October 24, 2016 – Nassau, The Bahamas – Statement by the Registrar General Department on the Marriage Act

Statements in relation to the performance in The Bahamas of a same sex marriage over the weekend have come to the attention of the Registrar General.

In The Bahamas, the Department of the Registrar General is the Government agency of record responsible for issuing marriage licenses. The Registrar General’s Department has never issued a license for a same sex marriage to be solemnized in The Bahamas.

The Matrimonial Causes Act legislates that a marriage shall be void if the parties are not respectively male and female. Accordingly, any ceremony conducted in The Bahamas, purporting to join in marriage two persons of the same sex would not be recognized as a marriage in accordance with the laws of The Bahamas.