No flood of gay marriages yet
2004-12-01 16:58
Pretoria - The Department of Home Affairs is as yet uncommitted to a standpoint on same-sex marriages, following this week's successful appeal by a lesbian couple to have their marriage legally recognised and registered.
In a statement on Wednesday, the department said the SA Law Reform Commission "should be afforded space and time to finalise its report on same-sex marriages".
"However we will read the judgment carefully and we should be able to give our impression in the next few days," said spokesman Lebogang Maenetja.
The appeal brought by Marie Fourie and Cecelia Bonthuys in essence challenged the definition of marriage under South African common law.
According to common law, marriage is the union of one man and one woman. This made it impossible for same-sex couples to be married to each other.
On Tuesday, Judge of Appeal Edwin Cameron said in his judgment that the definition of marriage should read: "Marriage is the union of two persons to the exclusion of all others for life."
- SAPA