Cayman’s lawmakers today voted nine votes to eight against passing the Domestic Partnership Bill, which would have given same-sex couples the right to enter into a union equivalent to marriage.

Immediately after the bill was defeated, Governor Martyn Roper issued a statement saying that he was “greatly concerned” that lawmakers had not passed the bill and that UK government ministers would look into the implications of the failure of the bill to pass.

He described this as a “sad day for the rule of law in the Cayman Islands”.

Following two and a half days of sometimes emotive debate, legislators took a vote on the bill around 1:15pm, moments after Premier Alden McLaughlin, who had introduced the proposed legislation on Monday, made his closing comment.

How the House would vote had become clear by Tuesday evening, and McLaughlin anticipated the outcome in his final remarks, saying it was a “disappointing end” to the bill. Read more via Cayman COmpass