S. Africa approves gay-marriage bill - Measure is a first on conservative continent

S. Africa approves gay-marriage bill - Measure is a first on conservative continent
By Clare Nullis
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press
Published November 15, 2006


CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- South African lawmakers on Tuesday passed legislation recognizing gay marriages despite criticism from traditionalists and gay activists.

The bill, unprecedented on a continent where homosexuality is taboo, was decried by gay activists for not going far enough and by opponents who warned it "was provoking God's anger."

Veterans of the governing African National Congress praised the Civil Unions Bill for extending basic freedoms to everyone under the spirit of the country's first post-apartheid constitution, adopted a decade ago by framers determined to make discrimination a thing of the past.

"When we attained our democracy, we sought to distinguish ourselves from an unjust, painful past by declaring that never again shall it be that any South African will be discriminated against on the basis of color, creed, culture and sex," Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said.

South Africa's Constitution was the first in the world to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, providing a powerful legal tool to gay-rights activists, even though South Africa remains conservative on such issues.

A Christian lawmaker, Kenneth Meshoe, said Tuesday was the "saddest day in our 12 years of democracy" and warned that South Africa "was provoking God's anger."

His comments reflected the majority view on a deeply conservative continent.

Homosexuality is illegal in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana and most other sub-Saharan countries. Some countries are debating constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriages. Even in South Africa, gays and lesbians often are attacked because of their sexual orientation.

One church leader in Nigeria, Apostle Abraham Umoh of the Mount of Victory Mission, denounced the vote as "satanic."

The Roman Catholic Church and many traditionalist leaders in South Africa said the measure denigrated the sanctity of marriages between men and women.

To ease some of those concerns, the bill would allow both religious and civil officers to refuse to marry same-sex couples on moral grounds.

Gay-rights groups criticized that "opt-out" clause, saying they should be treated the same as heterosexual couples, but in general they praised the new measure.

"It demonstrates powerfully the commitment of our lawmakers to ensuring that all human beings are treated with dignity," said Fikile Vilakazi of the Joint Working Group, a national network of 17 gay and lesbian organizations.

The bill provides for the "voluntary union of two persons, which is solemnized and registered by either a marriage or civil union," without specifying whether they are heterosexual or homosexual partnerships.

The National Assembly passed the bill 230-41. The measure now goes to the National Council of Provinces, which is expected to be a formality, before being signed into law by President Thabo Mbeki.

The bill was drafted to comply with a Constitutional Court ruling last December that said existing marriage legislation was unconstitutional because it discriminated against same-sex couples. The court set a Dec. 1 deadline for parliament to change the law.

Rather than change existing marriage laws, the government introduced the additional civil union bill, hoping that would be the speediest option.