A rally organised by local churches on Saturday against the legalisation of same-sex marriage attracted over a thousand people, who gathered in Heroes Square, George Town. Although the event slogan was “We love all people, but we say no to same sex”, there were numerous homophobic signs on display and many people condemned the LGBTI community. The rally came at the end of a polarizing two-week period, after Chief Justice Anthony Smellie legalised same-sex marriagefollowing a successful legal petition by Chantelle Day and Vickie Bodden, who had been refused a marriage licence because of their sexual orientation.

On 29 March the chief justice delivered his decision in the case after finding that Day and Bodden had been discriminated against by the government and that several of their rights, as set out in the Cayman Islands Constitution, were being violated.

Just five days later the government announced it would appeal and applied to the courts for a stay to reverse the chief justice’s decision to amend the Marriage Law to make it constitutional. Within a matter of days government was able to secure a hearing with the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal, which happened to be sitting for its spring session. Read more via CNS