South Africa’s highest court has ruled that same sex marriages must be considered the same under the law as heterosexual marriages. The ruling makes South AFrica the fifth country to remove legal barriers to gay and lesbian unions. The winds of change are ablowin’.
Meanwhile, the rightwing in the U.S. is still trying to push us in the opposite direction. No doubt the new-look Bush court featuring Roberts and Alito would rule against gay marriage in the U.S. And with the GOP very weak heading into ’06, I’m sure we will see a huge anti-gay push by the right in order to get the fanatics and bigots out to the polls next November.
Details on the South Africa ruling are after the break.
Link
… the Constitutional Court said the refusal to give legal status to gay marriages, though grounded in common law, violated the Constitution’s guarantee of equal rights. The justices said marriage laws must be amended to include the words “or spouse” alongside provisions that now refer to “husbands” and “wives.”
The decision was essentially unanimous, with one of the court’s 12 judges arguing that the ruling should take effect immediately rather than being stayed.
There it is, plain and simple: a ban on gay marriage violates equal rights.
… the court stayed its ruling for a year to give Parliament time to amend a 1961 marriage law to reflect its decision. Should the legislature balk, the court said, the law will be automatically changed to make it conform with the ruling.
Few expect Parliament to resist, even though Africans are generally intolerant of gay relationships and many South Africans are conservative on social issues. Among political factions here, only the tiny African Christian Democratic Party, whose positions carry a strong religious undercurrent, called for a constitutional amendment to bar gay marriages.
The African National Congress, which controls the presidency and more than two-thirds of Parliament’s seats, was silent on the court’s decision.
So even in a land of bigotry, the court made the correct legal ruling. Dare we hope for the same thing here?
I do dare hope so… And thank you for this. I will be passing it along to my friend who once lived there.
I am really glad to learn of this. And it removes a misconception that I had – that South-Africa was a rather prejudiced society.
wasn’t that the most amazing thing to hear? I have to confess that I never even knew the issue was on the horizon in South Africa… and if I did, I wouldn’t have predicted this outcome.
We are certainly falling behind here in the US… just not in material matters (yet).
The Freedom Constitution in South Africa is one of the most progressive anywhere. It specifically mentions gay equality as it was formulated in the context of the drafters not wishing to allow discrimination of any sort because of their own experience.
You might also like to note that the first fully recognised registration cermonies for civil parnerships (gay weddings) will take place on 21 December in Britain. The ungainly phrase conceals the reality that these are marriages in all but name. You may recall that the legislation went through last year. The delay has been to modify all of the regulations where “spouse” etc has had to be changed to add “or civil partner”.
That includes things like pension arrangements and even welfare benefits which actually mean a reduction in the amount civil partners might receive. The state (national) pension has rates for single people and couples. Previously a gay couple would get two single person’s pensions which total more than the couple’s rate. Similar provisions apply to things like unemployment benefit. The regulations are also in place for the dissolution of a partnership, including provisions for any children of the partnership.
On the up side, members of the armed services will now be eligible to apply for “married quarters” accommodation once they register a partnership.
BTW, the differences in the ceremony are slight, just that the registration ceremonies cannot be performed in churches. They are fre to bless the partnership but the couple cannot sign the register (which is similar to most US states’ licences). Elton John is planning to marry his long time partner David Furnish on 21 December and George Michael has announced he plans a ceremony with his partner next year. That will be interesting as his partner is Texan so presumably he will get automatic rights to live in the UK but George will not get the same for the USA
Unfortunately, a progressive constitution does not necessarily mean a progressive citizenry. If it did, we in the U.S. would not be having the fights we are currently having with the right wing. Or maybe the problem is that our constitution was progressive, but has fallen behind the times.
The encouraging thing is that the justices in South Africa ruled correctly under the law in spite of the feelings of a majority of citizens. Our own Supreme Court here in the U.S. did the same thing many times in the second half of the 20th century. Now that most of society has caught up to those rulings, BushCo wants to make the court regressive. Very frustrating.