On Rupture and Rhyme: Perspectives on the Past, Present, and Future of Same-Sex Marriage

Abstract:     
This piece appears in the anthology TO HAVE AND TO HOLD: THE MAKING OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IN SOUTH AFRICA. It considers the Fourie judgment and the Civil Unions Act in South Africa from the personal perspective of a United States lesbian legal academic and activist. Beginning in 1979, the piece sets the stage for the inconceivability of the developments of the South Africa Constitution and same-sex marriage. The article then briefly discusses the judgment and act, including personal reactions. Turning to the future, the style becomes that of a judgment from the South African Constitutional Court, set in the year 2027, and analyses a hypothetical challenge to some hypothetical legislation.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 12

Keywords: Lesbian, gay, same-sex marriage, South Africa, marriage

Accepted Paper Series