Beloftebos No Longer Does Weddings, Accused of LGBTQIA+ Discrimination
- In January 2020, Beloftebos, an events venue and farm in Stanford, turned away a same-sex couple who wanted to rent the venue for their wedding
- Beloftebos have since decided to no longer host any weddings on their farm and have removed the wedding section from their website
- The SAHRC and Beloftebos have been holding additional discussions outside of court to ascertain why the venue's owners are against holding same-sex weddings
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STANFORD - In January 2020, Beloftebos, an events venue and farm in Stanford, turned away a same-sex couple who wanted to rent the venue for their wedding.
Sasha-Lee Heekes and Megan Watling filed a motion against Beloftebos at the Equality Court via the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) for discrimination based on sexual orientation, which violates Section 9 of the Constitution.
Beloftebos recently decided to no longer host any weddings at all, TimesLIVE reports. The SAHRC and Beloftebos have been holding additional discussions outside of their engagement at the Equality Court to ascertain why the venue's owners are against holding same-sex weddings.
Source: Getty Images
Why Beloftebos no longer hosts weddings
When Beloftebos turned Watling and Heekes away, the venue's owners said that their religious beliefs do not support same-sex weddings. The owners added that their beliefs prevent them from accommodating a same-sex wedding, News24 reports.
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Beloftebos said that it has removed the weddings section from its website and is going through the website painstakingly to ensure that no information is misconstrued or misrepresents the venue and its policies.
Jacqui Benson, an LGBTQIA+ activist told Briefly News, "It's up to queer people to find spaces that are accepting of them rather than to fight to be accepted in a space that is unwilling.
We owe it to ourselves and our fellow South Africans to celebrate ourselves without reservation. These cases show that the Constitution is not enough and much more work needs to be done."
Reactions to developments in the Beloftebos case
@zilevandamme, a former MP, believes:
"If this had been a refusal to marry on the grounds of race, imagine the anger? Because it is the LGBTIA+ community, some are defending this? Your religion does not give you the right to discriminate. If you are planning to get married at Beloftebos, stand in solidarity and cancel."
Sylvia Momberg du Plessis said:
"Each to its own."
Marie Boshoff shared:
"Good for you!"
Johann van der Watt remarked:
"It's a shame that the venue was "forced" to no longer hold weddings."
LGBTQIA+ people in SA do not feel safe, propose a law to help
In other news about LGBTQIA+ issues, Briefly News previously reported that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA+) people in South Africa do not feel protected from hate crimes and hate speech.
2021 is the quarter-century anniversary of the South African Constitution which ensures that nobody is discriminated against based on race, gender, religion, association, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.
However, members of the LGBTQIA+ community in South Africa feel that this is not enough legal protection and have proposed a bill that will offer targeted protection so that those who commit hate crimes against queer people will be brought to justice
Source: Briefly News
