No prisoner to prejudice

17 Nov 2006- South Africa- Last Tuesday was a historic day in Parliament, with South Africa becoming the first African country to allow same-sex couples to get married. South Africa is only the fifth country in the world to remove legal barriers for same-sex couples to marry.

The Civil Unions Bill has caused major divisions and conflicts since last year when the Constitutional Court set a December 1 deadline for the recognition of same-sex marriages in line with the right to equality. As a concession to those opposing the Bill, the law will allow civil officers to refuse to marry same-sex couples if such marriages conflict with their conscience.

Within the ruling party it was far from plain sailing, as individual members openly disagreed on whether to vote for or against the Bill. Last Thursday top party officials made impassioned speeches at the ANC’s parliamentary caucus meeting in an attempt to align party members. Inside sources said Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe made “unusually strong appeals for ANC members to vote in favour of the Bill”. Until this caucus meeting ANC members believed that the party would allow individuals to vote according to their own beliefs rather than the party line.

But the ANC did not take any chances and ordered a three-line whip, meaning that members had to be present for the vote and had to vote in favour of the Bill. A three-line whip is the strictest disciplinary command the party can give its MPs. Party insiders said that the ANC didn’t want a repeat of the vote on the Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Act when conservative MPs refused to vote and conveniently left the House to have tea when voting took place. “This time they pulled in the heavyweights and left nothing to chance,” said an ANC MP.

Parliament’s second House, the National Council of Provinces, must now approve the Bill. Then President Thabo Mbeki will have to sign it into law within the next two weeks.

In Parliament this week Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota made a passionate speech to loud applause from the public gallery: “The roots of this Bill,” he said, “lie in the pronouncements of our people over very many years and decades of struggle.

“The Constitutional Court drew our attention to the fact that we have granted the right to all South African citizens to choose who to marry or take as a life partner. The Constitutional Court reminded us that we have not as yet delivered in relation to those who prefer same-sex partners for life.

“The question before us is not whether same-sex marriages or civil unions are right or not. The question is whether we suppress those in our society who prefer same-sex partners.

“At this time we are bound to fulfil the promises of democracy which we made to the people of our country. Are we going to suppress this so-called minority, or are we going to let these people enjoy the privilege of choosing who will be their life partners?

“Voting for this Bill is not advocating. We are not being asked to advocate same-sex marriages. You will continue to live your life as you choose, but let’s grant the right to those who also must exercise the same right.

“We have no need to preserve for ourselves, purely because of the majority of our numbers, the exclusive right of marriage while we deny others the same right.

“I take this opportunity to remind the House that in the long and arduous struggle for democracy very many men and women of homosexual and lesbian orientation joined the ranks of the liberation and democratic forces.

“How then can we live with the reality that we should enjoy rights that together we fought for side-by-side, and deny them that? Today, as we reap the fruits of democracy, it is only right that they must be afforded similar space in the sunshine of our democracy. We do them no favour, but reward their efforts in the same way that our own efforts are being rewarded. This country cannot afford to continue to be a prisoner of the backward, timeworn prejudices that have no basis. The time has come that we as this society, as this Parliament, on behalf of our nation, must lead.”

© Copyright African Veil 2005 - 2009