South Africa joins Canada in allowing marriage for all

South African Court Rules for Same-Sex Marriage

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 1 -- South Africa's top court said on Thursday it was unconstitutional to deny gay people the right to marry, putting it on track to become the first African country to legalise same-sex marriage.

The court said if parliament did not act, the legal definition of marriage would be automatically changed to include same-sex unions. That would put South Africa alongside Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Canada in allowing gay marriages.

Elated gay and lesbian couples and supporters hugged each other after the judgement, although some said they were disappointed they had to wait longer to get married.

"We would've liked to get married as soon as we could," said Fikile Vilakazi, wearing a yellow T-shirt with the words "Marriage -- anything less is not equal".

"I'm very happy though that finally our courts have discovered that the common law definition of marriage is unconstitutional ... that the Marriage Act is inconsistent with the constitution."

Post-apartheid South Africa has one of the most progressive constitutions in the world and the only one to enshrine equal rights for gays and lesbians.

The home of apartheid surges ahead of the USA