The Windhoek High Court on Wednesday ruled in favour of Phillip Lühl, thus granting citizenship to his son born via surrogacy in South Africa in 2019, a decision hailed as a victory by Equal Namibia.

Equal Namibia is a youth movement for equality led by grassroots activists and community organisers, supported by a coalition of individuals and civil society organisations, describing itself as committed to realising the constitutional promise of equality and fundamental civil rights, to its fullest extent, for LGBTQ+ persons.

The movement said in a statement on Wednesday that High Court Judge Thomas Masuku ruled in favour of the constitutional promise of equality the Republic of Namibia was founded on.

“Yona, Paula and Maya, the children of Phillip and Guillermo Delgado-Lühl, have been declared Namibian citizens by descent, as per their constitutional right,” read the statement.

It added: “It is disheartening that public policy, in the form of State-sanctioned homophobia, has been abused by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security to infringe on the fundamental rights and liberties of Queer Namibians enshrined in the Constitution.”

Judge Masuku also ordered the ministry to pay the couple’s legal costs and issue national documents to Yona within 30 days and dismissed the MHAISS requirement for a DNA test to determine paternity for citizenship.

“Namibians are not immune to the horrors of discrimination; their past have been defined by a time when the State policed free love solely on the basis of one’s race – today the State continues to police free love solely on the basis of one’s sexuality,” Equal Namibia also charged, adding: “But today, equality under the law prevailed. This is a significant day for our democracy. To be Born-Free is to be emancipated from the shackles of discrimination and oppression.”

MHAISS Executive Director Etienne Maritz also responded, stating that the order was not accompanied by reasons, as Judge Masuku indicated that the reasons for the order shall be delivered on 19 October 2021.

Maritz in a statement on Wednesday said they were not in an immediate position to comment on the order or make a pronouncement on the next course of action.

“Our next course of action will be informed by a careful study and appreciation of the reasons for the order and such course of action will be taken within the parameters permitted by law,” he said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency