in 2004, boesak came out in favour of same-sex marriage in south africa, a year before the country's constitutional court ruled that the denial of marriage to gay people was discriminatory and violated the country's constitution. in 2008, while serving as the moderator of the cape synod of the uniting reformed church in southern africa, to the shock of many senior church leaders, boesak announced that he was going to resign all of his positions within the church because of its discriminatory position on homosexuality and gay and lesbian people. he invoked the anti-apartheid 1986 belhar confession, which lambasts all forms of discrimination, to say that the church should welcome gays and lesbians, begin to perform gay marriage ceremonies, and appoint gay clergy.