In response to a March 12 written ruling of a case between the TCI Immigration Department and the Attorney General and a married gay couple Richard Sankar and Timothy Hamon which decided that indeed they were discriminated against by the department, former premier Micheal Misick had some explosive thoughts and is now demanding a course of action.
He spoke to Magnetic Media on Wednesday March 13 after posting a stinging accusation on Facebook.
“I have known Richard Sanker for more than 20 years. I knew him when he worked for Prestigious Properties, I knew him when he first came to the islands, him and his partner.
As far as I know Richard has always been gay and there’s nothing wrong with being gay. For me it’s not about the fact that he’s gay. The fact he married a woman who he never lived a day with and imagined never being consummated and so therefore he obtained his status through fraud. The fact that he obtained his status through fraud means that the issuing of the status has to be nullified and void. Therefore I call on the government to revoke the status of Richard Sanker because he got it based on fraud. He married a Turks and Caicos woman for status knowing that he was gay. The marriage has never been consummated and now he marries a man and wants to give that man status. I thought I called on the government after revoking the status of Richard Sanker, they have to deport him so that he can never set foot in this country again. This is making a mockery out of our system and country. If this is allowed to stand it is setting a terrible precedent that anyone can become married through fraud and then get a status and pass it on l, divorce a Turks and Caicos Islander and marry someone else and then pass it on to them. This cannot be allowed to stand and so the government has to do something about it to protect the public interest and the interest of TC Islanders in general.”
In the ruling, the court found that the denial to a same sex couple of a right to marry and hence a right to have an overseas same sex marriage recognised in the TCI was not discriminatory.
The judge did not grant a change to the marriage ordinance but Justice Anthony Gruchot ruled the limiting of the grant of a spousal resident permit to only heterosexual couples is discriminatory.
