 |
|
|
|
|
By Rex Wockner
International News Report South Africa Welcomes Gay Lovers
South Africa's Constitutional Court extended the spousal
immigration provisions of the Aliens Control Act to same-sex
couples December 2.
Gays and lesbians are now permitted to bring a foreign lover to live with them. The ruling upheld a decision by the regional Cape High Court that had been appealed by the Department of Home Affairs. The Constitutional Court said: "Gays and lesbians in same-sex life partnerships are as capable as heterosexual couples of expressing and sharing love in its manifold forms. They are capable of constituting a family including affection. ... [T]he Aliens Control Act, by omitting to confer on persons, who are partners in permanent same-sex life partnerships, the benefits it extends to spouses, unfairly discriminates, on the grounds of their sexual orientation and marital status, against partners in such same-sex partnerships." The National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality commented: "The Department of Home Affairs has persistently acted in a cruel and unjustifiable manner against lesbian and gay people. "The sad history of this case is that lesbian and gay couples have been harassed, detained and threatened with deportation for the past two years. This is typical of the high-handed and bureaucratic bullying of all immigrants and refugees. This decision is the first step in holding the department accountable to all people for its actions."
Israeli Health Minister Blasts Gays Israeli Health Minister Shlomo Benizri said December 1 that gays are sick deviants. "These people have a mental problem, they are deviant. Instead of giving them legitimacy, we need to treat them," he told Reuters. "It is a sickness. They say they are like normal people. Psychologists have to encourage them and help them." Speaking to the Ma'ariv newspaper, Benizri added: "I am ready to fund the creation of special closed sections for them in psychiatric hospitals. They are suffering from a genetic defect and the health ministry can come to their help." Gay leader Michal Eden responded: "The Minister of Health is dark, a racist. ... If he holds such views, he should immediately resign." In general, Israel is fairly gay-friendly, at least in the legal arena. Gay sex was decriminalized in 1988, job bias was banned in 1992, and the military gay ban was dropped in 1993. |
© 1997-99 BEI