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MARRIAGE DIGEST: South Africa on track to legalize ‘gay marriage’; Pa. Senate candidate may not be so conservative


JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (BP)–South Africa’s Cabinet has approved a bill that would legalize “gay marriage,” keeping the country on track to become the fifth nation worldwide to redefine marriage.

Government spokesman Themba Maseko told Reuters in an Aug. 24 story that the governmental Cabinet had passed the bill, sending it to Parliament, which is expected to take it up in the coming weeks. The highest court in South Africa issued a ruling last December ordering the government to legalize “gay marriage,” giving the government 12 months to do so.

“Basically [the bill] will legalize same-sex marriage in compliance with the constitutional court ruling,” Maseko said, according to Reuters.

The government rejected an attempt by the African Christian Democratic Party to pass a constitutional marriage amendment that would reverse the court’s ruling.

South Africa would join Canada, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands as the only nations to recognize “marriage” between homosexuals. The U.S. state of Massachusetts also recognizes “gay marriage.”

South Africa’s constitution is one of the most liberal in the world and bans discrimination on the basis of “sexual orientation.” The lawsuit was brought by a lesbian couple. Only one judge on the high court dissented from the majority ruling, and that was because the decision did not take effect immediately.

CASEY AND ‘GAY MARRIAGE’ — Bob Casey Jr., the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania, has drawn support and praise from conservative Democrats because of his pro-life positions on abortion and embryonic stem cell research and his support of then-Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. But Casey’s positions on issues related to “gay marriage” may upset some of those same supporters, Terence Jeffrey of Human Events wrote in an Aug. 23 Townhall.com column.

Casey opposes “gay marriage” but also opposes a marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He supports the legalization of Vermont-style civil unions, which grant homosexuals the legal benefits of marriage without using the word itself. He also supports adding “sexual orientation” to the hate crimes law.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest homosexual activist organization, is raising money for Casey and contends his records stands “in stark contrast” to Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, who Casey is trying to unseat. HRC said in a statement on its website that Casey stands for “gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality.”

Santorum has been one the Senate’s most vocal supporters of a federal marriage amendment. Casey apparently also opposes a marriage amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution, Jeffrey reported.

“Progressive Americans have an opportunity to unseat one of the most vigorously anti-gay lawmakers in the country,” HRC said on its website.

NEW YORK DEMS NOT SO LIBERAL? — Forty-eight percent of New York Democratic primary voters support the legalization of “gay marriage,” according to an August poll of 602 likely voters by Pace University. While that is out of the national mainstream, it nonetheless is somewhat surprising that support did not reach majority status. Thirty-two percent oppose “gay marriage.”

“When you talk about Democrats who vote in New York’s primaries, you’re talking about a very liberal subset of the general population, so for gay marriage not to muster a majority among these liberal voters is significant,” the poll’s director, Jonathan Trichter, told New York Public Radio.
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For more information about the national debate over “gay marriage,” visit http://www.bpnews.net/samesexmarriage

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  • Michael Foust