Page:Minister of Home Affairs v Fourie.djvu/88

 Rh The second possibility which Parliament could consider is canvassed in the SALRC memorandum. The memorandum makes it clear that as a result of further consultations the SALRC decided to move away from the three options it had originally offered for public debate, and come forward with a single proposal for submission to Parliament. This proposal is comprehensive in character and is based upon Parliament adopting a legislative scheme for marriage and family law based on express acknowledgement of the diverse ways in which conjugal unions have come to be established in South Africa. One of its features is that it would provide for equal status being accorded to all marriages, whatever the system under which they were celebrated.

In developing its new single proposal, the SALRC memorandum referred to the responses it had received to the three options it had formerly placed before the public. It observed that the last round of comments it had received in the course of its consultations on these three options could be divided into two categories. The first category of respondents was strongly and totally opposed to the legal recognition of same-sex relationships and other domestic partnerships on religious and moral grounds. The second category was in favour of the legal recognition of same-sex relationships and other domestic partnerships or accepted that legal recognition was unavoidable. The memorandum adds that submissions received by the SALRC and

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