Friday, December 02, 2005



Freedom on the march

South Africa's Constitutional Court has ruled in favour of gay marriage, and ordered the South African Parliament to amend the law within a year to allow same-sex unions. They were barred by law, but this was found to violate a constitutional provision barring discrimination on the basis of sexual preference.

Meanwhile, we're still stuck in the middle with civil unions...

3 comments:

Well, no. The Rels Statutory References Act does mean that LGT
couples have substantive equal rights and responsibilities with straight married couples when they civilly unite.

SA is the first Southern Hemisphere nation to introduce same sex marriage proper.

Craig Y

Posted by Anonymous : 12/02/2005 09:44:00 AM

Yes, it gives the substantive rights. But I still think they should have just amended the Marriage Act rather than trying to build a halfway house.

Posted by Idiot/Savant : 12/02/2005 09:50:00 AM

Yes, but it's a more pragmatic alternative, given that same-sex couples were suffering given spousal rights inequalities, given the urgent need for relationship equality.

Oh, and Belgium has become the sixth state to introduce inclusive adoption law reform after the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Craig Y

Posted by Anonymous : 12/03/2005 11:00:00 AM