Readers who followed the saga of the way the Swazi media, church and ‘cultural’ leaders ganged up on a lesbian couple and hounded one of them into a suicide attempt after they announced a plan to marry might be interested in this article about discrimination in neighbouring South Africa.
Oliver Meth, a researcher at the University of KwaZulu Natal Centre for Civil Society, writes that ‘in some ways, South Africa is way ahead of the region when it comes to the rights of same sex couples’, but the church in South Africa still opposes ‘gay marriages’ even though they are legal in the country.
In an article for South Africa’s Gender Links, he writes, ‘Conservatism as a political movement and a way of life, needs to come to grips with the reality of gay relationships in precisely the same way it came to grips with its errors regarding to racial segregation: own up to its mistake, and simply expand its moral boundaries to include gays and gay marriage.
‘Most older conservatives now acknowledge that they once erred in “keeping blacks in their place.” They should make the same acknowledgement for gays and their right to marry, and live happy, open and contented lives in each other’s arms, without fear or discrimination.’
He also corrects the stereotypes that gays are ‘promiscuous, unable to form lasting relationships, and the relationships that do form are shallow and uncommitted’.
To read the full article, go to the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service section here.
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