Lawmakers recognize gay marriage

South African lawmakers passed legislation recognizing gay marriage, though activists said it did not go far enough and opponents said it “was provoking God’s anger.” The bill is unprecedented on a continent where homosexuality is largely taboo.

Members of the governing African National Congress praised the Civil Union Bill for extending basic freedoms to everyone under the spirit of the country’s first post-apartheid constitution, adopted a decade ago by framers determined to make discrimination a thing of the past.

But Christian lawmaker Kenneth Meshoe called Tuesday the “saddest day in our 12 years of democracy.”