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South Africa Cabinet Approves Same-Sex “Marriage” Bill

PRETORIA, South Africa, August 24, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – South Africa’s cabinet has approved a bill that would make South Africa the first nation on the African continent to legalize same-sex “marriage”. The bill would amend the 1961 Marriage Act that currently defines marriage as "the union of one man with one woman, to the exclusion of others".

"Basically (the bill) will legalize same sex marriage in compliance with the constitutional court ruling," said Government spokesman Themba Maseko according to Reuters.

At a press conference Thursday, Maseko explained that the government’s bill would amend the Marriage Act, which Maseko said the Constitutional Court found unconstitutional “insofar as it failed to give the same status, benefits and responsibilities to same sex unions that marriage accorded to heterosexual couples." 

However, Maseko added the bill also gives many of the same rights of married couples to domestic partners "whether same or different sex who had not concluded a marriage or civil partnership", leaving little wonder why the 1961 Marriage Act is not scrapped entirely.

Politicians resigned themselves to crafting the bill after the Constitutional Court ruled last year against traditional marriage, giving the government until December 2006 to change the law to include homosexual couples or else the Court would automatically change it for them.

However, the government’s single-mindedness to appease the court has brought outrage from pro-family advocates, who have proposed the nation decide for itself through a referendum whether or not it shall legalize same-sex marriage.

Last week, the opposition African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) began calling for a constitutional amendment to "protect traditional marriage"  However these calls were rebuffed by the parliamentary chair preparing the bill. (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06081703.html)

Reuters also reports, the ACDP Justice spokesman, Steven Swart, rejected the cabinet’s approval of the bill and said, "We oppose any change to the God-given institution of marriage, which is constrained to a male and a female and has existed for thousands of years as the cornerstone of stable societies.”

The bill will now head Parliament for consideration, which has until December of this year to approve the legislation.

Appeal for Amendment Banning Gay Marriage Rejected in South Africa
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06081703.html

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