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Lesbian minister loses case in Constitutional Court

Ecclesia de Lange‚ who has been engaging in a long legal fight to be reinstated as a minister in the Methodist Church after she married her female partner‚ today saw her case dismissed by the Constitutional Court.

The Methodist Church “discontinued” De Lange from the ministry in 2010 after she announced that she planned to marry her lesbian partner in front of her congregation. De Lange remained an ordained minister but could not exercise any of the usual functions of a minister.

The rules of the church allowed her to present her dispute for arbitration. But before arbitration began‚ she lodged an application in the Cape Town High Court seeking her reinstatement. The court said she should wait for the arbitration process to be concluded before approaching the court.

She then appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal but lost there as well.

De Lange argued the church’s conduct contravened her right to equality under the Constitution‚ which prohibits unfair discrimination based on marital status or sexual orientation.

In a unanimous judgment written by Moseneke DCJ today‚ the Constitutional Court made four findings:

- De Lange had not shown good cause to set aside the arbitration agreement. Because the issue relates to interpretation of religious doctrine‚ arbitration would be the appropriate forum to examine the church’s application of its rule against same-sex marriages for ministers.

- De Lange had unequivocally disavowed her unfair discrimination claim before the High Court and was not free to raise the claim for the first time on appeal.

- De Lange should have first brought her unfair discrimination claim to the Equality Court.

- De Lange failed to file a notice in terms of the Uniform Rules of the High Court‚ an omission which deprived other interested parties including religious communities‚ of the opportunity to intervene as parties to the dispute or seek admission as amicus curiae in the High Court.