Centuries ago Britain not only ruled the waves but it also occupied half the globe with it’s once glorious empire.  Bit by bit as these countries and nations regained their independence there are still some anomalies  left today which make very little sense to every single non-Brit and most of the Brits too.  For example Queen Elizabeth is still queen of Australia and Canada to name but a few places where she is the Monarch.

Most of the former dominion have their own democracies and some 53 of them make up the (British) Commonwealth which is more of a political association.  The Member states have no legal obligations to one another, but they are united by English language, history, culture and their shared values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

Then there are the British Overseas Territories  made up of  14 nations that are still under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United Kingdom. They are remnants of the British Empire that have not been granted independence or have voted to remain British territories.  Where it gets even murkier/confusing is that most of them are internally self-governing, with the UK retaining responsibility for defence and foreign relations. 

Cayman Islands in the Caribbean is one of the B.O.T.  and with some  60,000 residents, it is the second-most populated British territory after Bermuda.  However unlike Bermuda which legalized same-sex marriage, the Cayman Islands is now in an uproar when a Court recently ruled that their ban on these marriages was totally illegal, so now the local Government are trying to get the judgement repealed.

Appeals to the British Government to intervene have been met with Prime Minister Theresa May’s usual stance of doing absolutely nothing useful and she says the UK will not intervene in what she calls a ‘domestic matter’ .  A sort of ‘we are only in charge when it suits us’. 

“We are working to encourage those Territories that have not put in place arrangements to recognize and protect same sex relationships, to do so, and continue to engage with all the Overseas Territories to ensure that their legislation is compliant with their international human rights obligations.”

That’s a tough a stance as Prime Minister May ever takes and now the Cayman islanders just have to sit by helplessly to see if the local government win the appeal to keep the ban in place