Dear Sir,

When I landed in Bermuda for a three-day vacation, the first thing I noticed were the colourful hues of the houses. During the drive to my hotel, I subsequently learnt that Bermudians have the right to paint the walls of their houses whatever colour they choose. And perched atop Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, which I climbed to attempt to gain a new perspective on the island’s unique shape, I concluded that the resulting bold spectrum of colour was a central part of Bermuda’s beauty. This vibrancy has been reflected in many of the personal interactions I have had with Bermudians throughout my stay.

During a solo, exploratory walk along the Railway Trail, I passed a temporary sign encouraging citizens to vote in a referendum on “same-sex relationships” on June 23. I was struck by the last word — “relationships” — given that the referendum actually asked Bermudians if they were in support of same-sex marriage and civil unions.

Thanks to the Stubbs Bill, members of the LGBT population are no longer criminals here, but given the overwhelming “No” vote in Thursday’s referendum, many Bermudians seem to want to trade in the colours of a rainbow for a sterility as bland as a whitewashed roof.

I am a traveller from New York City who is passing through your island for a few days, and I am able to return to a country where the Government has finally decided that equal rights for all its people includes the LGBT community. But despite my transience here, I am a gay man and I will take your island’s discrimination via referendum home with me — not in my suitcase, but in my heart.

As Martin Luther King stated, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. Denying citizens the right to marry because of whom they love is the same discrimination that denies rights based on one’s gender or the colour of one’s skin.

To my LGBT brothers and sisters in Bermuda, know that you are not alone and that our community of love spans the breadth of the oceans as quickly as a ray of sun. And to those of you who voted against gay marriage, I hope you understand both the hurt you create and your complicity in its creation. May Bermuda embrace the different colours of love with the same zeal with which it paints it houses.

MATTHEW MCLEOD