SA TV’S FIRST GAY WEDDING

Five days after it was made legal in South Africa, SABC 3’s Isidingo will be broadcasting the first soapie same-sex marriage.

After weeks of agonising build-up, viewers will finally witness the fictional legal union of Steve (Emmanuel Castis) and Luke (Gary D’Alessandro).

According to the storyline, the lovers first met in Cape Town and hit it off, even though Steve was in an unofficial relationship with Paul (Carl Beukes) who was still living in Johannesburg. Before Steve could marry Luke, he had to return to Johannesburg to clear the air with Paul. Steve also had to battle with deep-seated prejudice from his mother whose disapproval of the impending nuptials was very apparent. No amount of pleading from Steve could sway her and it took an open and honest discussion with her future son-in-law to sway her. When she saw how much Luke loves Steve she had to reluctantly acknowledge that perhaps the marriage was the best thing for her son.

“The team at Isidingo is very proud of this storyline. In the usual Isidingo style the series is dealing with an issue that is current, newsworthy, possibly controversial and very pertinent to being a South African. And they are dealing with it head-on by putting the wedding on air in the week that same-sex marriages are officially made legal.” says Pumla Hopa, Isidingo’s Executive Producer.

The ground-breaking TV wedding will be broadcast on Wednesday 6 December at 18h30 on Isidingo (SABC 3).