“The marriage officer likes to do the same-sexes early in the morning,” the woman said briskly, consulting her book. “Too much paperwork, you people. You’ve made our lives much more difficult.” 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/magazine/19lives-t.html?ref=magazine

An amazing little piece about a same-sex couple in South Africa and one man's experience with the paperwork. Brought a tear to my eye. An excerpt after the jump.

 LIVES

South African Rites

 By MARK GEVISSER

Earlier this year, I went to the Edenvale Home Affairs office, on a strip of auto-repair shops and scrap yards northeast of Johannesburg, to book my marriage. “Same sex or opposite sex?” barked the young black woman, gold hoops in her ears to match her attitude.

It took me a moment to respond. “Same sex,” I said, a little too loudly, looking around to see if any of the other clerks would look up in shock, or perhaps just interest. They did not.

“The marriage officer likes to do the same-sexes early in the morning,” the woman said briskly, consulting her book. “Too much paperwork, you people. You’ve made our lives much more difficult.”

Three years previously, the South African Parliament passed a law permitting gay marriage, upon injunction from the highest court in the land. My partner and I had been together for nearly two decades. We decided to marry now because it would facilitate our move to France, where he had been offered a job. It was, we told each other, just an administrative matter.

Read the rest: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/magazine/19lives-t.html?ref=magazine

— Lane