Bermuda has become the first country in the world to repeal legislation allowing same-sex couples to marry.
The British Overseas Territory had allowed couples of the same gender to marry since May 2017, but now a law has been put into force in its place establishing domestic partnerships.
Critics called the move an unprecedented rollback of civil rights.
Minister of home affairs Walton Brown said the legislation signed by governor John Rankin seeks to balance opposition to same-sex marriage on the socially conservative island while complying with European court rulings that ensure recognition and protection for same-sex couples in the territory.
Bermuda’s Senate and House of Assembly passed the new legislation by wide margins in December and a majority of voters opposed same-sex marriage in a referendum.
“The act is intended to strike a fair balance between two currently irreconcilable groups in Bermuda, by restating that marriage must be between a male and a female while at the same time recognising and protecting the rights of same-sex couples,” Mr Brown said.
LGBTQ civil rights groups said domestic partnerships amounted to a second-class status and it was unprecedented for a jurisdiction to take away the legal right to marriage after it had been granted.
"Governor Rankin and the Bermuda parliament have shamefully made Bermuda the first national territory in the world to repeal marriage equality," said Ty Cobb, director of Human Rights Campaign Global.
Couples in a registered domestic partnership will now have “equivalent” rights to those of married heterosexual couples, including the right to make medical decisions on behalf of one’s partner, Mr Brown said in a statement issued by the government.
About a half dozen same-sex marriages that took place in Bermuda between when they were legalised by a court ruling in May 2017 and the repeal are recognised under the new law. – AP