the world and the first in Africa to legalize same-sex marriage. Indeed, the act allows both same-sex and opposite-sex couples to contract unions, and allows a couple to choose to call their union either a marriage or a civil partnership. Whichever name is chosen, the legal consequences are the same as those under the Marriage Act (which allows only for opposite-sex marriages). Prior to the introduction of same-sex marriage, court decisions and statutes had recognised permanent same-sex partnerships for various specific purposes, but there was no system of domestic partnership registration. The rights recognised or extended by the courts include the duty of support between partners, immigration benefits, employment and pension benefits, joint adoption, parental rights to children conceived through artificial insemination, a claim for loss of support when a partner is negligently killed, and intestate inheritance. Rights extended by statute include protections against domestic violence and the right to family responsibility leave. Adoption and parenting A number of High Court judgments have determined that the sexual orientation of a parent is not a relevant issue in decisions on child custody. In 2002, the Constitutional Court's ruling in Du Toit v Minister of Welfare and Population Development gave same-sex partners the same adoption rights as married spouses, allowing couples to adopt children jointly and allowing one partner to adopt the other's children. The adoption law has since been replaced by the Children's Act, 2005, which allows adoption by spouses and by "partners in a permanent domestic life-partnership" regardless of orientation. In 1997, artificial insemination, which was previously limited to married women, was made legal for single women including lesbians. In the 2003 case of J v Director General, Department of Home Affairs, the Constitutional Court ruled that a child born by artificial insemination to a lesbian couple was to be regarded as legitimate, and that the partner who was not the biological parent was entitled to be regarded as a natural parent and to be recorded on the child's birth certificate. In November 2017, the National Assembly passed the Labour Laws Amendment Act 10 of 2018, introduced as a private member's bill by African Christian Democratic Party MP Cheryllyn Dudley. It was signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa in November 2018. The law allows same-sex couples, as well as adoptive and surrogate parents, to take parental leave, and fathers will get at least 10 days paternity leave when a