The South African parliament passed legislation recognising same-sex Civil Unions yesterday. African National Congress veterans heralded the Civil Union bill for extending basic freedoms to everyone and equated it with liberation from the shackles of apartheid. The National Assembly passed the Civil Union Bill, worked out after months of heated public discussion, by a vote of 230 to 41 with three abstentions. The outcome was expected given the ANC's huge majority. It now has to be approved by the National Council of Provinces, which is expected to be a formality, before being signed into law by President Thabo Mbeki. The bill provides for the "voluntary union of two persons, which is solemnized and registered by either a marriage or civil union." It does not specify whether they are heterosexual or homosexual partnerships. But it also says marriage officers need not perform a ceremony between same-sex couples if doing so would conflict with his or her "conscience, religion and belief." South Africa recognised the rights of gay people in the constitution adopted after apartheid ended in 1994 - the first in the world to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. In Africa, homosexuality is still largely taboo. It is illegal in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana and most other sub-Saharan countries. Even in South Africa, gays and lesbians are often attacked because of their sexual orientation. Ref: CNN (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 15th November 2006 - 12:00pm