'It doesn't matter if you're heterosexual or the same sex'
November 09, 2006 Edition 2
Linda Daniels
Heterosexual couples will be able to marry in terms of the same law that will legalise same-sex marriages in South Africa.
That is if an ANC redraft of the controversial Civil Union Bill proposed yesterday becomes law by December 1, the deadline set by the Constitutional Court to legalise same-sex marriages.
However, opposition parties criticised the ANC's "middle of the road" amendments to the bill, which they say still amounts to a separate but equal marriage regime for same-sex couples.
This is because the Marriage Act, which allows for only heterosexual couples to get married, will still remain on the statute books.
Heterosexual couples would effectively have the right to choose to marry in terms of either law, while gay couples would marry under only the civil-union one.
Yesterday, the ANC proposed amendments to the Civil Union Bill to the National Assembly's home affairs committee.
Given that the ANC has a huge majority in parliament, the proposals are likely to become the version of the bill to be approved by the committee today and ultimately the National Assembly.
The ANC proposal removes references to "same-sex" couples and defines a civil union to be the voluntary union of two persons who are both 18 years and older and which could be solemnised or registered as a marriage.
The Democratic Alliance's Sandy Kalyan said she understood the ANC's revised bill to be a "middle of the road approach" to appease religious groups, adding that she saw no material difference between the Marriage Act and the revised Civil Union Bill if it became law.
The African Christian Democratic Party's Steve Swart said his party regretted that its proposal to delete all references to marriage in the Civil Union Bill was not accepted. He said the proposal took the process of legislating for same-sex marriages "back to square one".
ANC MPs said the difference between its provisions in the Civil Union Bill and the Marriage Act was that religious heterosexual couples could choose to get married under the Marriage Act instead of the civil union one.
Gay and lesbian lobby groups had protested against the Civil Union Bill and called it "a separate but equal" regime for same-sex couples. They advocated getting married under the Marriage Act.
Most church groups, on the other hand, argued that the institution of marriage continued to be defined as a union between a man and a woman.
The chief state law adviser, Enver Daniels, told the home affairs committee yesterday: "This is a civil union Â… it does not matter whether you are heterosexual or of the same sex. You can use the bill in order to solemnise the relationship, and in doing so you have the choice to call it a marriage or a partnership."
Daniels added that he believed the proposal was constitutionally sound.
Last week, Daniels had expressed doubts about the constitutionality of the original Civil Union Bill introduced by the Home Affairs Ministry in parliament.