Bahamas’ top judge: Gay marriage to be addressed sooner or later

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI — Bahamas’ chief justice says it’s a “matter of time” before the country’s courts will have to address gay marriage, The Nassau Guardian reports.

Sir Michael Barnett says the Bahamas will have “respect for the decisions that emanate not only from the Commonwealth countries like Canada and Australia, but also from decisions from the courts of the United States of America.”

The report notes that while gay marriage is not allowed in the Bahamas, some gay Bahamians have married abroad.

The Bahamas and the US are linked by commerce, trade and tourism, Barnett adds. “More and more citizens of both our countries are finding it necessary to resort to the courts of our countries to resolve the disputes that inevitably arise.

According to the Guardian, Barnett’s remarks follow Anglican Bishop Laish Boyd’s recommendation that the Bahamian constitution reflect that no one should be discriminated against based on sexual orientation. Boyd does not believe same-sex marriage should be included, the report says.

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

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