7440 members of the LGBTI community get hitched

According to documents released to SAHA under the Promotion of Access to Information Act, the Department of Home Affairs has registered a total of 3720 same-sex civil unions, from December 2006 to November 2011.

The South African Constitution and in particular section 9 (3) of the Constitution provides “that the state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth.”

In line with the provisions and ethos of the Constitution, the Civil Union Act 17 of 2006 was born. This act makes it possible for same-sex partners to solemnize their partnerships, and by extension be legally recognised as such.

The records released by the department reveal that a total of 1574 male partnerships have been registered, in comparison to 2146 female unions.

The statistics show that the highest number of unions took place in 2006/07 with a total of 861 unions. The document indicates that there was a slight decline in the 2008/09 and 2009/2010 period, with 688 and 671 unions respectively. The figures then increased again in 2010/11, with a total of 712 unions.

All records released to SAHA in terms of PAIA are archived in SAHA Collection AL2878 - The Freedom of Information Programme Collection

For more information contact the Freedom of Information Programme at SAHA.