Errors in “rushed” law threaten to stall same-sex marriage

Wednesday 01 November 2017

A radical overhaul of the current marriage law, which would allow same-sex couples to finally wed after years of waiting, could be delayed again after a significant number of typos and errors were found in the draft law.

Islanders were originally promised that same-sex marriage would be possible in Jersey by the end of the year, but it emerged that this would not be the case during Pride; which ironically had been themed to celebrate the introduction of same-sex marriage across the Channel Islands.

The news, which was described as “extremely disappointing” by LGBTQ+ charity Liberate, led to strong criticism of the Chief Minister Senator Ian Gorst.  

In response, he finally brought forward plans for a new law that would pave the way for LGBTQ+ couples to legally marry last month. If approved by the States Assembly, couples will also be allowed to marry in outdoor spaces.

Pictured: This year's Pride celebrations were specially themed around same-sex marriage, after the Chief Minister promised that it would be brought in by the end of 2017. Charity Liberate said that they felt like they'd been pushed to the back of the queue after it was revealed that this would not be the case.

But mere weeks later, 24 changes were proposed – 17 of which were said to relate to “minor corrections” and five more significant ones, spanning sham marriages to protection for religious officials who wish to refrain from being involved in same-sex marriages.

Having spotted the changes, a Scrutiny Panel responsible for reviewing the law have since hit out at the work they described as being “unduly rushed and completed in haste.”

In a letter to the Chief Minister, Panel Chairman Deputy John Le Fondré criticised the “errors and oversights” in the draft law, as well as the fact that consultations on the law continued after it was lodged – contrary to usual practice.

“In the Panel’s view, lodging such significant legislative changes in this manner does not make for good law making,” he wrote.

Senator Gorst claimed, however, that he had already been aware that the law might later require changes when he first put it forward.

Pictured: Deputy John Le Fondré said that the large number of changes showed that the law had been "rushed" and "completed in haste" rather than properly thought through.

Speaking of the amendments, he commented: “Most are minor corrections or clarifications of the language and I am maintaining the proposition so that couples can book both open-air and same-sex weddings for spring 2018.”

The Panel have since argued that the debate on the new law – currently scheduled for 14 November – should be delayed, but the Chief Minister declined the request.

The new law, which will require 31 legislative changes, was already due to be reviewed by Scrutiny. The amendments will now also be considered, which could threaten to delay the project further if this takes a significant amount of time.

In the meantime, Scrutiny are also still asking to hear islanders’ views on the current marriage process and how it could be improved. The deadline for making a submission is this Friday.