A group staunchly opposed to same-sex marriage has organised an online petition against it.

Describing themselves as concerned citizens from a wide cross-section of Bermuda, Preserve Marriage in Bermuda cited a poll from May of this year by Profiles of Bermuda that showed 58 per cent of voters were against same-sex marriage.

The group seeks to ensure that “marriage remains defined and upheld as a special union between a man and a woman”.

The issue has been in the public eye throughout the month, with the Ministry of Community, Culture and Sports hosting two well-attended town hall meetings. The public’s opinions are being solicited until the month’s end.

Acknowledging at an October 1 meeting that the Island was “split” on an emotive issue, minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin said the Bermuda Government would announce its next step on the issue after the deadline for submissions.

The petition is not the first of its kind: the Government resolved to explore the issue, with “frank and honest dialogue”, after a petition calling for same-sex marriage to be legalised was presented with more than 1,800 signatures. As of yesterday, the opposing petition had garnered several hundred signatures.