Religious and cultural discourses shape relationships/marriages. The constructed nature of relationships/marriages opens the possibility for alternative relational realities. Positioning relationships/marriages in alternative discourses assisted the couples to construct a preferred relationship narrative. Three couples embarked on this feminist participatory action research journey - a couple from the Jehovah's Witnesses tradition,' a couple from the Dutch Reformed Church and a couple from a Gay Refonned Church. Conversations with the participating couples deconstructed their relationships. It also enabled the couples to co-author alternative, preferred realities of their relationships/marriages and to provide rich descriptions of these. / Practical Theology / M. Th. (Pastoral Therapy)

This short dissertation is an appraisal of same-sex marriages. The traditional arguments against same-sex unions are examined and rejected as being circular, unconvincing and baseless. Some of the international developments on the subject of same-sex unions are examined and it is noted that a slow but distinct change in attitude towards same-sex marriages is beginning to emerge from international judiciaries. The legal position of people with same-sex orientation in the South African legal system is examined with special reference to our Constitution. It is submitted that our Constitution is the foremost vehicle for legal change in this regard and that the equality clause of our Constitution is authority for the recognition by the law of same-sex marriages. This dissertation concludes that same-sex marriages ought to be fully accepted and recognised by the law for reasons, inter alia, of fairness and equality for people of same-sex orientation. / Constitutional, International & Indigenous Law / LL. M.

<p>Marriage is an institution found in every society, culture or religion in the world. The Catholic Church has maintained most of her seven Sacraments including that of marriage. The Church of Sweden, an established Evangelical Lutheran faith, born out of the 16^th century Reformation has two Sacraments excluding marriage. This field study was carried out in Gävle, Sweden in spring 2009. A comparative study of marriage in the Catholic Church and the Church of Sweden and the reason each church alludes to based on scripture and tradition was to help me, an African Catholic, understand differences between the respective churches and also understand why the Church of Sweden accepts same sex marriages. This was my motivation for writing this paper. I hope this paper will serve as a study guide to new people who come to Sweden from other cultures to enable them understand why the “Modus Operandi” regarding church marriage in Sweden is different from the church marriage in their native countries.</p>

Marriage is an institution found in every society, culture or religion in the world. The Catholic Church has maintained most of her seven Sacraments including that of marriage. The Church of Sweden, an established Evangelical Lutheran faith, born out of the 16th century Reformation has two Sacraments excluding marriage. This field study was carried out in Gävle, Sweden in spring 2009. A comparative study of marriage in the Catholic Church and the Church of Sweden and the reason each church alludes to based on scripture and tradition was to help me, an African Catholic, understand differences between the respective churches and also understand why the Church of Sweden accepts same sex marriages. This was my motivation for writing this paper. I hope this paper will serve as a study guide to new people who come to Sweden from other cultures to enable them understand why the “Modus Operandi” regarding church marriage in Sweden is different from the church marriage in their native countries.

