S. African court tells gov't to enact gay marriage laws

Yay! :cheerleader:

From Yahoo! News: http://tinyurl.com/9ld46

[quote:6b7120e0cb][b:6b7120e0cb]Court sets South Africa on course for gay marriage[/b:6b7120e0cb]

By Gershwin Wanneburg 1 hour, 58 minutes ago

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's top court said on Thursday it was unconstitutional to deny gay people the right to marry, putting it on track to become the first African country to legalize same-sex marriage.

The Constitutional Court told parliament to amend marriage laws to include same-sex partners within the year -- a step that would make South Africa the fifth country in the world to approve gay marriage despite widespread African taboos against homosexuality.

"The exclusion of same-sex couples from the benefits and responsibilities of marriage ... signifies that their capacity for love, commitment and accepting responsibility is by definition less worthy of regard than that of heterosexual couples," Justice Albie Sachs said in the ruling.

The court said if parliament did not act, the legal definition of marriage would be automatically changed to include same-sex unions. That would put South Africa alongside Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Canada in allowing gay marriages.

Elated gay and lesbian couples and supporters hugged each other after the judgment, although some said they were disappointed they had to wait longer to get married.

"We would've liked to get married as soon as we could," said Fikile Vilakazi, wearing a yellow T-shirt with the words "Marriage -- anything less is not equal."

"I'm very happy though that finally our courts have discovered that the common law definition of marriage is unconstitutional ... that the Marriage Act is inconsistent with the constitution."

THE SECULAR AND THE SACRED

Post-apartheid South Africa has one of the most progressive constitutions in the world and the only one to enshrine equal rights for gays and lesbians.

Many African countries, by contrast, outlaw homosexuality and turn a blind eye to persecution of gays and lesbians.

The case stemmed from an application won a year ago by a lesbian couple to have their marriage recognized in a lower court. Government lawyers appealed, arguing only parliament should have the right to make the change.

The couple was backed by the country's leading gay rights group, the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project.

Only one of the court's 11 judges dissented from the ruling, arguing it should have legalized gay marriage immediately.

South African gay activists have won a string of legal victories in recent years, including the right to adopt children and inherit from partners' wills, but so far the right to marry has eluded them.

Sachs dismissed religious objections to gay marriage, saying the country's constitution gave no reason why gays and religious groups could not co-exist.

"In the open and democratic society contemplated by the Constitution there must be mutually respectful co-existence between the secular and the sacred," he said.

South Africa's biggest Christian party, which has taken a strong anti-gay stance in the past, said the ruling threatened the country's social underpinnings.

"Every long-standing society has viewed marriage as a union of male and female. Studies of previous civilizations reveal that when a society strays from the sexual ethic of marriage, it deteriorates and eventually disintegrates," the African Christian Democratic Party said in a statement.

Government officials were not available for comment. [/quote:6b7120e0cb]