John Rankin

In February 2018, Rankin signed into law the Domestic Partnerships Act 2018, which effectively reversed the right of gay couples to marry. This made Bermuda the first jurisdiction to legalise and then repeal same-sex marriage rights. The law relating to same-sex marriage in Bermuda could change again, as the Supreme Court stated in June 2018 that repealing same-sex marriage rights was discriminatory and thus contrary to section 12 of the Bermuda Constitution.

Rankin was educated at Hutchesons' Boys' Grammar School, the University of Glasgow, where he gained a first class honours degree in Scots law and later at McGill University he gained a master's degree in international law. He qualified and practised as a solicitor in Scotland and was a lecturer in public law at the University of Aberdeen before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1988. Between posts at the FCO he served at the embassy in Dublin and was the consul-general at Boston. He took up his appointment as High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and non-resident High Commissioner to the Maldives in February 2011. In 2015 he moved to be Ambassador to the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. He was sworn in as Governor of Bermuda on 5 December 2016.

He was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 2016 New Year Honours.

John James Rankin, CMG (born 12 March 1957) is a British diplomat and a former ambassador to Nepal. He has been Governor of Bermuda since December 2016.