CraigW From South Africa, joined Aug 2005, 115 posts, RR: 0 Posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 1361 times:
Just in.......... what do you guys think?
News24.Com Johannesburg - South Africa's highest court on Thursday ruled in favour of same-sex marriages, striking down a law that banned gay unions and ordering parliament to draft new legislation within a year.
"The common law definition of marriage is declared to be inconsistent with the constitution and invalid to the extent that it does not permit same-sex couples to enjoy the status and benefits it accords heterosexual couples," said Justice Albie Sachs in a ruling delivered by the constitutional court.
The decision followed a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling in November 2004 that said same-sex couples could get married following an application by lesbian couple Marie Fourie and Cecilia Bonthuys.
It requested that the courts change the common-law definition of marriage from being a "union between a man and a woman" to a "union between two persons".
Kiwiandrew From New Zealand, joined Jun 2005, 8435 posts, RR: 14 Reply 1, posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 1357 times:
It is nice to see that South Africa keeps leading the way and showing up so-called 'developed' countries when it comes to the issue of human rights - it's a shame that so many other countries have such limited views on human rights. Keep up the good work .
Moderation in all things ... including moderation ;-)
Andz From South Africa, joined Feb 2004, 8298 posts, RR: 11 Reply 2, posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 1356 times:
Kiwi it has been said that we have one of the most liberal constitutions in the world, the fact that is it very recent may have a lot to do with that, older democracies sometimes have constitutions drawn up around the values of a bygone era.
After Monday and Tuesday even the calendar says WTF...
Kiwiandrew From New Zealand, joined Jun 2005, 8435 posts, RR: 14 Reply 3, posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 1352 times:
Quoting Andz (Reply 2): Kiwi it has been said that we have one of the most liberal constitutions in the world, the fact that is it very recent may have a lot to do with that, older democracies sometimes have constitutions drawn up around the values of a bygone era.
Andz - you are doing better than us - New Zealand doesn't even have a written constitution . We don't have gay marriage either , although we do now have 'Civil Union' which confers pretty much all the same rights , just under another name .
My partner and I enjoyed our all too brief visit to SA last year and we hope to visit again for a more extended look in the future , a stunningly beautiful land with warm friendly people ..... and we even spent several days in JNB without managing to get murdered (despite warnings from hysterical expat South Africans living in New Zealand who were insistent that spending any more than 5 minutes in JNB was a sure death sentence )
Moderation in all things ... including moderation ;-)
Andz From South Africa, joined Feb 2004, 8298 posts, RR: 11 Reply 4, posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 4 hours ago) and read 1346 times:
Yeah it can be exaggerated, as I'm sure are similar warnings about other big cities round the world. I'd still prefer to be living in Cape Town though!
After Monday and Tuesday even the calendar says WTF...
Kiwiandrew From New Zealand, joined Jun 2005, 8435 posts, RR: 14 Reply 5, posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 4 hours ago) and read 1341 times:
Quoting Andz (Reply 4): I'd still prefer to be living in Cape Town though!
I'll second that - what a stunning city - shame I only had one and a half days there - my partner got a whole week the lucky @#$@%%%^^!!!!. I will have to come back and see it properly some time
Moderation in all things ... including moderation ;-)
MD80fanatic From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 2624 posts, RR: 11 Reply 7, posted (7 years 5 months 3 weeks 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 1321 times:
Getting married is not a human right. LOL Simply because you want to do something, and you are a human, doesn't make it a human right.
It boils down to who it is you consider to be your God. My God says that a marriage is between one man and one woman, your God (government) says it is between any two people with beating hearts. That's fine with me....we are all still accountable to our God in the end.
I won't start to really bitch about this until someone tries to tell me that marriage between one man and one woman is wrong.
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