How Denying Marriage Equality is a Form of Apartheid

by Michael Jones · 2009-04-14 14:52:00 UTC
Topics:

Charlize Theron

Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, mixed it up a bit a few months ago, when she compared global laws that criminalize homosexuality to be like the system of apartheid - relics of colonialism that target the LGBT population unjustly and violate international human rights.

Now the Apartheid comparison is back, from an unlikely character: Charlize Theron.  The Academy Award-winning actress is taking Pillay a step further, suggesting that U.S. marriage laws that prevent same-sex couples from getting married are "like a form of Apartheid."

Is she right?

Here's Theron's take:

I don't like living in an elitist world, it bothers me. I don't want to be part of an elitist sexual preference. It bothers me, maybe it's because I come from a country where I lived under apartheid but this is a form of apartheid and I don't want to be a part of that.

It's not the reason I'm not getting married but it's maybe a part of it. My ability to get married is a piece of me that I wish I could give to somebody who it would mean so much to. We should all have the chance. It's just so caveman, I can't believe we're still talking about it.

"It's so caveman."  I like that.

As someone who lived under South Africa's Apartheid system, Charlize Theron might have a leg to stand on here.  Under South African apartheid, the government segregated services to black South Africans.  Under U.S. marriage laws, the government refuses to recognize marriage or civil unions for same-sex couples, and in the 2010 U.S. census, won't even bother to count LGBT families or parents.  In many states, LGBT people can't get into emergency rooms to be with their partner in times of health crisis, and cannot share health insurance or other benefits.  And, of course, in many states LGBT people can still be fired from their jobs on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Sound like Apartheid?  Damn right it does.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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