Chauke: I'm stuck with gay bill

2006-09-16 22:01

Cape Town - Home affairs portfolio committee chairperson Patrick Chauke says he will not allow his religious beliefs to interfere with the way he and his committee deal with draft legislation on gay civil unions.

Chauke was speaking outside parliament on Saturday, after receiving a memorandum from several thousand Christians who had marched through Cape Town's city centre to protest against the Civil Union Bill.

The march, under the banner of the Marriage Alliance, was one of several staged simultaneously in cities across the country.

Chauke told the crowd that some people thought politicians did not attend church.

He said he and African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) MP Steve Swart, standing alongside him, were "staunch believers".

He said the memo, which called for a constitutional amendment to protect the traditional institution of marriage, would be tabled in parliament, and the concerns it expressed taken on board.

'We have a responsibility'

He said he believed the bill, drawn up in a bid to meet the Constitutional Court's December 1 deadline for a law on same-sex marriages, "balanced" the needs of those "who want to get into some kind of a union".

"But I think as a church we have a responsibility. And we have demonstrated our responsibility today," said Chauke.

Asked what church he belonged to, Chauke said: "That's my private business. To say that I'm a believer does not mean I belong to a church. I may be attending a number of churches as I want, but I don't have a church I like".

Asked whether the bill conflicted with his own personal beliefs, he said: "I may not be able to answer you. Currently I'm stuck with the bill, and I need to play my (im)partial role in chairing these meetings until the bill is finished."

Swart, a member of the justice portfolio committee, addressed the marchers.

He said the ACDP had consistently opposed redefining marriage to include same-sex unions: "The institution of marriage has been the cornerstone of civilised society for thousands of years. Traditional marriages, in which one man and one woman create a lasting community, pass on time-honoured family values to secure the future, and therefore are worthy of protection."

Bill is first reading debate

The Marriage Alliance is made up of about 100 churches, denominations and religious bodies.

The home affairs portfolio committee was scheduled to begin countrywide public hearings on the bill with a meeting in Soweto on Tuesday, but Chauke said this might not happen as planned.

It appears that the bill may be the first piece of non-financial legislation to be subject to a first reading debate in the National Assembly, in terms of a resolution taken by the assembly last week.

Chauke said this might impact on the programme for the public hearings.

Up to now, so-called "money bills", like the budget, are the only pieces of legislation that have gone through a first reading debate.

- SAPA