Home>News>South Africa>Here comes the grooms..history is made.
Here comes the grooms..history is made.
South Africa

Here comes the grooms..history is made.

Two gay bi-national men who campaigned for the right to marry in a South African prison have married at the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Johannesburg.

South African Gregg Wiggill and Australian John Pettigrew have the dubious distinction of becoming the first gay couple to marry in a South African correctional centre, according to the Sunday Times.

While awaiting trial in an East London prison, the two men were imprisoned for fraud and first refused the opportunity to marry by the Department of Correctional Services.

Pettigrew and Wiggell
First gay couple to be married in a South African detention centre

While they were initially allowed to stay in the same cell, they later filed a discrimination lawsuit against the prison chief after being separated due to allegations that they were having sex.

Wiggill, called the Melville Fraudster, and Pettigrew were accused of scamming members of Johannesburg’s gay and lesbian community, notably clients of the city’s famed Oh Bar, in 2008 and 2009. They escaped after being detained and freed pending trial, only to be apprehended again. Wiggill was subsequently sentenced to probation, but Pettigrew was acquitted.

Their marriage preparations were thwarted further when Pettigrew was held in a deportation centre in October of last year because his visitor’s visa had expired. Because Pettigrew was an illegal immigrant, the Department of Home Affairs also refused to allow them to marry.

The pair went to the Johannesburg High Court, which found in their favour and ordered the department to allow the men to marry.

They ultimately exchanged vows on Friday. According to the Times, Wiggill sobbed as he placed his father’s ring on Pettigrew’s finger.

“We’ve fought long and hard for this,” Pettigrew told the publication. “This is the first time we’ve touched each other in six months.”

The couple intends to petition for Pettigrew’s permanent residency as Wiggill’s husband.

Please follow and like us:

Leave a Reply