本文旨在探討台灣新聞媒體對於同性婚姻議題的再現，觀察再現論述語言中的特性，包含新聞媒體如何建構同性婚姻議題，以及議題中的同志。亦試圖討論論述特性所隱含的權力關係或意識形態。接著，搭配社會政治脈絡背景，觀察再現論述隨社會變遷與婚姻平權運動發展所產生的變化，討論再現論述與社會之間的互動關係。 　　本研究以《中國時報》、《自由時報》、《聯合報》與《蘋果日報》為研究文本，蒐集2005～2014年共十年間的同性婚姻相關報導，先使用量化的語料庫分析法統計新聞用語和其頻率，再以此資料為基礎，挑出兩則代表性文本進行質性的批判論述分析。 　研究發現，十年間皆存在的論述特性有：（一）反對方自我建構為「多數弱勢」；（二）生育能力為婚姻授權的一大關鍵；（三）同性婚姻與同志是二元對立中的他者。而過去十年間，媒體再現中最關注的是同性婚姻合法化。前五年主要將其描述為單向攻防戰，後五年則建構為勢均力敵的戰爭及國際趨勢。同志主體主要被以「同志遊說」論述來建構，同志的圖像是爭取權利的人。女同志性別被標示的頻率是男同志的1.5倍，顯示女同志受到性傾向與性別上的雙重不平等。另外，同志被視為是一種身分，且可能因為這個身分標籤，被分類為異性戀之外的他者。 　　論述變遷方面，研究發現整體而言後五年的消息來源比前五年來得多元，「異性戀」被標示的情形也增加了。再現論述的變化，代表著新聞產製與社會之間的互動，呼應了文化學者Hall提出的再現動態變化性。 / The aim of this study is to investigate the representation discourse of same-sex marriage issue on the newspapers in Taiwan. The study focuses on the discourse characters, including how media construct same-sex marriage and gays’ image in this issue, and the possible power relationships and ideology within discourses. Besides, how discourses changed along with the social change and marriage equality movement development is also discussed. It relates to the interaction between representation discourse and society. 　　The texts are the same-sex marriage related articles from 2005 to 2014, which are collected from four main newspapers in Taiwan: Chinatimes, Liberty Times, United Daily News and Apple Daily. The study method is first using corpus soft ware WordSmith6 to calculate the words appear in these texts and its frequencies, then basing on those quantitative data to further conduct qualitative discourse analysis. 　　My findings indicate that over the past ten years, the characters of discourse includes the opponents would self-construct as “the disadvantaged majority”; Infertility is a key weakness which builds a wall between gays and marriage; same-sex marriage and gay are “the others” in the binary opposition discourse. 　　Within these ten years, the most focused issue of same-sex marriage representation is legalization. During 2005-2009, same-sex marriage legalization was constructed as a castle war, and for 2010-2014, it was constructed as an evenly-matched war and international trend. Gay images in those discourses were mostly constructed with “the gay lobby” discourse. The gender of lesbians was marked more often than gay men, which shows lesbians suffering a double inequality on sex orientation and gender. Also, Gay was considered as an identity, and gays may be classified as “other” because of this identity label. During these ten years, the biggest news source was gay. Generally, the news sources were more diversified within 2010-2014 than within 2005-2009, and the frequency of “heterosexuality” noted increased. The change of discourses represent that the interaction between news production and society, responded to the flow of representation which is raised by Hall.

[pt] Existe um conflito de direitos entre homossexuais e indivíduos que seguem religiões que pregam que a homossexualidade é contrária às leis divinas e que o casamento é uma união sagrada entre um homem e uma mulher. Esse conflito foi potencializado a partir da legalização do casamento homoafetivo. Por um lado, indivíduos homossexuais têm o direito à igualdade, o que significa que não devem ser discriminados por causa de sua orientação sexual; por outro lado, indivíduos religiosos têm a liberdade de crer em determinada religião e adotar condutas que estejam de acordo com suas crenças. Dentre as situações que podem gerar conflito, três são analisadas neste trabalho: a recusa de um indivíduo religioso a celebrar ou contribuir para uma cerimônia de casamento homoafetivo, com base na perspectiva religiosa sobre o conceito de casamento; a recusa por parte de um psicólogo a atender um paciente homossexual ou casal homoafetivo, sob o fundamento de que suas crenças religiosas o impedem de manifestar aprovação em relação à homossexualidade ou auxiliar uma união homoafetiva durante o atendimento; a recusa religiosamente motivada a fornecer produtos que manifestam apoio ao casamento homoafetivo ou alguma causa LGBT. Além do estudo de doutrina estrangeira sobre o tema, são examinadas dez decisões judiciais referentes a casos concretos ocorridos nos Estados Unidos, Reino Unido e Canadá, com o objetivo de auxiliar na elucidação de parâmetros claros para a melhor resolução da controvérsia em questão, ante a razoável expectativa de que, em breve, conflitos semelhantes surgirão no Brasil. / [en] There is a conflict of rights between homosexuals and individuals who follow religions that preach that homosexuality is contrary to the laws of God and marriage is a sacred union between one man and one woman. This conflict was intensified after the legalization of same-sex marriage. On the one hand, homosexual individuals have the right to equality, which means they must not be discriminated on basis of sexual orientation; on the other hand, religious individuals have the right to believe in a religion and act according to their beliefs. This paper will examine three situations that might cause conflict: the refusal to celebrate or contribute to a same-sex wedding, because of one s religious views on marriage; the refusal to assist a homosexual patient or a same-sex couple, by a psychologist or counselor whose religious beliefs prevent them from affirming homosexuality or assisting a same-sex union; the religiously motivated refusal to print materials that promote same-sex marriage or other LGBT interests. This dissertation will look at foreign studies on the matter, and will examine ten judicial decisions on cases that occurred in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, in order to help create clear parameters to resolve the controversy, which is likely to soon arise in Brazil.

