O'Connor-Connolly currently serves as the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Cayman Brac East,serving her seventh term in the Parliament of the Cayman Islands.
First elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1996,she is the first woman to represent the Sister Islands. Born and raised on Cayman Brac,she first pursued a career in teaching but later received a law degree from the University of Liverpool through the Truman Bodden Law School and was a practising attorney before entering politics.
In 1997 O'Connor-Connolly became Cayman's first female minister when she was chosen to fill a vacancy on Executive Council as the Minister of Community Affairs,Sports,Women,Youth and Culture. O'Connor-Connolly had previously served as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly from November 2001 to October 2003.
From October 2003 to April 2005 she served as Minister for Planning,Communications,District Administration and Information Technology. During her tenure,Hurricane Ivan devastated the island in September 2004. O'Connor-Connolly was a minister in within the government whose collective decision at that time was to turn away two British warships that had arrived the day after the storm with supplies. This decision was met by outrage from the Islanders who thought that it should have been their decision to make.
Following one term in the opposition benches. O'Connor-Connolly was elected Deputy Premier during the Cayman Islands general election in 2009,and in addition to assuming the post of Deputy Premier,she served as Minister of District Administration,Works,Lands and Agriculture. In 2012 O'Connor-Connolly assumed the post of Premier of the Cayman Islands she also served as Minister of Finance,District Administration,Works,Lands and Agriculture.
O'Connor-Connolly was the first-ever female Premier of the Cayman Islands,serving as Premier of from 19 December 2012 until 29 May 2013.[1] Prior to becoming Premier,she was the territory's Deputy Premier serving from November 2009 until December 2012.[2]
During debate in the Legislative Assembly,following the same-sex marriage ruling by Chief Justice Anthony Smellie on 29 March 2019,[5] O'Connor-Connolly described the day of the ruling as "black Friday" for the Cayman Islands. She encouraged Caymanians to do what they could to object to the planned wedding between two women,even to the point of interrupting the wedding itself.[6] The Education Minister had used the morning prayer before the debate to refer to "cruise passengers with alternative lifestyles" causing the streets of George Town to resemble Sodom and Gomorrah.[7]
The education minister has been a fervent opponent of the Domestic Partnership Bill and any legislation that supported same-sex couples' right to a private life;describing it as "this evil that is being forced upon us". She was one of two Cabinet ministers who voted against the legislation brought by government in July to address the longstanding breach by the Caymanian authorities of Cayman's Bill of Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.[8]
Following the 2021 Cayman Islands general election,she again crossed the floor to align with a group of independents to form a government on the morning before Parliament had its first sitting,citing that "her constituents have expressed in no uncertain terms that Cayman Brac and Little Cayman need a Minister in the Government".[9] This was her second switch of party allegiance to avoid the loss of a cabinet position.
The CaymanIslands is a self-governing British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The 264-square-kilometre (102-square-mile) territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located south of Cuba and north-east of Honduras, between Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. The capital city is George Town on Grand Cayman, which is the most populous of the three islands.
The Cayman Islands are a British overseas territory located in the Caribbean that have been under various governments since their discovery by Europeans. Christopher Columbus sighted the Cayman Islands on May 10, 1503, and named them Las Tortugas after the numerous sea turtles seen swimming in the surrounding waters. Columbus had found the two smaller sister islands and it was these two islands that he named "Las Tortugas".
The Cayman Islands is a parliamentary representative democratic dependency. As a British Overseas Territories, Charles III is the head of state. The Premier of the Cayman Islands is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government, legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of the Cayman Islands. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
William McKeeva Bush, is a Caymanian politician, former Speaker of the Parliament of the Cayman Islands and former Premier of the Cayman Islands. Bush, the former leader of the Cayman Democratic Party, is the elected member for the constituency of West Bay West. He is the territory's longest ever serving political figure with service spanning over 35 years, previously serving his tenth term in the Parliament of the Cayman Islands.
The Cayman Democratic Party, formerly known as the United Democratic Party, was a political party in the Cayman Islands formed in late 2001 and collapsed in February 2021.
