_.jpg "Sen. Judi Buckley")
Sen. Judi Buckley has introduced a bill to allow same-sex marriage in the U.S. Virgin Islands, but said she doesn’t expect the law to be passed before she leaves the Legislature in January 2015.
The legislative process and controversy over same-sex marriage legislation will delay passage of the law this year, she said.
In June 2013, the U. S. Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote ruled in U.S. v. Windsor that the federal government must recognize same-sex marriages that have been legalized by the states. The decision struck down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act , which had been law since 1996.
Since then the marriage equality movement has gathered steam. Legislatures in eight states have passed laws allowing same sex marriage or overturning laws forbidding it. In a ninth, Maine, voters approved the law change. And in state after state, district court judges have overturned state laws banning recognition of same-sex marriage, citing the high court’s Windsor decision.
Marriage equality is now recognized in 30 states – although in nine of those the court decisions have been appealed.
If Buckley has her way, the territory will join the list of U.S. jurisdictions in which marriage equality is recognized, and will do it on its own behalf rather than waiting for a court to order it.
“We can do it ourselves or let someone do it for us,” Buckley said.
Buckley’s proposed Civil Marriage Equality Act would define marriage as a “civil contract which may be entered into between two people in accordance with law,” rather than the current V.I. Code definition “between a male and female” only. If enacted, the new law would allow clergy to refuse to perform such ceremonies for any reason and gives territorial court clerks the power to legalize marriages when they issue marriage licenses. Divorces and annulments would be handled the same way as heterosexual couples under the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands.
Buckley said she “set aside the teachings she was raised with,” to write the legislation because soon after she was elected, many people asked her to “take it on.”
Since Buckley is not running for re-election, she will be out of office in January. Due to the slow process of moving legislation through the Senate, she said it is unlikely she will see it signed into law. According to Buckley, Gov. John deJongh, Jr. has indicated he would sign the legislation, but he will be out of office also.
In May, Buckley submitted her draft of the bill to the legislative legal department, where it will be reviewed and assigned a number. Next Senate President Shawn-Michael Malone will gather several other senators to assign it to a committee. It will be up to the committee chair to schedule hearings. If the committee approves the measure, it will forward the bill to the Rules and Judiciary Committee for discussion and finally to the full legislature for a vote. Then the governor signs or vetoes the legislation.
“I don’t know if this bill will see the light of day while I’m in office,” Buckley said.
The legal process can slow down the legislation and so can public sentiment. Several local pastors have voiced the belief that the Bible considers homosexuality a mortal sin, a violation of God’s law. Their public opposition goes back to 2004.
Most recently, the Rev. Dexter Skepple told an audience at the Frenchtown ball park the “order of God,” is a husband and a wife.
“Same sex marriage is not a human right, not a civil right,” Skepple said. “Could you imagine two men raising a baby? That’s disastrous. God has designed a husband and a wife to raise a child.”
Buckley said she is “disappointed” in the churches, because there are so many more serious issues to confront in the community.
“There are so many abominations – unpleasing to God – murder, HIV, domestic abuse, and they want to rise up over this,” she said.
A new group has formed to oppose marriage equality in the territory, One Voice Virgin Islands. It launched a campaign to gather 50,000 signatures on a petition urging the governor and Legislature to uphold the current law. The petition says "effeminacy and sexual acts between persons of the same gender are prohibited by Scripture and goes against their very purpose,” providing Biblical references.
As of Saturday, 363 people had signed the petition, although some names in the comments section are clearly fictitious. One Voice also has a Facebook page which has garnered 453 “likes.”
Proponents believe marriage equality is a civil and human right. Glenderlyn David, an educator with the V.I. Department of Education, has been with her partner since 2006 and they were married in 2011 in Washington D.C. She is pregnant with their first child, but because same-sex marriage is not legal in the territory, her spouse cannot be listed as “parent” on the birth certificate. They will have to establish legal guardianship after the child is born. David said it is “the height of ignorance” to think that gay couples can only raise gay children.
