A same-sex couple’s application to marry remains “under review”, according to Michael Fahy, the Minister of Home Affairs.

However, Senator Fahy said that the Matrimonial Causes Act 1974 “makes it clear that a marriage other than between a man and a woman is void”.

The minister also said that language used in the latest ruling by Ian Kawaley, the Chief Justice, on a case involving a same-sex couple had “narrowed” the ramifications of his decision last month in the Bermuda Bred Case.

The Bermuda Bred Company, a group of binational same-sex couples, won the same rights to reside and seek employment as spouses of Bermudians in a decision by Dr Justice Kawaley on November 27.

That judgment, which can be read online, makes reference to “same-sex partners of persons who possess and enjoy Bermuda status, and who have formed stable relationships with such Bermudians”.

On Monday, the Chief Justice allowed a three-month suspension before the ruling would come into effect, on February 29 of 2016. Sen Fahy said the pause would give the Government time to look into administrative changes that would be required of the Department of Immigration to comply.

He said it would also allow time to consider “broader legislative response to the issues raised”.

Sen Fahy added that Dr Justice Kawaley had “limited the scope” of his declaration by extending spousal residential and employment rights to same-sex partners in a “permanent” relationship with a Bermudian — as opposed to the “stable” relationship that he referred to in his earlier decision.

According to the minister, this difference in terminology “narrows the effects of the judgment from what was originally understood to be the case”.