[1][2] The Domestic Partnership Bill was introduced in 2017 after the Supreme Court of Bermuda ruled that homosexuals should have the same rights to marry as heterosexual couples, judicially legalising same-sex marriage.
[3] After the ruling, the Minister for Home Affairs, Walter Roban, brought the bill before the Bermuda House of Assembly designed to create a separate institution of unions for same-sex couples.
Governor John Rankin delayed granting consent in order to consult with the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
A debate in the British House of Commons, led by the Labour Party's Chris Bryant, called on the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to block the bill.
[34] Implementation was delayed owing to pending marriage licences and ceremonies due to be conducted in Bermuda or on Bermudan flagged ships.
[35] In July 2022, laws were passed within Bermuda to retrospectively backdate same-sex marriage legality formally prior to March 2022.