Civil Union Amendment Bill: COPE Calls For Public Support

Source: The Daily Vox, 20/04/2018

The Congress of the People (Cope) is appealing to the members of the
LGBTQIA+ community and the general public to support its proposed
amendment of the Civil Union Act to remove a clause that permitted home
affairs officials to recuse themselves from performing marriage
ceremonies on religious and other grounds.
The South African Civil Union Act of 2006 legalised same-sex marriage
in the country. The Act allows for two people over the ages of 18
years, irrespective their gender or sexual orientation, to be
registered by a way of marriage or civil partnership. However,
according to Section 6 of the Act, marriage officers are allowed, in
writing to the minister of home affairs, to object “on the ground of
consciousness, religion and belief to solemnising a civil union between
persons of the same sex”, meaning that they will be exempted from
officiating such marriages.
In its Amendment Bill, Cope says it wants to repeal this clause. The
party said that many same-sex couples are being turned away from some
home affairs officers, especially in rural areas, as all the marriage
officers operating in those areas are exempted according to this
section.
The party’s media officer Roche Kester explained to The Daily Vox that
it was important for this Act to be amended because the LGBTQIA+
community experiences serious discrimination from public servants on
various levels.
“We are now particularly focusing on the marriage officers that are
supposed to serve as opposed to discriminate in our country, and for us
it is important for everyone to have their right to equal treatment and
equality when you receive public service from people that are in
office,” she said.
Kester said they are calling for non-discrimination and inclusiveness
from the department of home affairs to the LGBTQIA+ community.
Kester said they are hoping that the Act will be amended in
Parliament. “As it stands, there are 421 marriage officers that said
they don’t want the Act to change. But if you look at the population of
about 1.3 million LGBTI individuals in this country… we believe that if
the community stands together, there is a huge possibility it may just
happen,” she said.
The party said it has not received enough submissions and is therefore
calling for all LGBTQIA+ members and the general public to support the
call.