A lesbian couple are raising money so they can fight for the right to get married in the Cayman Islands

A lesbian couple are fighting to set a legal precedent for same-sex couples to get married in the Cayman Islands.

Chantelle Day and Vickie Bodden Bush applied for the right to be married in the Cayman Islands on Monday, but had their application rejected due to the fact that they are a same-sex couple.

Chantelle, who is from the Cayman Islands and is also a British citizen, has decided to send up a GoFundMe page with her partner Vickie so that she can fight for the right to be married in her home country.

“It’s funny, because they do actually recognise same-sex unions for foreigners in the Islands,” said Chantelle to PinkNews.

“That alone is completely unjust. They’re turning down Caymanian same-sex marriages from abroad and rejecting the recognition of those when they’ve set the precedent and recognised it for expatriates.

“Vickie and I’s preference was to take the significant step and have this wonderful wedding day. But this special day now has to become this demoralising fight to be recognised in the Cayman Islands, and doing it that way around is tough,” she explained.

“Whenever we want it, it’s all behind us, we can go off and have our wedding and the day that we envisioned, and not have to have any sort of legal consent overshadowing it,” she added.

Vickie and Chantelle

Chantelle and her wife-to-be want the option to settle in the Cayman Islands, and believe that without the right to marry, they will be viewed as second-class citizens.

“No-one wants to be considered a second-class citizen in their own country. Until you’re in that position you don’t really realise how personal it is, to be rejected from your home country. When your fellow citizens don’t see you as their equal, that’s obviously not true of all Caymanians,” she said.

It has been legal to be gay in the Islands since 2001. Although that legalisation process only took place seventeen years ago, Chantelle said that she is one of many people who think it’s time for LGBT+ rights to move forward in the country.

“I’ve received an outpouring of support from many, many people across all age groups, and across all demographics. I think that’s really encouraging. I think a lot of people believe that Cayman is not ready for equal rights for the LGBT+ community. I think that’s not true. There are just some louder voices that have their views but that’s not the case.