LGBT Rights in South Africa - Legal Rights

Legal Rights

The protection of LGBT rights in South Africa is based on section 9 of the Constitution, which forbids discrimination on the basis of sex, gender or sexual orientation, and applies to the government and to private parties. The Constitutional Court has stated that the section must also be interpreted as prohibiting discrimination on the basis of transsexuality. These constitutional protections have been reinforced by the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court and various statutes enacted by Parliament.

In 2012 the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa) filed a draft document calling for the removal of LGBT rights from the Constitution of South Africa. The group submitted a proposal to the Constitutional Review Committee of the National Assembly to amend section 9 of the Constitution; the Committee, at the time, was chaired by Sango Patekile Holomisa MP, who is also president of Contralesa. The parliamentary caucus of the ruling African National Congress rejected the proposal.

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