“If the logic or philosophy behind this way of thinking were true, then there should be no same-sex couples in existence today because heterosexual people would only raise heterosexual children,” she said.
David, like Buckley, is disturbed that the clergy seems to invoke the Bible only when same-sex marriage is the topic but not for murder, rape, abuse and other sins in the community.
Educator Patasha Tracey is also in favor of same-sex marriages as a human right and believes passage of the bill would create more two-parent homes and ultimately benefit the community.
“I support the bill because I am wholly in favor of every citizen having a right to equal protection under the law. To be against it would be to support discrimination. As we know, this country has a rich history of usurping rights from various groups for a myriad of reasons and as I would’ve opposed that practice then, I am staunchly in opposition to it now,” Tracey said.
In 2004, six St. Croix senators told a group of pastors and their followers at a town-hall meeting they would not support same-sex marriage. None of those senators hold office now so their opinion doesn’t indicate how the current slate of lawmakers will vote.
Here we go with this ignorance, just on a different subject. I’m not homophobic or against any man or woman who wants to choose their sexual path with the same gender as “partners”, frankly, to each his own. When a seated senator introduces/ shoves a bill across the senate floor to allow same sex marriage in the Virgin Islands, is preposterous. Then we have an educator saying this, and I quote ” Educator Patasha Tracey is also in favor of same-sex marriages as a human right and believes passage of the bill would create more two-parent homes and ultimately benefit the community”. Benefit to the community! really! Are you stinking kidding me! How does two men married to each other benefit the community? How does two women married to each other benefit the community? Then Sen. Buckley adds, “We can do it ourselves or let someone do it for us,” Buckley said. Again, are you stinking kidding me.
In my opinion, if they want to put a bill in place to ” benefit the community” how about writing a bill that makes it a little easier for locals to own and operate businesses, have more educational outlets for teens and high school graduates in the community, keep the upward bound programs fully funded, have stiffer penalties for gun crimes in the V.I., have stiffer penalties for crimes against women and children, etc. etc.
If Gay couples want to tie the knot, there many states that allow it, take a trip and have fun while they’re at it. This Judy Buckley should feel good that we don’t have a buggering law in the territory which bans homosexual acts like they do in Jamaica. What the hell would it benefit my growing sons seeing two men groping and fondling themselves in the streets or in public for that matter, name one? Don’t worry I’m waiting….
It’s a good thing that she is leaving office this year, but knowing these senators, all they are doing is readying themselves for some other position to push their agenda onto citizens in the territory. Folks who CHOOSE to be gay, certainly has that choice, go for it, but don’t bring in discrimination into the subject as a defense mechanism, it has no merit.
All I’m saying is this, introduce tangible bills which will restart the St. Croix economy, St. Thomas is doing just fine, and will continue to do so. The children of St. Croix are fighting an uphill battle, and are losing with no reinforcements. Personally I’m tired of the farcical and absurd actions coming out of the senate as a whole. It is laughable to hear and see the actions of these elected officials conjure up, and have the audacity to present it to us in a nicely wrapped package, nobody has time for that right now. I’m just sick to my stomach right now. In short, You all know what needs to be done, so do it!
Stand firm.
Stand Firm in Ignorance?
I am a gay male who had no “choice” in the matter no more than you had a choice in being straight.
I benefit the community with my taxes and my child is also being raised in a great manner. Me and my partner do not “grope” each other in public.
We want the same secular tax benefits and protections that other married couples have.
You have a very uneducated and narrow minded view of a topic that you seem to know nothing about! How can making marriage equal affect you? not at all but it affect many of those on the island have the same protections you have in your marriage.
Yes the courts will force it or the US government will change the law and drag those in the virgin islands kicking and screaming with bigoted comments and fears. Then what will be different, nothing will except gays can marry. the world wont end, everyone on the islands wont turn gay, your marriage wont be destroyed, no orgies in the streets, only gay folks will have equal protections under the law.
