South Africa became the fifth country to legalize gay marriage Nov. 30 when Acting President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka signed a landmark bill into law.
South Africa is the first African country to take such a step. Canada, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands also recognize marriage between homosexual couples.
“We see this as a victorious movement for the gay and lesbian community in South Africa, especially in a continent that is still scornful towards homosexuals,” Vista Kalipa, media coordinator with the South African homosexual group Triangle Project, told Reuters. “We hope that other countries in Africa will actually begin to see this as a positive thing, reaffirming that homosexuality is indeed African.”
Some Christians in the nation saw it otherwise.
“The Civil Union Bill justifies immorality and by inference calls sexual perversion a legitimate alternative lifestyle that should be openly accepted,” the South African Christian Action Network said in a statement. “It calls immorality and perversion true virtue and commendable freedom.”
The new law defines marriage to include “the voluntary union of two persons.” It became law one year after the nation's highest court interpreted the constitution to require gay marriage to be legalized. The justices gave the African National Congress government one year to implement its decision.