Are Same‐Sex Marriages UnAfrican? Same‐Sex Relationships and Belonging in Post‐Apartheid South Africa

Abstract

In 1996 South Africa was the first country in the world to safeguard sexual orientation as a human right in its Constitution. Homonegativity is pervasive in Africa, including South Africa, with claims that, "homosexuality is unAfrican." In interviews with 20 self-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex, and queer people living in South Africa, the participants spoke about how their identities were shaped by history, place, race, gender, and culture. Though they all recognized marriage as a powerful instrument in asserting their rights, it did not take the place of subjective commitment. Four out of 11 couples were married, whereas the rest were in various stages of either contemplating or rejecting marriage. I used the concept of "belonging" to analyze the underlying social values attached to marriage that position couples differently as citizens. A key issue concerned the tensions between values of "Whiteness," Ubuntu, and the role of kinship in belonging in post-apartheid South Africa.

The Longest “Legal” U.S. Same‐Sex Couples Reflect on Their Relationships

“…There has been relatively little research examining the effects of same‐sex marriage in other nations (cf. van Zyl, 2011, for a study of perceptions of same‐sex marriage in South Africa), comparing the effects of same‐sex marriage across nations (cf. Badgett, 2011, for a recent comparison between same‐sex marriage in Massachusetts and the Netherlands), or even comparing nations with same‐sex marriage to those with other forms of legalized relationships.…”

Anti‐Equality Marriage Amendments and Sexual Stigma

“…More research clearly is needed, especially with probability samples that permit generalizations from the data to the entire population and to key subpopulations, such as racial and ethnic minorities. Cross‐cultural data, such as those reported by Badgett (2011) and van Zyl (2011) are also needed, both for the information they provide about the cultures in which they are conducted and for the insights they can offer about marriage and sexual minorities in the United States. It will also be desirable for future research to employ experimental or quasi‐experimental designs that will permit inferences about the causal relationships among variables, for example, among psychological distress, resilience, and the experience of living through an anti‐equality campaign in one's home state.…”

Social Inclusion and the Value of Marriage Equality in Massachusetts and the Netherlands

“…Another reason for variation among LGBT people with respect to feelings of social inclusion when given the right to marry concerns intersecting identities, such as race, sex, class, and sexual orientation. To the extent that different complex positions put individuals in particular positions of more or less social privilege, individuals might have different experiences of inclusion (see van Zyl, 2011). The “privilege hypothesis” (Hypothesis 3) is that marriage equality might generate greater feelings of inclusiveness for individuals in relatively privileged groups, namely men, White people, and higher‐income people.…”