Seperate always unequal

Quote of the week

Universal adult suffrage on a common voters roll is one of the foundational values of our entire constitutional order. The achievement of the franchise has historically been important both for the acquisition of the rights of full and effective citizenship by all South Africans regardless of race, and for the accomplishment of an all-embracing nationhood. The universality of the franchise is important not only for nationhood and democracy. The vote of each and every citizen is a badge of dignity and of personhood. Quite literally, it says that everybody counts. In a country of great disparities of wealth and power it declares that whoever we are, whether rich or poor, exalted or disgraced, we all belong to the same democratic South African nation; that our destinies are intertwined in a single interactive polity.

Justice Albie Sachs
August and Another v Electoral Commission and Others (CCT8/99) [1999] ZACC 3

PREVIOUS QUOTES OF THE WEEK

19 October 2006

Business Day yesterday published a letter from Kader Asmal in which he argues that the Civil Unions Bill comply with the Constitutional Court judgment in Minister of Home Affairs v Fourie. He quotes from Sachs’ judgment to the effect that:

Equal treatment does not invariably require identical treatment. thus corrective measures to overcome past and continuing discrimination may justify and may even require differential treatment.

This qoute does not support his argument though. On the contrary, it refutes his argument. In the context of equality, justice Sachs suggests here, those who have been particularly marginalised can sometimes be given preferential treatment. Gay men and lesbians have been particularly marginalised and oppressed so they should, in some cases qualify for preferential treatment. What the Constitution prohibits is for such a marginalised group to be given worse treatment than those who oppress them. And that is eactly what a seperate but equal civil partnership arrangement does. It provides for a seperate institution that may provide same-sex couples with most of the legal rights and duties associated with traditional marriage, but the Civil Union Bill spectacularly fails to extend to such relationship the same status as that associated with marriage. The mere fact that the drafters decided to create a seperate institution is a dead giveaway. If it is not called marriage, it ain’t marriage. As I have argued in my article in the Mail & Guardian two weeks ago:

This is extremely insulting and humiliating towards those of us who might want to marry a member of our own sex. The Constitutional Court warned that creating a special institution for same-sex couples will invariably send the signal that bringing same-sex couples under the umbrella of marriage law would taint those already within its protection. It endorses the view that homosexuals are somehow depraved, impure and tainted and that “pure” heterosexual marriage must be protected from this abomination. As the Constitutional Court pointed out in the Fourie judgment, such a view – no matter how seriously and sincerely held – can only be based on prejudice against or hatred of homosexuals. And prejudice, the Court has said on many occasions, can never justify unfair discrimination.

SHARE: