National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality v Minister of Home Affairs

National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality and Others v Minister of Home Affairs and Others
Court	Constitutional Court of South Africa
Full case name	The National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality and 13 Others versus the Minister of Home Affairs, the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and the Director-General of Home Affairs
Date decided	2 December 1999
Citation(s)	[1999] ZACC 17, 2000 (1) BCLR 39, 2000 (2) SA 1
Judge(s) sitting	President Chaskalson, Deputy President Langa, Justices Ackermann, Goldstone, Madala, Mokgoro, Ngcobo, O'Regan, Sachs, Yacoob, Acting Justice Cameron
Case history
Prior action(s)	1999 (3) BCLR 280, 1999 (3) SA 173 (Cape Provincial Division)
Keywords
LGBT rights, immigration equality

National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality and Others v Minister of Home Affairs and Others is a 1999 decision of the Constitutional Court of South Africa which extended immigration rights to the foreign partners of South African citizens in same-sex relationships.

The Court ruled that section 25(5) of the Aliens Control Act, 1991 was unconstitutional because it did not grant to partners in permanent same-sex life partnerships the same benefits that it granted to married couples. It therefore discriminated unfairly on the basis of sexual orientation, which was inconsistent with the equality clause of the Bill of Rights. (The decision came before the 2006 legalisation of same-sex marriage in South Africa.)

The Court decided that the unconstitutionality was to be remedied by reading in the words "or partner, in a permanent same-sex life partnership" after the word "spouse" in the Aliens Control Act.^[1]

The Aliens Control Act was subsequently repealed and replaced by the Immigration Act, 2002, which defines "spouse" as "a person who is a party to a marriage, or a customary union, or a permanent homosexual or heterosexual relationship".

References

1. ^ "Muted welcome to gay couples decision". Independent Online. 2 December 1999. http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/muted-welcome-to-gay-couples-decision-1.21602. Retrieved 2 July 2011. 

External links

• Text of the judgment at SAFLII

Works related to National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality v Minister of Home Affairs at Wikisource