Friday December 15, 7:39 PM     Reuters*

Africa's first legally married gay couple get rings*

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - There was a sense of deja vu on Friday as Africa's
first gay couple to be legally married had wedding rings slipped onto
their fingers -- again.

Conservationists Vernon Gibbs, 38, and his partner of eight years, Tony
Halls, 52, beat the rush to marry on December 1 when South Africa became
the first country on the continent to legalise same-sex marriages.

On Friday, the newlyweds drove hundreds of kilometres from their home in
Riversdale east of Cape Town to collect two specially made rings from
Uwe Koetter Jewellers.

"Gosh, they are lovely," enthused Gibbs as his eyes fell on the 18 karat
gold ring, with brilliant cut white diamond seemingly suspended between
two bands of gold.

The unisex rings, which designer and Koetter co-owner Johan Louw
fashioned, were not seen nor fitted in person by the two men before
Friday's meeting.

Corresponding by email, Gibbs and Halls both chose the same design
submitted among many by Louw.

"It depicts so much about unity and bonding with the tenderness of the
solitaire diamond seemingly loose but joining the two metals. There
seems to be something really fragile yet incredibly strong about it,"
the married couple wrote to Louw when choosing their rings.

Louw said his jewellers received some hate mail, mostly from the
religious right, opposing the company's decision to make the rings,
together valued at more than 30,000 rand ($4,285).

"I don't want to call it a publicity stunt because to me its a big
thing. We've come a long way in this country over the last 10 years, and
I see it as a continuation of liberalisation of human expression in this
country," Louw said.

Gibbs and Halls were married in a magistrate's office in the
southeastern town of George with rings they first used in a commitment
ceremony in 2002.