South African pair wins same-sex case

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – On a continent where politicians, church leaders and traditional figures often harshly condemn homosexuality, a South African lesbian couple who wanted to wed won the case for same-sex marriage in their nation’s Constitutional Court on Thursday.

But gay activists who hoped for a rash of weddings had to wait: Instead of immediately ruling same sex marriages to be legal, the court gave Parliament a year to bring the country’s marriage laws in line with its constitution.

After the long years of the discriminatory regime of apartheid, which denied blacks the vote and other basic rights, South Africa crafted a liberal constitution in 1996 that outlawed discrimination on ground of race, gender or sexual orientation.

South African activists have used the charter to consolidate gay rights, in stark contrast with the bulk of African countries where homosexuality is still illegal and gays are often ostracized or brutally attacked.

President Robert Mugabe in neighboring Zimbabwe has frequently vilified homosexuals as “lower than dogs and pigs,” while Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has described homosexuality as “unnatural” and ordered police crackdowns.

South Africa stands out in Africa for its constitutional protection of gay rights, but the government has opposed same-sex marriage. Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Canada allow gay marriages.

Despite winning a case supporting their right to marry in the Supreme Court last year, lesbian couple Marie Fourie and Cecelia Bonthuys still had to struggle against official opposition when the Department of Home Affairs blocked their attempt to marry. Government lawyers appealed against the Supreme Court ruling.

But in a unanimous decision, the Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that it was unconstitutional to deny homosexuals the right to marry and warned that unless the parliament amended marriage laws, the court would automatically alter the legal definition of marriage to include same sex unions.

The court is the nation’s highest judicial panel on matters related to the constitution.

The ruling African National Congress released a curt statement saying it noted the ruling and would respect the court’s decision. “The Department of Home Affairs will assess what practical steps will be needed to give effect to the change in the law and make appropriate recommendations to the minister,” a one paragraph statement said.

Melanie Judge, program manager of OUT Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transsexual Wellbeing, said reactions in the gay community were mixed, with jubilation that the right to marriage was reinforced but disappointment it was not to take effect at once.

“The champagne corks can’t quite pop yet,” she said in a phone interview.