South Africa

South Africa’s Parliament Approves Gay Marriage

"When we attained our democracy, we sought to distinguish ourselves from an unjust painful past, by declaring that never again shall it be that any South African will be discriminated against on the basis of color, creed culture and sex," Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa- Nqakula told the National Assembly.

This has been a while coming as their young constitution expressly forbids discrimination on sex, and their high court ruled that meant couples could marry regardless of their sex. Regardless, it passed 230 to 41 votes.

I think of the South Africa of my youth and I think of apartheid… What a change. Who would have thought, two decades ago, they’d offer equal rights to citizens and their families regardless of their sex before the United States of America would?