For example, in the case of Karner v. Austria,"’ the European Court of Human Rights found a violation of the prohibition of discrimination (art. Several years later, noting that a rapid evolution of social attitudes towards same-sex couples had occurred in many member States, the European Court directly recognized that same-sex couples enjoyed ‘family life’as protected by art. When the South African Constitutional Court decided that the absence in the 1996 draft Constitution of a clause protecting the right to marry or to family life did not invalidate the Constitution, it noted that the draft Constitution enshrined the values of “human dignity, equality and freedom” as well as “that everyone has the right to havetheirdignity respected and protected".