Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar, as part of its consultative process, is soon to engage with representative groups and many of the individuals who responded to the Command Paper for Consultation on Equal Marriage.

The Command Paper, which was published in December of last year, on the possibility of legalising civil marriage between same sex couples attracted significant public interest and comment across our community and HM Government now wishes to pursue in further detail direct interaction with various groups and individuals on representations made to the Command Paper. The standard time frame of two weeks, which is the norm for Command Papers, was later extended to three weeks due to the Christmas break and the extent of public interest in this matter.

In total there were 3490 responses, some from multi-signatory groups, some by means of petitions and some as individuals.

An Inter-Ministerial Committee has now been established to listen to the views of the various groups and many of the individuals who expressed a view on this subject.

The Inter-Ministerial Committee will comprise:

The Hon Gilbert Licudi

The Hon Samantha Sacramento

The Hon Neil Costa

The Hon Albert Isola

In line with a commitment made in last year’s GSLP/Liberal Manifesto, the Committee will report its findings back to Cabinet by the June of this year.

The Chief Minister, the Hon Fabian Picardo QC, said: "This is an issue which has raised controversy in some sections of our Community and which deserves our careful consideration as a Government so that we may fully understand the concerns of people on all sides of the arguments. We want to respectfully consider the positions which have been put to us in writing on this subject and will do so with a cross section of the Cabinet."