A Gauteng wedding venue is the latest to discriminate against gays and lesbians after it unceremoniously turned away a same-sex couple.
Last week, Wayne Van Der Schyff (31) and Kobus Smal (36) contacted Tameletjie, situated on a Farm in Endicott, Springs, about hosting their wedding in April.
The couple of three and a half years had chosen the venue for their special day after previously attending two heterosexual weddings at Tameletjie and falling in love with it.
Van Der Schyff was delighted when owner Antonett Cronje confirmed that the venue was available on the required date. “I told her how many guests we’ve got and she said she can’t wait to meet us.”
Van Der Schyff added: “I didn’t tell her about being a gay couple because I thought, ‘You know what, it shouldn’t matter.'”
It was only when he was on his way to Tameletjie to inspect the facilities on Wednesday that things turned sour.
Van Der Schyff received an unsettling WhatsApp message from Cronje. “Will it be a gay wedding?” she asked. “If so, then we cannot help you.” Cronje added: “It is against our principles.”
Van Der Schyff believes that Cronje may have only realised that his partner is a man when she saw his WhatsApp profile picture, which is of both men.
“I was really, really upset,” he told Mambaonline, “It feels like we are not part of humanity. It actually makes you feel inhuman”
Van Der Schyff said that while he knows that there are people who are racist and homophobic, they should not bring their bigotry into their business practices.
“It’s the same as them telling a white and a black person that they can’t get married there because it’s against their belief that you can’t mix races,” he said.
“Their website states that they can do any function and that they do the best for all their clients. Except for gays,” he pointed out.
Mambaonline called Cronje for comment. She, however, appeared to disconnect the call after we explained the reason for contacting her. She also did not answer further calls or our subsequent text and WhatsApp messages.
The couple are now looking for a new venue that meets their requirements and budget, but they don’t intend to stay silent about Tameletjie. Van Der Schyff is seeking legal advice and plans to lodge complaints with the SA Human Rights Commission and the Equality Court.
“I don’t want to leave this here. I’m sure there have been other couples before us who experienced the same thing and they kept quiet about it,” he said.
“We have friends [a straight couple] who were doing their wedding in September at this venue, and they are pulling out. They said that if we’re not welcome, they don’t want to have their wedding there.”
Numerous cases of discrimination against same-sex couples within the wedding industry have made headlines since same-sex marriage was legalised in South Africa in 2006.
Most recently, in November last year, two Cape Town men were humiliated after a leading wedding photographer cancelled their booking when he realised that they are a gay couple.
In August, Beloftebos, in the Western Cape village of Stanford, made headlines after it refused to allow a same-sex couple to marry at the venue.
Constitutional law expert Pierre De Vos has asserted that business owners cannot use their religious beliefs to deny LGBTIQ people service. It is not only unconstitutional to do so but it also violates The Equality Act, which prohibits the denial of services on the basis of sexual orientation.
12 Responses
Disgusting. Can you imagine how the couple must feel? I’ve given Tameletjie a single star review on facebook.
Their actions inhuman and by the way the owners of the Wedding Venue has the right to deny their request for same sax union, this is what we called “Right of Admission Reserved. Why force you way? Find a place that will allow wedding. Lord have mercy stop forcing your way
Uh no. Sorry. The peopele who did this with wedding cakes lost the case. These people will lose too. It’s called equality assholes. Treat all human beings with equality and compassion.
Homophobic businesses must be boycotted and prosecuted.
It has nothing to do with freedom of religion, choice or whatever. Individual freedom stops where community rights begin, hence racism, bigotry and discrimination are as illegal as theft and other crimes against the communal good.
You don’t like a particular group of people? F*ck off and live in a cave far away.
Uh no. Sorry. The peopele who did this with wedding cakes lost the case. These people will lose too. It’s called equality. Treat all human beings with equality and compassion.
Rev OP Bougardt
They are not forcing their way, it is regarding the principle of the matter….
It’s unconstitutional. Imagine the outcry if they said that they wont allow a mixed race couple or deny the the use of the venue on the grounds of the race of the person making the enquiry. “Right Of Admission Reserved” is often spuriously used to cover up racist and homophic beliefs when in fact it is really there to be to be used as a form of protection to keep undesirable elements out of a venue or to be able to eject overly boisterous patrons. If these owners see homosexual couples as undesirable due to some mythical passage in a mythical book, then it is them who have the problem. We live in 2018 in a country where same-sex couples have constitutional rights. Sadly it’s the bigots who spoil it.
Visit Garden World for your Dream Wedding, they accommodate same sex weddings. Contact them at http://www.gardenworld.co.za
Contact Elzeth at Misty Rivers in Eikenhof. We had a beautiful wedding there after also suffering such discrimination from another venue. http://www.mistyrivers.co.za or 0823764554. You will not be dissapointed.
As of now the venue has closed all it’s social media, I guess the felt the heat.
*they
Seen through the eyes of a gay man who grew up in the East Rand:
With all due respect, we are talking about the furthest East Rand… where tolerance for same sex couples still have not been fully accepted by the older generation. I speak from experience as my family resides in the East Rand and I rarely make an effort to visit, (that is another matter in its own)
From reading the comments I find it sad that people also feel the right to entitlement…
The gay couple; should have investigated the venue and their policies before deciding and settling on set venue. “Right of admission reserved” means the owner of the establishment has a right to choose as well, there for the couple should have handled the matter totally differently (i.e. done their respective research)… same way certain churches wont marry a gay couple, why should wedding venues or the owners #NOT_HAVE_RIGHTS
#Boys_throwing_their_TOYS