Cheers, boos as South Africa legalises gay marriage

30 Nov 2006 -Johannesburg - South Africa on Thursday legalised gay marriage, the first country to do so on a continent where homosexuality is widely taboo.

"Acting President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has signed into law the Civil Union Act 2006," the presidency said in a statement, adding that the new law was effective immediately.

The low-key signing of the new law reflected political sensitivities over gay marriage, which conservative and religious groups have declared immoral and out of step with African tradition.

Mlambo-Ngcuka signed the bill in the absence of President Thabo Mbeki, who is on an official trip to Nigeria and thereby avoided putting his name to a law which has raised hackles even within his ruling African National Congress.

Gay rights groups were elated with the step, which puts South Africa among only a handful of nations worldwide to recognise same-sex unions.

"We see this as a victorious movement for the gay and lesbian community in South Africa, especially in a continent that is still scornful towards homosexuals," said Vista Kalipa, media coordinator of the Triangle Project, a group dedicated to fighting gay discrimination.

"We hope that other countries in Africa will actually begin to see this as a positive thing, reaffirming that homosexuality is indeed African."

POST-APARTHEID FREEDOM

South Africa's drive to become the only African country to legalise gay marriage is a by-product of its post-apartheid constitution, which is among the most liberal in the world.

Gay groups sued to demand equal treatment with heterosexual couples under the constitution's non-discrimination clause, and the country's top court last year ordered the government to change marriage statutes by December 1 to include same-sex unions.

Religious groups had mounted a last-ditch effort to block passage of the new marriage law for parliament, demanding the government hold a national referendum on the issue.

"To force the morality of the radical homosexual minority on the people of South Africa through law is, in effect, to lead the masses astray," a group calling itself the Christian Action Network said in a statement on Thursday.

Gay marriage has also upset social conservatives, who say that homosexuality is un-African and taboo attitudes which hold across much of the rest of the continent.

But the ANC used its massive majority in parliament to push the measure through, saying the constitution's demand that all groups stand equal before the law had to be respected.

Churches have already geared up to begin celebrating their first gay weddings while one enterprising jeweller offered 20,000 rand of "custom made bling" for the gay couple that can prove they will be the first to legally marry.

"Even if we have to work through the night, the rings will be designed and sized for the couple in time for the nuptials," said Uwe Koetter Jewellers said in a statement.

The Department of Home Affairs said it was "all systems go" for same-sex marriage licenses, but some prospective couples appeared to be waiting to see how the bureaucracy would react.

"Many couples have phoned us wanting to get married in a church," said Sharon Cox of the gay-friendly Good Hope Community Church in Cape Town.

"But we are not sure if the department will be ready, and obviously couples want to make sure their wedding is perfect and not disrupted by hold-ups because relevant forms are not available," she said.

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