Death Threats Against First Gay Couple To Marry In S. Africa
365 Gay.com - 23 Jan 07
The first same-sex couple to legally marry in South Africa have become the targets of death threats and hate mail.
Vernon Gibbs and Tony Halls exchanged vows before a marriage officer in George, in the Southern Cape, shortly after the marriage law went into effect last month.
But since then they have received what the couple describes as "countless" threatening phone calls and mail.
"One caller told us 'you might have been the first to get married, but you'll be the first to die," said Vernon Gibbs-Halls.
He said that they also had received two anonymous cellphone calls. How the callers got the cellphone numbers is not known.
The hate messages were reported the calls to the police, but "it was water off a duck's back," he said.
The backlash against the Gibbs-Halls is being blamed for a low number of same-sex couples who have wed in South Africa. The Department of Home Affairs said only 84 same-sex couples had tied the knot since it became legal, compared to an estimated 5 000 opposite-sex couples.
Still the Gibbs-Halls say that the threats should not keep gay and lesbian couples from marrying.
Vernon Gibbs-Halls points to dozens of positive e-mails they have received congratulating them from around the world.
South Africa in December became the fifth country to legalize same-sex marriage, following the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada. In the United States, gay marriage is legal only in the state of Massachusetts.
The legislation followed the 2005 ruling by the Constitutional Court that denying same-sex couples the rights of marriage was unconstitutional.
LGBT rights groups say they expect the number of couples marrying will increase dramatically next month in time for Valentines Day.
365 Gay.com - 23 Jan 07
The first same-sex couple to legally marry in South Africa have become the targets of death threats and hate mail.
Vernon Gibbs and Tony Halls exchanged vows before a marriage officer in George, in the Southern Cape, shortly after the marriage law went into effect last month.
But since then they have received what the couple describes as "countless" threatening phone calls and mail.
"One caller told us 'you might have been the first to get married, but you'll be the first to die," said Vernon Gibbs-Halls.
He said that they also had received two anonymous cellphone calls. How the callers got the cellphone numbers is not known.
The hate messages were reported the calls to the police, but "it was water off a duck's back," he said.
The backlash against the Gibbs-Halls is being blamed for a low number of same-sex couples who have wed in South Africa. The Department of Home Affairs said only 84 same-sex couples had tied the knot since it became legal, compared to an estimated 5 000 opposite-sex couples.
Still the Gibbs-Halls say that the threats should not keep gay and lesbian couples from marrying.
Vernon Gibbs-Halls points to dozens of positive e-mails they have received congratulating them from around the world.
South Africa in December became the fifth country to legalize same-sex marriage, following the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada. In the United States, gay marriage is legal only in the state of Massachusetts.
The legislation followed the 2005 ruling by the Constitutional Court that denying same-sex couples the rights of marriage was unconstitutional.
LGBT rights groups say they expect the number of couples marrying will increase dramatically next month in time for Valentines Day.
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