Yes to same-sex marriage law
24/08/2006 12:10  - (SA)  

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Cape Town - The cabinet has given the nod to the civil unions bill - which effectively allows recognition of same-sex marriages and grants gay couples similar rights to heterosexual couples.

At a media conference at parliament on Thursday, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said the bill took into account the Constitutional Court judgment which found that the common law definition of marriage in the Marriage Act of 1961 was unconstitutional "insofar as it failed to give the same status, benefits and responsibilities to same sex unions that marriage accorded to heterosexual couples".

Parliament was given until the end of the year to pass this legislation in terms of the court judgment.

Maseko indicated that the bill - which would complement the existing Marriage Act - would also provide for the recognition of domestic partnerships between adults "whether same or different sex who had not concluded a marriage or civil partnership".

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