My husband and I got married this year after 28 years of happiness together…….the earth didn’t move, the planets stayed in alignment – and no children were damaged…amazing. And! Our marriage was sanctified by God Himself in the presence of the Holy Spirit and witnessed by Jesus. Yes, Sir, that is right, we are loving Christians. Oh, and if you want to quote that Bible passage, I sure hope you don’t cut your hair or wear clothes of mixed fabric (doing so is an abomination)…because if you are going to take one passage from that chapter literally you must take it all.
Some people embraced the end of slavery and some people still complain it is over; but, thankfully, most people have come around! So too with gay marriage, the VI can get on the train or be dragged by it like a screaming child….that is the only ‘choice’ being made on this topic.
I read this comment in a Daily News article and recoiled in horror at the ignorance and waste of a young life. The man’s quote was: “My son used to be gay, but I beat it out of him. 2 weeks later he killed himself. If we keep being gay legal more kids may choose to be gay and eventually kill themselves,” the person said, citing a Bible passage from the Book of Leviticus.
He “beat the gayness” out of his son and does not recognize that he and he, alone, was responsible for his son’s suicide due his lack of love and acceptance? What a pathetic and sick individual to do such a thing to his child.
What is wrong with these people?
People don’t chose to be gay!
Maybe these homophobes should concern themselves with promoting love and acceptance for their brothers and sisters who are made in God’s image instead of promoting fear, hostility and hatred. It is astonishing to see so much of it coming from so-called religious groups.
It quite sickens me at the complete and total hypocrisy of these groups of people.
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
Shanek, it’s evident that you didn’t understand what I wrote, but that’s quite alright, it’s my opinion. As I’ve said before, it’s your business if you’re LGBT or what have you, that’s you. My stance on the Buckley bill is that there are more important issues to be dealing with, for example, the economy and how to improve the territory , our children’s education, the stinking gun crimes, crimes against women and children!
You are a selfish individual in your thoughts and wants, you basically want special treatment because of your sexual preference. You write about benefiting the community with your taxes, so is the next working man. You write about raising your child in a great manner, so is the next man who can with what he has in these times. I’m pretty sure that you would welcome the courts or the government to impose laws which allows gay marriages in the territory, and “drag those in the Virgin Islands kicking and screaming with bigoted comments and fears”.
Don’t you generalize me and assume that I’m ignorant or have an uneducated and narrow minded view about this subject. I’ve never claimed to have intimate knowledge about it. My views on the subject are simple and to the point. Preset a bill which allows the territory to grow economically, make education after high school more easily accessible to the youths, be it University or technical schooling and training, revamp the laws on gun crimes and crimes against women and children before presenting a bill which allows gay marriages in the Virgin Islands’ it’s that simple.
Sir, if you want to get married to your partner right now, take a trip to the states and come back as a married couple, continue with your happy life, Jah bless you and yours, but don’t try to convince me that there are beneficial gains for allowing gay marriages in the Virgin Islands. As I’ve said before, it’s my opinion and I’ve got my rights to think so.
Stand firm.
I will like to ask the senator and all those who think it’s right for same sex to be married or to raise a child.
If it was so right in your eyes, would you be here today?
The last time I checked, it takes a man and a woman to make a child so how will you reproduce in the way it was meant to be which is a man and a woman having sex?
There will be no more seeds to plant. It will be okay because of science for a woman to get pregnant but what about the males?
I think by a gay couple raising a child, it’s taking away the rights of that child because that child have no say.
For the educator and the employee in department of education, I wonder what is being taught to the kids.
Do what you want with your life but stop advertising it.
For the person the comment on you and your partner not groping in public, can you speak for some of the others who are doing it?
People out there, please be concern who you leave your kids around.
henry031,
You show more ignorance on the issue than the first comment.
About 10 percent of the population is gay according to studies. They are born that way. They have no choice in their sexual attractions no more than you do.
Let me as you, could you ever see yourself in a same sex relationship? I suspect the answer grosses you out and would definitely be a no. You cannot change who someone is attracted to. period.
Unfortunately, children aren’t given an option of who their parents are. What about all the children whos parents abuse them? Your hold statement about children has no merit or even makes any sense.
