Friday, 31 November 2006                          The world of homosexuality                                                    

According to BBC news, South Africa is the first African country, and the fifth in the world, to allow same-sex unions. The politicians are steering the nations of the world in the wrong direction and we wonder what South Africa’s President Thambo Mbeki and Desmond Tutu the retired Anglican archbishop, Nobel Prize winner and a former freedom fighter have to say about the recent law which has legalised same-sex marriage in South Africa.

Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki received a blow in his face when he tried to present a constitution that allowed gay marriages and this led to the formation of Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) that spilt from the ruling party. The former President Daniel Arap Moi opposed him and other fellow Kenyans who do not approve of gay marriages.

If gay marriages were to be legalised in Kenya shall we then find men who want to marry other men and will there be Bishops who will agree to officiate this weddings? What of ladies who marry ladies? When men begin to marry other men women will loose their market and it will become dangerous especially in places like Africa where a man marries many women.

It is my prayer that men will stop marrying men and causing trouble for women.

By Archbishop Gilbert Deya of GDM.

Thursday, 30 November 2006                           SA Same-Sex Marriage Law Signed                                                                         

 

South Africa is the first African country to approve such unions

South frica's Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has signed the Civil Union Act which gives same-sex couples the right to marry.

South Africa will be the first African country where gay people can wed when the law comes into force on Friday.

The law was approved by MPs two weeks ago despite objections from religious groups and traditional leaders.

The Constitutional Court ruled last year that the existing laws discriminated against homosexuals.

The Civil Union Act gives gay people the same rights as heterosexual couples.

The ruling was based on the constitution, which was the first in the world specifically to outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

It is an historic decision in terms of the African continent Fikile Vilakaz Gay Joint Working Group

This is unusual in Africa where homosexuality is largely taboo - notably in its neighbour Zimbabwe.

Reuters news agency reports that religious groups had mounted a last-ditch effort to block the new marriage law, demanding a referendum on the issue.

"To force the morality of the radical homosexual minority on the people of South Africa through law is, in effect, to lead the masses astray," the Christian Action Network said in a statement.

But gay activists have welcomed the law.

"We are very happy. We welcome the political commitment shown by the country's leaders," said Fikile Vilakazi spokeswoman for the Joint Working Group, a network gay organisations, AFP news agency reports.

"It is an historic decision in terms of the African continent."