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 When "sexual orientation" was put into
the equality clause few people, if any, anticipated that this would lead
to so called 'same-sex marriage'.
The 1st of December marked another attack on morality and
family values in South when the constitutional court's
judges unanimously agreed that South Africa's 1996 constitution, which
prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, guarantees the
right of persons of the same sex to marry.
In
the ruling, the
Constitutional Court ordered that the definition of marriage
be changed from a “union between a man and a woman to a “union between two
persons".
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 The legal advice we have been given is that the simplest solution to
correct
the misinterpretation of the Constitutional Court is to entrench the
existing definition of marriage in the Marriage Act by adding to
section 39
(Interpretation) the clause:
"The Constitution shall be interpreted to
mean
that a marriage is the voluntary union between a man and a woman only."
There are many other alternatives to amend the constitution to solve
this
problem, but this appears the least complicated. It would preserve the
status quo as it is now without implementing the court ruling.
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 There is now a serious urgency to pass a Constitutional Amendment,
because on the 1st of December 2006, "same sex marriage will be
legalised by default unless Parliament changes the Marriage Act.
We are running out of time,
and at this stage any apathy in our efforts to amend the
constitution would lead to this
would effectively mean recognising so called 'same-sex marriage'.
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Please Help us Speak Out!
We are running out of time in our bid to change the Constitution.
You can help us in working towards this Constitutional Amendment by:
Writing a submission on the Civil Unions Bill. To read more about How
and Why you should write a submission on the civil unions bill,
click here.
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Deadline
for Petition