Do you really think gay people are teaching children to be gay? No they are not. It is insane to even think that. No one is “converting” children. That statement doesn’t even stand up to any logical argument.
As far as groping, how many straight people do you see groping in public? I have seen quite a bit in my life. So that fear is completely ridiculous.
As far as watch who you leave your children with, I agree that people should watch who they leave them with or who they are around. For the record, most child molesters are “straight and men”. Check out the last week of this paper and see that at least 3 stories about straight men molesting children. I don’t think every straight man out there molests children but if I did then it would follow your thought process about gay people.
Stop trying to scare people and look at the real results of gay marriage. Many states have passed it and what has happened in those states? nothing. absolutely nothing except gay folks can get married. Scare tactics only work for so long and then people start to realize the truth and then you will feel very silly.
And finally do you know one gay person in your life? Can you really condemn a whole segment of society based on ignorance and fear?
STC_voice
I agree there are important matters that need to be addressed but what special treatment am I asking for? The same right to marry and get protections/benefits of marriage? I am asking for the same thing other married couples get. nothing selfish or special about it.
Good luck with your opinion. Yes I got exactly what you wrote ” What the hell would it benefit my growing sons seeing two men groping and fondling themselves in the streets or in public for that matter, name one?”
The law is nothing about that. How does allowing marriage equality have anything to do with that statement? I don’t know if you know it but there are a lot of gay folks in the VI. Are we all groping in the streets?
How does that statement have anything to do with economic gains or anything else. That statement shows your view of the topic.
If you are going to comment on a thread about something you should really educate yourself on the topic rather than throwing statements around when you have no idea what you are even saying.
You did not answer the most important question about being in the world today if you had to depend on same sex.
You have good points about straight people and that’s a fact. I don’t care if gay people wants to go with each other but please stop advertising it and stop involving kids in it.
Please don’t adopt kids, they should have a right to choose and not let people choose for them. I have seen some people born a certain way and I can’t argue that but there are a lot who force the fact. How will you feel if you are straight and a gay person is making a pass at you or saying that they will make a pass at your child?
Straight people have the right to grope because a man and woman is the way.
I don’t hate gay people, the advertising needs to stop.
Stop telling people that they are ignorant because that’s your only defense.
I have nothing more to say than to also be aware if what you drink and give your kids like Soy Milk which contains the hormones of a female. All baby formulas now have Soy so keep being experimented on.
I am now seeing male dogs having sex with each other and again, what does dry dog food now contains?
Shanek,
out of everything I’ve written all you took out of it is chatter of two men groping and fondling themselves in the public. I’ll continue to say, think and feel that you are selfish in your thoughts and wants.
You speak of wanting rights and privileges that man and woman have as a natural married couple, but your main movement is not even a sexual liberation movement, as was the gay movement before, but a moral revolution aimed at changing people’s view of homosexuality. As I’ve written before, I’m not homophobic, nor am I ” gay bashing”, “spreading fear and propaganda”, I feel that our community of over 50,000 citizens and a territory of over 100,000 people have a bigger battle to fight.
You may continue to fool yourself and other people about your ” fight and pledge”, I’m going to continue with my opinions.
Stand firm.
It is the tone that you took and that statement points out your intentions of why you posted, and according to your posting it is not about other issues it is about your dislike of marriage equality.
The main issue is that you see it as a choice and I wasn’t give a choice in being gay just the same as you were not given a choice to be straight.
A “natural” married couple is more a religious terminology. No gay couple wants to force a church to marry them, no one wants to be where they are not wanted. A married couple is a social contract that two people are in together according to secular law. I am not selfish for wanting to have the same protections that “straight couples” have. Is it selfish that I want my partner to have protections that the law provides for a married couple? no it is not. Yes ultimately the courts will decide because in issues of discrimination typically the “will of the people” is to continue to discriminate. for example Loving v. Virginia.
I just hope that you are not selfish and put as much of your opinion to work on those other issues to make those happen because this issue will go through, maybe not today but it will go through.
I’m always amazed at how deep the stupid end of a very shallow gene pool can be.