Same-sex marriage campaign going global

(Image courtesy Pixabay)

With territories that span the globe, it's still true today that the sun never sets on the British Empire.

Consequently, a ruling last month establishing same-sex marriage in the Cayman Islands could have global implications as it affects other British Overseas Territories, warns the British public policy group Christian Concern.

Cayman Islands law defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman, but two women won a decision in the Supreme Court allowing them to be married. This month the government won the right to appeal to the U.K. Parliament.

Christian Concern explained the global implications.

"It is clear from the Foreign Affairs Committee report on the future of the relationship between the U.K. and the British Overseas Territories, published in February this year, that the U.K. government is continuously pressurizing their governments to introduce same-sex 'marriage,'" Christian Concern said.

"The report singles out five territories in the Caribbean for resisting. They were asked to state in writing whether or not they would introduce same-sex 'marriage.' The government of the British Virgin Islands responded saying that their constitution defines marriage as being between one man and one woman. One brave Christian church, Cane Garden Bay Baptist Church, also wrote to the committee to defend marriage," Christian Concern said.

However, the Foreign Affairs Committee said it's "time for all [British Overseas Territories] to legalize same-sex marriage and for the U.K. Government to do more than simply support it in principle."

"It must be prepared to step in, as it did in 2001 when an Order in Council decriminalized homosexuality in OTs that had refused to do so," the committee said. "The Government should set a date by which it expects all OTs to have legalized same-sex marriage. If that deadline is not met, the Government should intervene through legislation or an Order in Council."

Since the U.S. Supreme Court created same-sex marriage in 2015, many LGBT activists have forced religious believers to affirm their redefinition of marriage.

Some lawsuits have gone to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled last year in favor of a Colorado baker, determining the state showed unconstitutional hostility toward his faith.

Christian Concern said the approach of the Foreign Affairs Committee is more aggressive than that of the U.K.'s Foreign Office, which told the committee that "encouraging legislative change continues to be a priority" so that the territories meet "international human rights obligations."

"The truth is that children would become hostages in an inverse Cold War against the traditional family," Christian Concern said, likening the fight to the mandatory imposition of abortion on objecting societies.