The charitable status of a group campaigning to stop same-sex marriage and civil partnerships in Bermuda will be up for review in two weeks.

Preserve Marriage has applied to renew the probationary status it was granted a year ago by the Charity Commissioners, after 31 people submitted letters of objection.

The Commissioners took note of the application at a meeting yesterday afternoon and are expected to discuss it in full at their next meeting, probably on April 4. Preserve Marriage’s present charitable status expires on April 5.

News of the application for renewal comes as the organisation’s activities attract overseas attention, with an article appearing on March 15 in the Nonprofit Quarterly, a Bostonian -based journal focused on the public sector.

The piece — entitled “Beware Bermuda’s Pink Triangle: Anti-Marriage Equality Group Granted Charity Status” — describes Preserve Marriage’s ideology as “standard fare for what’s considered the religious right in the United States, with its tried- and-true testamentary tone”.

Preserve Marriage’s stated aim is to ensure marriage remains “as a special union ordained by God between a man and a woman, because of its impact on society”.

It has been at the forefront of efforts to prevent same-sex couples from obtaining the right to marry in Bermuda, campaigning against such a move when a referendum was held on the issue last June and intervening in an ongoing civil case involving a gay couple who wish to wed here.

The group, a registered company since December 29, 2015, first applied for charitable status early last year, not long after complying with a request from the Charity Commissioners to remove an online appeal for campaign funds from its website.

It was successful in getting status, despite the 31 objections, which were released under public access to information legislation earlier this month.

The NPQ article, written by Louis Altman, an attorney and a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, says Preserve Marriage was given charitable status “despite its open politicking seeking legislative change and intervention in a key court case, which inspired vocal opposition to its successful application”.

The Registrar-General and the Charity Commissioners are not required under the law to give the public notice of applications for charitable status.

But the Charities Act 2014 does list, as two of their objectives, increasing public trust and confidence in charities and promoting awareness and understanding of the legal requirement for charities to have a public benefit.

Status was granted last year after Preserve Marriage successfully argued that its educational work qualified as a “public benefit”.

The Rainbow Alliance of Bermuda, which says it is committed to creating a safe space for LGBTQ people and their allies on the island, called unsuccessfully for an immediate reversal of the decision, insisting: “There is no long-term public benefit from their campaigning, which is also political in nature.”

Preserve Marriage chairman Melvyn Bassett would not comment on the renewal-of-status application when this newspaper spoke to him yesterday, other than to say he did not consider the matter to be worthy of a story.

Our last article on the organisation, when the 31 objections were released under Pati, prompted an unsigned e-mail from the board of Preserve Marriage to this newspaper.

It stated: “Can you please give it a rest? It will be greatly appreciated.”

Richard Ambrosio, chairman of the Charity Commissioners, referred this newspaper to the Government’s Department of Communication and Information for comment yesterday.

Since March 9, DCI has failed to respond to three requests for information on the matter.

Last year, those wishing to comment on Preserve Marriage’s charity application were advised to e-mail charityinfo@gov.bm.

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