Cape Town – The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has filed an application against Stanford wedding venue Beloftebos and its owners for allegedly discriminating against same-sex couples.
It is hoping its application to the Equality Court, sitting in the Western Cape High Court yesterday, will set a precedent that will prevent other businesses from refusing services to same-sex couples.
Beloftebos first made headlines in 2017 when it allegedly refused to host Alexandra Thorne and Alex Lu, telling them this was because they “only host heterosexual marriages”.
In January this year they are alleged to have once again refused a couple based on their sexuality.
Sasha-Lee Heekes and fiancée Megan Watling wanted to celebrate their marriage at Beloftebos in April next year, but the owners allegedly refused, saying Christianity did not allow same sex marriage.
SAHRC Commissioner Andre Gaum yesterday said they believed Beloftebos was in violation of the Constitution.
“There is a clear need for us to intervene. This case is (being brought) so that no other businesses, not
just wedding venues, will apply
unfair, discriminatory practices,” Gaum said.
Heekes and Watling are
expected to launch their own application, Gaum said, which they planned to consolidate with the SAHRC’s.
According to the SAHRC’s papers, they want the court, among other things, to declare that Beloftebos has breached the Equality Act in that it unfairly discriminated on the grounds of sexual orientation; to restrain Beloftebos from applying their policy of not allowing wedding services for same-sex couples and order Beloftebos to issue both couples an apology.
They also want the apology published on Beloftebos’s website for a year.
Several attempts to reach Beloftebos’s owners telephonically were unsuccessful yesterday, and an email and text message to owner Coia de Villiers went unanswered.