| Part of theLGBTQ rights series |
Recognized |
Civil unions or registered partnerships but not marriage |
See also
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Notes
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 LGBTQ portal |
Same-sex marriage has been legal inGibraltar since 15 December 2016. A bill for the legalisation of same-sex marriages was approved 15–0 by theParliament on 26 October 2016 and receivedroyal assent on 1 November 2016. Gibraltar was the sixthBritish Overseas Territory to legalise same-sex marriage, afterSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands,Akrotiri and Dhekelia, theBritish Indian Ocean Territory, thePitcairn Islands, and theBritish Antarctic Territory.
Gibraltar has also recognisedcivil partnerships providing similar rights and responsibilities to those ofmarriage since 28 March 2014.
In January 2014, acivil partnership bill was published for community consultation and headed for introduction in theGibraltar Parliament.[1] On 21 March, the bill was approved by Parliament with no noticeable opposition.[2] It was givenroyal assent on 25 March by GovernorJames Dutton, officially becoming theCivil Partnership Act 2014. The law and related rules andregulations took effect on 28 March.[3][4][5][6] The law also allowsadoption by civil partners, as mandated by a court ruling in 2013.
| Party | Voted for | Voted against | Absent (Did not vote) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party | – | – | |
| Gibraltar Social Democrats | – | ||
| Liberal Party of Gibraltar | – | – | |
| Total | 16 | 0 | 1 |
| 94.1% | 0.0% | 5.9% |
Civil partnerships offer the same rights and benefits as marriage in terms ofinheritance tax,property rights,social security,pension benefits,next of kin rights in hospitals, adoption rights, and others.
TheGSLP–Liberal Alliance,re-elected in 2015, included the following commitment in their election manifesto: "We will now publish a Command Paper in order to take the views of the public on how to best deal with the request by some for civil marriage to be extended to same sex couples. We are totally committed both to ensuring that religious denominations are not forced to change their practices, beliefs or sacraments in any way and to the principle that the State must not discriminate between individuals based on the grounds of sexual orientation. The results of the responses to the Command Paper will be published by June [2016]."[8] TheEquality Rights Group (ERG) said it "did not go far enough" and asked for more commitment to introducesame-sex marriage.[9] On 22 December 2015, acommand paper on introducing same-sex marriage was published and was underpublic consultation until 15 January 2016.[10][11][12] On 4 January 2016, it was announced that the consultation period had been extended to 29 January 2016.[13][14][15] On 5 January, a government spokesman said that areferendum on the issue would not be ruled out until all the comments submitted by the public had been considered.[16]
On 18 January 2016, in hisNew Year's message,Daniel Feetham, leader of theSocial Democrats, declared his support for same-sex marriage and, despite allowing members of his party afree vote on matters of conscience, said that his parliamentary colleagues all supported the issue as well. He said that it was up to theGovernment of Gibraltar to decide on how to proceed with the issue.[17][18] On 20 January 2016,Chief MinisterFabian Picardo announced that there would be no referendum on same-sex marriage after a parliamentary debate on the issue was initiated by the opposition Social Democrats.[19][20] In that same debate, Picardo said he expected the feedback from the consultation process to improve the same-sex marriage bill.[21]
On 21 March 2016, the government announced it had received 3,490 responses to the public consultation and that, due to the controversial nature of the subject, it would establish an Inter-Ministerial Committee (composed of four government ministers:Gilbert Licudi,Samantha Sacramento,Neil Costa, andAlbert Isola) to listen to the views of the various groups and individuals who had expressed a view on the subject, and report its findings back to the cabinet by June 2016.[22][23][24] In response to the announcement, the chairman of the Equality Rights Group, Felix Alvarez, questioned the commitment of the governing GSLP–Liberal Alliance to legislate on the matter and urged both "the LGBT community at large and their friends and supporters to remain calm and reserve their responses until the government comes up with a definitive answer on how to handle this situation". Based on its own statistics and past advocacy efforts, the ERG claimed that over 63% of those consultation responses were in favor of same-sex marriage and that "the situation should not be made more complicated than it should be".[25]
A government bill on the legalisation of same-sex marriage was published on 15 August 2016.[26][27][28] On 26 October 2016, theCivil Marriage Amendment Act 2016 was passed in theGibraltar Parliament with unanimous support from all 15 members present during the vote. An amendment to remove a controversial part of the bill which allowed deputy registrars to opt out of conducting same-sex marriages was defeated 11 to 4 with only some of the Opposition MPs voting in favor.[29][30][31] The bill required that, in circumstances where a deputy registrar did not agree to officiate a same-sex marriage, an alternative registrar had to be assigned to conduct themarriage.[32] The bill receivedroyal assent by Deputy GovernorNick Pyle, acting for GovernorEd Davis, on 1 November and took effect on 15 December 2016.[33][34] The first same-sex marriage in Gibraltar was performed the following day at the Registry Office between Aaron Mills and Adrian Charles Triay-Dignam.[35][36]
| Party | Voted for | Voted against | Absent (Did not vote) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party | – | ||
| Gibraltar Social Democrats | – | ||
| Liberal Party of Gibraltar | – | – | |
| Independent | – | – | |
| Total | 15 | 0 | 2 |
| 88.2% | 0.0% | 11.8% |
The law introduced a new definition of married spouses in theMarriage Act 1948 as "includ[ing] opposite sex and same sex couples". It also amended theMatrimonial Causes Act 1962 to state that "in relation to a marriage of a same sex couple, a reference to a husband and wife shall be read as a reference to a husband and a husband or a wife and a wife, as applicable, and parties to a marriage shall be construed accordingly". TheMatrimonial Causes Act was also modified to state:[38]
"marriage" includes a reference to marriage of a same sex couple
In May 2017, a same-sex couple seeking to convert their civil partnership into a marriage were told todivorce first by authorities, who cited a lack of legislation for converting a civil partnership to a marriage. This occurred despite the Equality Rights Group confirming that such a provision existed in the law, and that the matter was simply one of excessive paperwork.[39][40] The law was officially amended in late 2019 so that deputy registrars are no longer able to opt-out of performing civil same-sex marriages. The amendment was assented by Governor Ed Davis and gazetted shortly thereafter.[41]
By October 2017, 39 same-sex marriages had taken place in Gibraltar, with 32 of these being between couples from overseas; 25 between two men and 7 between two women.[42]
Religious denominations are permitted to solemnise same-sex marriages. TheCivil Marriage Amendment Act 2016 provides that ministers may not be compelled by any means to carry out a same-sex wedding if this would violate their personal beliefs.[38]
TheMethodist Church of Great Britain has allowed its ministers to conduct same-sex marriages since 2021. The Methodist Conference voted 254 to 46 in favour of the move in June 2021. A freedom of conscience clause allows ministers with objections to opt out of performing same-sex weddings.[43][44] Reverend Fidel Patron of theGibraltar Methodist Church responded in July 2021 that the church was "not in a position to answer yet" as to whether the church would perform same-sex weddings.[45]
