The Minister of Home Affairs the Hon. Walton Brown JP MP is seeking the public's feedback regarding a current draft bill on the topic of Domestic Partnerships.
The bill, which is attached, will be posted on the Government website gov.bm for the public to view as well as on the Government's Facebook Page, 'The Government of Bermuda'. Members of the public are invited to send comments and questions to the following email address: domesticpartnership@gov.bm
There will be a two week public consultation period which will begin today and conclude on Wednesday November 15.
As part of that consultation, the Ministry will host two town hall meetings on the bill. The first will take place on Wednesday November 8 at 5:30pm at the BIU Building; and the other on Thursday November 9 at 5:30pm at the St. Paul AME Church Hall.
The bill will essentially replace same-sex marriage with a domestic partnership arrangement which can be entered into by both same-sex and heterosexual couples.
Minister Brown said, "This topic has been a prolonged matter of great division in our country. The purpose of this public consultation period is to gain feedback from the public on the current draft bill regarding domestic partnerships and answer any questions that anyone might have. Stakeholder groups have already been informed as we seek to move forward in a collaborative way."
It should be noted that all same-sex couples who are already married will not have this designation taken away from them.