South African anti-homosexual laws struck down

Issue 

South African anti-homosexual laws struck down

The South African High Court in Johannesburg on May 3 declared the common law crimes of sodomy, unnatural sexual offences and section 20A of the Sexual Offences Act unconstitutional, legalising gay and lesbian sex.

In passing judgment, Judge Jonathan Heher said that to penalise a gay or lesbian person for the expression of his or her sexuality could only be defended from a standpoint which depended on the baneful influences of religious intolerance, ignorance, superstition, bigotry and fear of what is different.

Mazibuko Jara of the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality, which, with the Human Rights Commission, applied to the High Court to have the laws overturned, told the South African Press Association, “During the major part of the 350 years during which these common law offences were part of our law, they carried the ultimate penalty of death.

“Our history records the litany of South Africans who have been drowned in vats in prisons, burned at stakes, hanged on gallows, tortured and banished as punishment for expressing a sexuality that differed from a heterosexual norm. The silent suffering of those who have been executed must stand as a constant reminder of the vagaries of intolerance and blind prejudice that use religion as a justification.”

Jara said that millions of lesbian and gay people had grown up with the stigma of criminality hanging over their heads. “The psychological cost to their esteem, self-affirmation and humanity has been immense. That humiliation will not be expunged simply by the stroke of Judge Heher's pen. However, the judge's forthright striking down of these laws vindicates the brave determination and patience of our community.”

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