The Premier of the Cayman Islands is the political leader and head of government. The post of premier in the Cayman Islands is the equivalent to chief minister or prime minister in other British Overseas Territories. It is the highest political level that can be attained within the British overseas territory. Prior to 2009, the position was known as Leader of Government Business.
The People's Progressive Movement is a political party in the Cayman Islands currently headed by Roy McTaggart.
Darwin Kurt Tibbetts, OBE is a Caymanian politician and former Leader of Government Business in the Cayman Islands. Tibbetts served as leader of the People's Progressive Movement party from August 2002 – February 2011. Tibbetts served as an elected member for the district of George Town, serving six terms in the Legislative Assembly of the Cayman Islands.
Sir Alden McNee McLaughlin Jr., is a Caymanian politician, former Premier of the Cayman Islands and current Speaker of Parliament of the Cayman Islands. McLaughlin previously served as leader of the People's Progressive Movement party from February 2011 – March 2021. McLaughlin is the elected member for the Red Bay Constituency in George Town, currently serving his sixth term in the Parliament of the Cayman Islands. He has been an elected representative in the Parliament of the Cayman Islands continuously since 2000.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the Cayman Islands may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female types of same-sex sexual activity are legal in the Cayman Islands. Despite anti-gay attitudes expressed by certain members of the government, social acceptance by the Caymanian public has been known to be some of the best in the Caribbean. Some have attributed this to the strong British influence in the territory.
General elections were held in the Cayman Islands on 22 May 2013. The incumbent United Democratic Party (UDP) government fell on a motion of non-confidence in December 2012 and was replaced by an interim government made up of former UDP members who formed the People's National Alliance (PNA). The main competition in the election was between the People's Progressive Movement (Progressives) and the UDP, with the PNA and a new political group the Coalition for Cayman (C4C) presenting an insufficient number of candidates to win a majority government.
Josephine Olivia Connolly MHA is a businesswoman and an elected member of the Turks and Caicos Islands House of Assembly. In February 2021 she won her all island seat for the third time and was appointed as a Minister in the new PNP Government.
Sybil Ione McLaughlin born Sybil Ione Bush, JP was a Caymanian politician who became the First Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Cayman Islands. She was declared a National Hero in 1996.
Islay Conolly, MBE was a Caymanian teacher and school administrator. Serving as a teacher and principal at various schools on the islands, she became Chief Education Officer in 1970. She was honored by the Caymanian government with the Spirit of Excellence Award during National Heroes Day and was first recipient of the Chamber of Commerce's Lifetime Achievement Award in Education. Conolly was honored as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1982 New Year Honours.
Tara Rivers is a Caymanian politician, currently the Minister of Financial Services and Home Affairs, and previously the Minister of Education.
Annie Huldah Bodden OBE was a Caymanian civil servant, lawyer, and politician. She was the first woman to serve in the Legislative Assembly of the Cayman Islands, of which she was a member from 1961 to 1964 and from 1965 to 1984.
Same-sex marriage is currently not recognised in the Cayman Islands. The island's statutory law limits marriage to different-sex couples. A lawsuit with the Grand Court successfully challenged this ban in March 2019; however, the Court of Appeal overturned the ruling in November 2019. Same-sex civil partnerships are legal following the enactment of the Civil Partnership Law, 2020 on 4 September 2020.
Moses Ian Kirkconnell III is a Caymanian politician and former Deputy Premier of the Cayman Islands. He is the member of Parliament of the Cayman Islands for Cayman Brac West and Little Cayman currently serving his fifth term. Kirkconnell is a member of the People's Progressive Movement party.
General elections were held in the Cayman Islands on 14 April 2021 to elect the 19 members of the Parliament. The elections were originally set to be held on 26 May, but Premier Alden McLaughlin asked Governor Martyn Roper to dissolve Parliament on 14 February, triggering early elections. The move was made in order to avoid a no-confidence motion against Speaker McKeeva Bush, who had received a two-month suspended jail sentence in December 2020 for assaulting a woman in February 2020.
Mary Jannet Lawrence is a Cayman politician who served as Speaker of the House during the last United Democratic Party administration. Lawrence is also a historian, educator, writer, mother of six and long-time resident of Bodden Town.
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