Cornerstone Bible Fellowship has denied rumours that it is behind a petition to prohibit same-sex marriage. However, it does support the petition.

Speaking yesterday, Senior Pastor Gary Simons said: “Cornerstone is actually not behind the marriage protection petition campaign, it is a cross section of concerned citizens in Bermuda that are behind it.

“It was thought we were because the website was registered from Cornerstone which was an error by the company — which since has been changed. Although we support the endeavour, along with many others, we are not behind it.”

According to the petition website, more than 6,800 people have signed the online petition, although an advertisement published in The Royal Gazette on Monday said the figure was more than 7,000.

Meanwhile a competing petition launched by Tony Brannon, calling for the legalisation of same-sex marriage, has garnered around 3,500 signatures.

A recent poll commissioned by The Royal Gazette found that 48 per cent of surveyed Bermudians were in favour of legalising same-sex marriage, while 44 per cent were against the motion and 7 per cent were unsure.