Two polar research ship crew members were set to become the first same-sex couple to get married in the British Antarctic Territory.
Eric Bourne and Stephen Carpenter hoped to tie the knot yesterday, although the service could be pushed back because of the weather.
Bourne and Carpenter have been together for 20 years. They work on the Royal Research Ship Sir David Attenborough, one of the most advanced polar research ships in the world, and one which that came perilously and unforgettably close to being called “Boaty McBoatface.”
The wedding was to be performed by the ship’s captain, Will Whatley, at the British Antarctic Survey’s (BAS) main research station at Rothera on Adelaide Island, a place shared with numerous Adelie penguins and Weddell seals.
The pair are experienced seafarers and have traveled the world together on a variety of ships.
“Antarctica is such an incredible place. We have been together for 20 years, but now we’ve both been to Antarctica together, it felt like the perfect place for us to finally tie the knot,” Carpenter said. “We’ve even had the coordinates of the wedding location engraved into our rings.”
Bourne said they were both very proud to be the first.
“BAS is such a welcoming and accepting employer, and we feel very lucky to be able to live and work in such an incredible community and place together,” he said.
The BAS said the couple’s big day “will mark a historic step for diversity and inclusion in polar science.”
The marriage was to be registered with the British Antarctic Territory government and would be valid in the UK.
It is the second marriage to take place between BAS staff since the law was changed in 2016 to make such events easier.
The ceremony was due to be attended by the 30 crew of the RRS Sir David Attenborough, followed by a reception with about 100 staff from the research station. Food was to be prepared by the station’s chef, while the facility’s resident band would provide the music.
The couple said they were planning a second celebration for family and friends in Spain.
PARLIAMENT CHAOS: Police forcibly removed Brazilian Deputy Glauber Braga after he called the legislation part of a ‘coup offensive’ and occupied the speaker’s chair Brazil’s lower house of Congress early yesterday approved a bill that could slash former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in parliament. Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year term since last month after his conviction for a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election. Lawmakers had been discussing a bill that would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat — opening up the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could have his sentence cut to
China yesterday held a low-key memorial ceremony for the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) not attending, despite a diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Tokyo over Taiwan. Beijing has raged at Tokyo since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last month said that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Japan. China and Japan have long sparred over their painful history. China consistently reminds its people of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, in which it says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in what was then its capital. A post-World War II Allied tribunal put the death toll
‘UNWAVERING ALLIANCE’: The US Department of State said that China’s actions during military drills with Russia were not conducive to regional peace and stability The US on Tuesday criticized China over alleged radar deployments against Japanese military aircraft during a training exercise last week, while Tokyo and Seoul yesterday scrambled jets after Chinese and Russian military aircraft conducted joint patrols near the two countries. The incidents came after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi triggered a dispute with Beijing last month with her remarks on how Tokyo might react to a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan. “China’s actions are not conducive to regional peace and stability,” a US Department of State spokesperson said late on Tuesday, referring to the radar incident. “The US-Japan alliance is stronger and more
FALLEN: The nine soldiers who were killed while carrying out combat and engineering tasks in Russia were given the title of Hero of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a welcoming ceremony for an army engineering unit that had returned home after carrying out duties in Russia, North Korean state media KCNA reported on Saturday. In a speech carried by KCNA, Kim praised officers and soldiers of the 528th Regiment of Engineers of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) for “heroic” conduct and “mass heroism” in fulfilling orders issued by the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea during a 120-day overseas deployment. Video footage released by North Korea showed uniformed soldiers disembarking from an aircraft, Kim hugging a soldier seated in a wheelchair, and soldiers and officials
RSS