A top barrister has said she will not withdraw from a legal case defending traditional marriage, despite receiving “pressure in the form of abuse and threats”.
Dinah Rose QC is representing the Government of the Cayman Islands as it seeks to uphold the definition of marriage as being only between one man and one woman.
Activists have claimed that Rose’s involvement makes her unfit for her role as President of Magdalen College, Oxford – a position she was appointed to last year.
Case
In 2018, the Cayman Islands defended its Constitution from an attempt by LGBT activists to redefine marriage to include same sex couples.
The Islands Government won its case at the Court of Appeal, but was told the Constitution obliged them to provide the equivalent legal protection to same-sex couples.
Activists have now appealed the case to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
Threats
Rose shared how she and Magdalen have been threatened over her legal representation for the Cayman Government.
One critic, former judge Edwin Cameron, accused Rose of representing a “homophobic case to deny LGBTIQ persons in the Cayman Islands equal rights”.
He added that if Rose did not “donate the fees she has already received from the case” to “shelter…Caribbean people from homophobic violence” she should resign as Magdalen’s president.
Legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg wrote in his blog: “A source at the college predicted that its governing body would not give in to blackmail.”
‘Fundamental principle’
Responding to Cameron’s comments, Rose stated that she has no intention of leaving the case.
The highly-respected barrister said: “It is a vital component of the administration of justice and the rule of law that barristers should not be identified with the views or positions of their clients. Otherwise, barristers who are instructed in controversial cases may be subject to abuse and harassment, and deterred from taking them on.”
Rose was also supported by the barrister opposing her in the case, Edward Fitzgerald QC, who said “It is an important constitutional principle that barristers should not be identified with the clients they represent.”
Dinah Rose represented the late Lillian Ladele in her case, supported by the CI, when Islington Council forced her out of her marriage registrar job because of her Christian beliefs about marriage. She has also argued cases on behalf of LGBT clients.
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