Beloftebos wedding venue taken to court for refusing same sex couple

MEGAN Watling and Sasha-Lee Heekes's dreams were crushed when a wedding venue denied their request to host their same-sex marriage ceremony.

MEGAN Watling and Sasha-Lee Heekes's dreams were crushed when a wedding venue denied their request to host their same-sex marriage ceremony.

Published Jan 25, 2020

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Cape Town - The Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Cape Town is in the process of completing papers for the High Court and the Equality Court in the case involving Beloftebos wedding venue and a same-sex couple.

The property near Hermanus was thrust into the spotlight after it refused a lesbian couple’s request to have their wedding ceremony there.

In a post which has subsequently been removed from the Beloftebos website, the owners said: “We, the owners of Beloftebos are Christians who seek to honour and obey God in everything we do, including the way in which we operate our business.

“While the venue is available to people of all races, our Biblical conviction is that marriage is reserved for a life-long commitment between one man and one woman. This is a deeply held belief (not only for us, but for the vast majority of Christians around the world for over 2000 years) and is a foundational part of our faith as Christians.

“This belief in turn guides our venue’s policy. It is our conscience before God which prohibits us from hosting any other kind of ‘marriage’ on our property - not a fear or hatred of homosexual people (homophobia) as we have unfairly been accused of. For us, to host (and thereby enable, or celebrate) a same-sex ‘marriage’, would be to dishonour and disobey God - potentially with eternal consequences.”

Commissioner at the HRC Andre Gaum told Weekend Argus it was its view that Beloftebos’ conduct was “unconstitutional”.

“One cannot, on the basis of your religious beliefs, discriminate against the sexual orientation of others. It is disappointing that in this day and age we are still faced with this.”

Gaum said the HRC had been trying to mediate with Beloftebos since 2017 when the first complaint was laid against the venue for the same refusal to an American couple.

Attempts by Weekend Argus to get comment from the owners since last week were unsuccessful.

“South Africans should accept that we are a country united in our diversity. There is a real need for greater reconciliation among all South Africans,” said Gaum.

Social media support for Megan Watling and Sasha-Lee Heekes has grown and a petition has been started to support the couple.

In the past week, managing director of the Houw Hoek Hotel and Arniston Spa Hotel, near Hermanus, Robert Haarburger offered his venues to the brides-to-be.

In an email to Weekend Argus, Haarburger said: “Having read your article, I’m very disappointed in the Beloftesbos establishment, in their cancelling of the ladies’ gay marriage.

“Could you please make contact with the ladies concerned and offer either of my two establishments to them.”

Owner of catering company everythingfood021 Monray Scott also offered his services to Watling and Heekes, free of charge.

The couple would have to pay only for the food and Scott and his team will prepare everything, provide the equipment and serve the food.

“I don’t care for the reasons of the venue. We live in a time where there is so much negativity and not enough positivity. This should have been the happiest day of their lives and for someone to take away that happiness is just wrong,” said Scott.

Last week Weekend Argus reported that more than 300 signatures had been added to the petition in support of the couple and this week the tally exceeded 2600.

Watling and Heekes, in a Whatsapp message to Weekend Argus this week said: “We have received a lot of enquiries for follow-ups so we have been reverting them to our legal and PR consultant who is managing our interview schedule. It is not that we are avoiding the media. We have taken some time to process and to decide on the best way forward.”

Weekend Argus

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