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South Africa 'Ruining Families' By Recognizing Gay Couples Catholic Church Says
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
April 28, 2003
6:07 p.m. ET/+5GMT/-3PT
(Pretoria) Leaders of the Roman Catholic Church have issued a condemnation of South Africa's highest court.
The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) said the Constitutional Court made a grave mistake in decisions that recognize gay relationships and grant parenting rights to same-sex partners.
The bishops said the rulings have significant implications for the "Christian sacrament of marriage". And they warned gay and lesbian couples their partnerships will never by accepted by the Church.
The Constitutional Court ruled last month that Section 5 of the Children's Status Act of 1987, was unconstitutional in that it did not recognize permanent same-sex partners as legitimate parents, and should be amended.
It was confirming an earlier judgment by the Durban High Court on an application brought by a lesbian couple, one of whom had twins by artificial insemination.
The bishops said that even if there were some legal nuances that might justify a claim that same-sex partners were still not recognized equally to marriage partners, the public perception of the Constitutional Court decision was that marriage and same-sex partnerships were now equal in legal status.
"We reiterate the teaching of the Catholic Church that same-sex partnerships cannot be recognized as Christian sacramental marriages because they do not represent a complementary union that is able to transmit life, according to the rich symbolism and meaning of the Creator's sexual design and the Gospel call to that form of union and self-giving recognized in the sacrament of marriage," the bishops said in a statement.
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