the Inheritance (Guernsey) Law, 2011 to recognise foreign same-sex marriages for its purposes.[5][8] A bill to this effect was submitted on 22 January 2016, and was approved by the States on 2 March.[9][10][11] It received royal assent in the Privy Council on 4 May and took effect upon registration in the records of the island on 16 May 2016.[12]

On 17 June 2015, the States of Alderney unanimously approved the Inheritance (Alderney) Law, 2015, which include provisions to recognise same-sex marriages and civil partnerships performed abroad for its purposes.[13][14] It received royal assent in the Privy Council on 8 October, was registered in the records of the island on 9 November 2015, and took effect on 1 January 2016.[15][16][17]

Same-sex marriage

Guernsey

In January 2014, it was announced that within the next twelve months deputies would debate whether to accept a state-recognised civil union proposal.[18] The proposed law, titled Union Civile, was said to be "the most forward-looking marriage law" in the world. The measure would have ended state-sanctioned marriages of any couple and instead replaced it with Union Civile.[19] A consultation on the proposed Union Civile law began on 1 June 2015 and lasted until 13 July 2015.[20][21][22][23] The proposed law would not apply to the entire Bailiwick, but just to the islands of Guernsey, Herm, Jethou and Lihou.[24] On 14 July 2015, the results of the consultation indicated that over 1,600 responses had been filed, with the majority supporting the introduction of a same-sex marriage law rather than a partnership law.[25]

On 30 October 2015, the Policy Council of Guernsey dropped the Union Civile plans and released a report asking the States to agree on introducing a same-sex marriage law and to direct the preparation of legislation to implement it at its meeting on 9 December 2015.[26][27] The States approved the proposal on 10 December 2015, in a 37–7 vote. Amendments to introduce civil partnerships or Union Civile rather than same-sex marriage were rejected.[28][29][30][31]

10 December 2015 vote in the States of Guernsey[31]

Voted for	Voted against	Absent (Did not vote)
37 Elis G. Bebb Barry L. Brehaut Alvord H. Brouard Yvonne Burford Garry M. Collins Richard Conder Roger Domaille Mark H. Dorey Darren J. Duquemin Matthew J. Fallaize Peter L. Gillson John A. B. Gollop Christopher J. Green Michael P.J. Hadley Peter A. Harwood Sandra A. James Louis E. Jean^a Robert A. Jones Allister H. Langlois Michelle K. Le Clerc Andrew R. Le Lièvre Paul R. Le Pelley Mary M. Lowe Paul A. Luxon S.D. Graham McKinley^a Scott J. Ogier Charles Parkinson Lester C. Queripel Francis W. Quin Peter A. Sherbourne Robert W. Sillars Heidi J.R. Soulsby Anthony Spruce Gavin A. St. Pier Kevin A. Stewart Lyndon S. Trott Arrun M. Wilkie	7 A. Hunter Adam David de G. De Lisle Jan Kuttelwascher Michael G. O’Hara Barry J.E. Paint Roger A. Perrot Laurie B. Queripel	3 David A. Inglis David B. Jones Jonathan P. Le Tocq

a. Both deputies are appointed by the States of Alderney.

In February 2016, a working group, which consisted of Chief Minister Jonathan Le Tocq and deputies Elis Bebb and Chris Green, was established in order to prepare a draft bill.[32][33] A same-sex marriage bill was approved by the States, in a 33-5 vote, on 21 September.[34][35][36][37]

21 September 2016 vote in the States of Guernsey[38]

Voted for	Voted against	Absent (Did not vote)
33 Barry L. Brehaut Alvord H. Brouard Lindsay De Sausmarez Mark H. Dorey Andrea Dudley-Owen Matt J. Fallaize Peter Ferbrache John A. B. Gollop Richard Graham Chris J. Green Louis E. Jean^a Shane Langlois Michelle K. Le Clerc Paul R. Le Pelley Jonathan P. Le Tocq Marc Leadbeater Mary M. Lowe S.D. Graham McKinley^a Carl Meerveld Jennifer Merrett Victoria Oliver Charles Parkinson Rob Prow Lester C. Queripel Peter Roffey Sarah Hansmann Rouxel Heidi J.R. Soulsby Gavin A. St. Pier Jane Stephens Dawn Tindall Rhian Tooley Lyndon S. Trott Emilie Yerby	5 David de G. De Lisle Jan Kuttelwascher Joe Mooney Barry J.E. Paint Laurie B. Queripel	1 Jeremy Smithies

a. Both deputies are appointed by the States of Alderney.

The Same-Sex Marriage (Guernsey) Law, 2016 received royal assent in the Privy Council on 14 December 2016.[39] It was registered in the records of the island on 16 January 2017.[40] On 21 February 2017, the Government announced that the law would take effect on 2 May, if the ordinances to commence it and make the necessary changes to other laws are approved by the States at its meeting on 26 April.[41][42][43][44][45] On 26 April, the States approved both ordinances, and the law took effect on 2 May 2017.[46][47][48][49][50] It applies to the jurisdiction of Guernsey, but not to Alderney and Sark.[40]

Alderney

Alderney, one of the three constituent Channel Islands which form the Bailiwick of Guernsey, has full autonomy in most legal matters (except foreign affairs and other powers that have been transferred to the States of Guernsey), through the States of Alderney. Same-sex marriage is legal in Alderney.

On 21 February 2017, the States of Alderney's Policy and Finance Committee (PFC) approved the Chief Executive's proposal to draft a bill to allow same-sex marriage on Alderney.[51]

LGBT rights advocacy group Liberate estimated the entire process of legalisation could take 12 months.[52] On 16 May, the PFC agreed to bring forward the proposed Same-Sex Marriage (Alderney) Law, 2017 to a meeting of the full States, on a date to be determined later.[53] On 18 July 2017, the PFC noted the draft law was at an advanced stage, but that consequential amendments to other legislation was required before the bill could be presented to the States of Alderney.[54] On 12 September 2017, the PFC unanimously approved the bill.[55][56][57] The bill was approved by the States of Alderney on 18 October 2017, by a vote of 9 to 0 with one abstention.[58][59][60] The bill received royal assent in the Privy Council on 13 December 2017 and was registered in the records of the island on 15 January 2018.[61][62][63] On 13 June, the States approved the ordinances to commence the law and make necessary changes to other laws, all of which came into effect on 14 June 2018.[64][65][66][67] The first same-sex marriage was performed on 16 June 2018 in Platte Saline.[68][69]

Sark

Sark is a constituent Channel Island which forms part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. It has legislative autonomy and legislation passed by the States of Guernsey do not apply to Sark without approval of the Chief Pleas, resulting in same-sex marriages not being performed in Sark following the passage of Guernsey's legislation.[70] On 2 October 2019, the Chief Pleas approved a proposition directing the Policy and Finance Committee to instruct the Law Officers to draft legislation to legalise same-sex marriage on the island.[71][72][73] A bill mirroring the provisions of the Guernsey same-sex marriage law was approved by the Chief Pleas on 17 December 2019,[74][75] and received royal assent on 11 March 2020.[76] The law was registered in the records of the island on 6 April.[77] On 22 April 2020, the Chief Pleas approved, in a unanimous (14–0) vote, the ordinances to commence the law and make the necessary changes to other laws, all of which came into effect on 23 April 2020.[78][79][80][81]

See also

• LGBT rights in Guernsey
• Same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom
• Recognition of same-sex unions in Europe

References

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External links

• Liberate.gg Guernsey's leading gay rights and marriage equality advocacy group
• Same-Sex Marriage (Guernsey) Law, 2016
• Same-Sex Marriage (Alderney) Law, 2017