Religious and cultural discourses shape relationships/marriages. The constructed nature of relationships/marriages opens the possibility for alternative relational realities. Positioning relationships/marriages in alternative discourses assisted the couples to construct a preferred relationship narrative. Three couples embarked on this feminist participatory action research journey - a couple from the Jehovah's Witnesses tradition,' a couple from the Dutch Reformed Church and a couple from a Gay Refonned Church. Conversations with the participating couples deconstructed their relationships. It also enabled the couples to co-author alternative, preferred realities of their relationships/marriages and to provide rich descriptions of these. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Pastoral Therapy)

This short dissertation is an appraisal of same-sex marriages. The traditional arguments against same-sex unions are examined and rejected as being circular, unconvincing and baseless. Some of the international developments on the subject of same-sex unions are examined and it is noted that a slow but distinct change in attitude towards same-sex marriages is beginning to emerge from international judiciaries. The legal position of people with same-sex orientation in the South African legal system is examined with special reference to our Constitution. It is submitted that our Constitution is the foremost vehicle for legal change in this regard and that the equality clause of our Constitution is authority for the recognition by the law of same-sex marriages. This dissertation concludes that same-sex marriages ought to be fully accepted and recognised by the law for reasons, inter alia, of fairness and equality for people of same-sex orientation. / Constitutional, International and Indigenous Law / LL. M.

In the last few years, an ever growing number of States have recognized same-sex marriage. For that reason, it is important to ask what would happen if two same-sex individuals that have legally contracted marriage in another countrywould sue for its recognition in Peru. The authors of this article study the courses ofaction available to legal operators facing this situation, in the context of the public policy exception and International Human Rights Law.For that purpose, they analize European and Inter-American case-law on the matter and offer a way forward on how to solve conflicts between foreign law, domestic law, and human rights. / Durante los últimos años, cada vez más ordenamientos jurídicos han regulado el matrimonio entre personas del mismo sexo. Es importante por ello preguntarse qué sucedería si dos personas del mismo sexo que hayan contraído matrimonio legalmente en otro país exigieran que el mismo fuera reconocido en Perú.Los autores de este artículo indagan sobre las posibilidades de acción de los operadores jurídicos ante esta situación, en el marco del orden público internacional y el Derecho Internacional de los Derechos Humanos. Para ello, analizan jurisprudencia tanto europea como interamericana sobre el tema, además de ensayar una solución sobre cómo resolver conflictos entre los ordenamientos extranjeros, la normativa nacional y los derechos humanos.

The general objective of the study is to assess the role of culture and traditions as stumbling blocks in the legal reform that would lead to the decriminalization of same-sex sexual intercourse. Focuses on the sodomy laws in Africa with specific reference to Uganda. Compares the Ugandan and South African legal regimes. Uganda is chosen because it represents one of the African countries where same-sex unions are specifically prohibited by the Constitution. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2007. / A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Prof Pierre de Vos of the Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town South Africa. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM