Acting Premier, Walter Roban stated today: “Bermuda is a country with diverse opinions, ideologies and a history of strong spiritual convictions.
“We encourage everyone to be mindful of the diverse perspectives on our island and to seek peaceful, respectful and law abiding means of expressing points of view.”
Mr Roban’s statement comes the day after the head of the City of Hamilton – hosts of the first-ever Pride Parade in Bermuda – Mayor Charles Gosling’s statement.
In a statement released yesterday (August 26), Mayor Gosling said: “I used to be a defender of the traditional concept of marriage.
“It took my daughter challenging me as how I could explain to gay friends and associates on why they cannot enjoy the same rights I have in life and in death which led to changing my outlook.
“This woke me to the fact that I was being selfish in what I had achieved through simply being one of many and was unwilling to share with people different than me,” he said.
“I was being a hypocrite, dishonest to people I cared about.
“Bermuda suffers greatly from a shared history of restricting rights from people different from ourselves; others being based on race, sex, countries of origin and subtler community-construed differences.
“We should be ensuring every Bermudian has the rights enshrined in our Constitution, especially that which is mentioned first; the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual,” he added.
City officials also announced that there will be no full road closures during the parade on Saturday, a “rolling road closure” system will be used instead.
Parade events are scheduled to begin at 9am at Victoria Park, the parade is scheduled to get underway at 11am, and is expected to last for “approximately an hour and a half”.
A spokesman said the “rolling road closure will be utilized to keep adverse impact to access and traffic flow throughout the City to a minimum”.
“Cones, barriers and signage will all be in place.”
