operation on 15 November 2000, polygamous or potentially polygamous marriage is legally recognized. In the second place, and perhaps more importantly, discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is contrary to the Bill of Rights. As Edwin Cameron points out, the fact that sexual orientation is specifically mentioned with regard to equality and protected conditions, is a milestone not only in the South African context but in world constitutional history. A greater sensitivity towards and acceptance of cultural differences as well as the libertarian jurisprudence that has emerged in the new constitutional dispensation has shaped, and doubtless will still shape, changing policy. This will be discussed later. Although same-sex marriage has as yet not been legally recognised, it is clear that in less than a decade there have been major policy changes in South Africa regarding homosexuals and homosexual conduct. It is suggested that despite some previously dissenting voices, the cases of S v H [1995 (1) SA 120 (C)] and [S v Kampher 1997 (4) SA 460 (C)] that decriminalized sodomy, were at the vanguard of changing attitudes.’ (Footnotes omitted.)
Later in the article, under the heading ‘Same-sex marriage and cultural patterns’,[1] she refers to various same-sex relationships in non-western societies which serve cultural or economic functions, and gives two examples from indigenous African culture. The first concerns the traditional woman-to-woman marriages which are reported from all over Africa. What she calls a ‘notable example’ of these involves the Rain Queen of the Lovedu, the last of whom
- ↑ Op cit 50.
