Out South: Fear, Loathing and Marriage in Africa

South Africa will be the fifth country, and the first in Africa, to allow marriages for homosexual couples, following a judgment by the Constitutional Court yesterday.

Belgium, Spain, Holland and Canada allow same-sex marriages.

From AllAfrica:

The ruling follows a progression of court battles on gay rights after the new constitution outlawed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

In 1998 the Constitutional Court struck down the offence of sodomy in the Sexual Offences Act and the Criminal Procedure Act.

The following year, the court allowed foreign partners of homosexual citizens to become permanent residents.

In 2002, the Constitutional Court ruled that homosexual partners in a committed relationship should have the same financial status as married heterosexual couples.

This followed Judge Kathy Satchwell's application in the Pretoria High Court for her same-sex partner to receive the same financial benefits as if she were a partner in a heterosexual relationship.

During the same year, the court also ruled that same-sex couples had the right to adopt children. In 2003, the court ruled that children born to same-sex couples by artificial insemination were legitimate.

The latest decision, following an application by Marié Fourie and Cecelia Bonthuys to be allowed to marry, is a progression in the court's stance on the rights of gay couples.

While this decision might be seen as progress for worldwide GLBT rights, the decision also stands out like a sore thumb on a continet where homosexuality is very much a taboo.

Human rights organizations delivered a letter on Thursday to the Minister of Justice of Cameroon urging him to release 11 men detained for the last seven months on suspicion of “sodomy” and to prevent a government-ordered “medical examination” to whether the men have engaged in homosexual conduct.

These examinations have no investigative value, are abusive, intrusive, and when conducted non-consensually and under incarcerated conditions, amount to cruel and inhuman treatment; as such, they constitute a serious violation of the human rights of the detainees. In countries where they have been administered, these examinations have caused grave physical and psychological suffering to their victims.

“The Cameroon government is about to engage in degrading and inhuman treatment of these men in clear violation of their human rights and we are all asking the Minister of Justice to intervene,” stated Cary Alan Johnson, IGLHRC's Senior Specialist for Africa.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee, in the 1994 case of Toonen v Australia held that the existence of sodomy laws violates protections of privacy and non-discrimination in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Cameroon's accession to the ICCPR in 1984 means that it must adhere to this standard.

On 21 May 2005, gendarmes from the Nlongka Brigade arrested 17 men at a nightclub believed to frequented by gays and lesbians. These arrests were first reported by the local newspaper, Mutations, and were confirmed by the United States Embassy in Cameroon. National television in Cameroon and local Channel 2 broadcasted images of the young men after their arrest. The 11 men who remain in detention are those too poor to find a means to be released or to hire a lawyer. Many have been abandoned by their families due to publicity related to the case.

“The pain, humiliation and invasiveness involved in these forced examinations makes them a direct violation of human rights norms,” stated Paula Ettelbrick, IGLHRC's Executive Director. “Cameroon is a signatory to regional and international agreements that prohibit such treatment, and we ask the government to respect its international obligations.”