By Christopher Cappiello

South Africa High Court OKs Gay Marriage

In a decision that positions South Africa to become only the fifth nation in the world to extend full marriage recognition to same-sex couples, the country's highest court ruled Dec. 1 that existing laws limiting marriage to a husband and wife violate the South African Constitution's guarantee of equal rights, according to a New York Times report.

The Constitutional Court's ruling gives the Parliament one year to amend the law, essentially delaying implementation of the decision for a year. The decision was unanimous, with the only hint of dissent coming from one of the 12 judges who wanted the ruling to take effect immediately. If Parliament fails to adequately amend the law, the ruling automatically takes effect in 12 months, making marriage laws gender-neutral, the Times reports.

Once the law is changed, South Africa will join the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, and Canada as the only countries fully recognizing same-sex marriage.

Jamaican HIV/AIDS Activist Murdered

Lenford "Steve" Harvey, a longtime advocate for the rights and health of people living with HIV/AIDS in Jamaica, was found dead on the morning of Nov. 30 in a rural area near his home where he had been abducted during a robbery that night, according to Human Rights Watch. The openly gay 30-year-old activist had been shot many times in the back and head.

Four men entered Harvey's Kingston home at approximately 1 a.m. and tied up Harvey and two other individuals, according to the Human Rights Watch. The assailants robbed the home, left the two unidentified men in the house, and abducted Harvey in the vehicle he used for his outreach work for Jamaica AIDS Support Life (JASL), according to Christian Aid, a nonprofit agency that partners with JASL for promoting safer-sex education and AIDS awareness in Jamaica. Harvey's body was found later that morning. Local police found his gray Toyota Corolla that afternoon, according to Radio Jamaica, and continue to search for the perpetrators.

Harvey had worked for more than 10 years on behalf of Jamaicans living with HIV/AIDS, particularly marginalized groups like LGBT people, sex workers and prisoners. "Steve Harvey was a person of extraordinary bravery and integrity," said Rebecca Schleifer of Human Rights Watch in a statement. "I have seen the impact of Steve's work firsthand, and been inspired by his courage and capacity to reach out to and make a profound difference in the lives of Jamaicans affected by HIV/AIDS."

The brutal murder is the latest in a string of anti-gay violence in Jamaica, whose government announced on Nov. 25 that homicides had reached in all-time high in 2005, with 1,476 counted up to that date, according to United Press International. Last year one of Jamaica's leading gay rights activists, Brian Williamson, was brutally murdered, and reggae star Buju Banton awaits trial on charges that he allegedly took part in a vicious assault on six gay men earlier this year. Gay sex is illegal in Jamaica, and punishable by up to 10 years in prison with hard labor. "It is essential that his murder does not succeed in intimidating other human rights workers," HRW's Schleifer said. "It is vital that the Jamaican government condemns this brutal crime and brings the perpetrators to justice."

Vatican Releases Long-Rumored Ban on Gay Seminarians

On Nov. 29 the Vatican finally released a widely anticipated document advising seminary directors to refuse admission to prospective priests who "practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called 'gay culture,'" according to the Associated Press. The new directive, however, allows for a man who has been chaste for three years and overcome his "transitory problem" of homosexuality to be ordained.

The document was approved by Pope Benedict XVI on Aug. 31, according to the Associated Press; however, the document was not issued "in forma specifica," the National Catholic Reporter points out, meaning it is not invested with the pope's personal authority and is therefore open to possible future revision. It is the first major document released by the pope since his election by the conclave of cardinals in April.

Many see the new instructions as a reaction to the widespread sex abuse scandal that has rocked many U.S. Catholic dioceses, including Los Angeles. "The Vatican continues to erroneously focus on gay men as the cause of the church sexual abuse crisis," said Debra Weill, executive director of Dignity USA, a national organization of LGBT Catholics that operates outside the official church. "As much as the Vatican tries to paint pedophilia and homosexuality as one and the same, it simply isn't so," said National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman in a letter to The New York Times.

"These instructions discuss sexual orientation in ways which contradict contemporary understanding of human sexuality and clearly indicate church leaders are ill-informed on the subject," Weill said. "Gay men have served the church well as priests and bishops ... and will continue to do so." The new document makes no reference to gay men who are already ordained, only to those considering the priesthood.

The same day the new seminary instructions were issued, the official Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, published a commentary by Monsignor Tony Anatrella stating that homosexuality was "destabilizing people and society," according to Reuters. The French Jesuit's article, approved by the Vatican's secretariat of state, affirmed the church's stand that homosexuality "cannot be encouraged or, even less so, supported with pastoral initiatives." Reuters also quotes the Italian-language article as stating that homosexuality is "against conjugal life, the life of the family, and priestly life."

In a World AIDS Day message two days after the release of the document on gay seminarians, the pope expressed alarm at global AIDS statistics, according to Reuters. He cited the "pansexual culture that devalues sexuality, reducing it to a mere pleasure without further significance," as a major force in the spread of the virus, but conspicuously avoided mentioning the church's controversial and widely-criticized opposition to condom use.