Johannesburg - On October 30 in 1990, a group of strong-willed LGBTQIA+ South Africans marched down the streets of Johannesburg. They marched with a clear message: to be treated with dignity and the same rights afforded to all.
They marched in protest against apartheid and the queer community being the target of homophobia, transphobia and intersectional discrimination. It was a march led by queer and anti-apartheid activists, Simon Nkoli and Beverley Ditsie through the Gay and Lesbian Community of the Witwatersrand (Glow).
Glow was founded by Nkoli in 1988. The march saw diverse faces united in their mission and intending to start a defiant movement and freedom of expression. Thirty-three years later, the pride march has continued with its original message in an evolved South African society, because while apartheid may have ended, discrimination against the queer community has continued to endure.
“We still create visibility and awareness. Whether you call it a 'jamboree', whether you call it a 'party with a purpose', I think, at the end of the day, the awareness is what's important ... There's still a lot of relevance in what we're doing,” said Kaye Alley, chairperson of Johannesburg Pride and founder of Pride of Africa.
Pride marches in post-apartheid South Africa have had more to celebrate and protest. While progress has been made in the visibility and access to rights for LGBTQIA+ South Africans, the national sanction of homophobic discrimination and violence has yet to be formalised.
This year’s march held in Sandton had thousands of South Africans on the streets, smiling and marching with their community members and allies. Even a suspected terrorist threat that targeted the United States embassy in Sandton did not flustered the organisers into moving or postponing the important annual event.
“We urge you to remember the essence of why pride began. It was, for all intents and purposes, a protest action; we as a continent have a very marginalized LGBTQIA+ community, we live under constant attack, and there is a constant fear of being arrested in 33 of 54 countries. Countries where LGBTQIA+ people are criminalised. Despite our constitutional rights, we are marginalised in South Africa,” Pride of Africa wrote in response to the terrorist threat impeding the march.
“The threat has provided an opportunity for homophobes to emerge, inciting a series of homophobic comments directed at Pride and our LGBTQIA+ community and the reason for our existence. We must establish our presence and demonstrate our strength as a united community. Coming together as an LGBTQIA+ community in Africa, South Africa, and Johannesburg,” it said.
LGBTQIA+ organisations sent an open letter to the Department of Justice in 2021, calling for action against the increased violence against their community members. News reports recorded 20 LBGTQIA+ individuals killed across South Africa between February and October 2021. This year, six queer individuals were killed in hate crime-related murders investigated by police, but the number could be significantly higher.
They were:
- Ruth Chigowe, a 24-year-old lesbian mom from Zimbabwe, was killed in Katlehong in the south of Johannesburg
- Nontokozo Caroline Motloung, 27, was found dead in Vereeniging
- Pinky Shongwe, a 32-year-old from Johannesburg
- Musa Xulu, a 25-year-old from Durban
- Emanuel Mouers, a 24-year-old from Cape Town
- and Unathi Webber, a 22-year-old Cape Town
There have also been suicides by queer South Africans who faced abuse and homophobic discrimination. The safety of LGBTQIA+ in the country has been threatened continuously over the years, with little confidence among its members that government can bring it to an end. But there is hope, there always has to be hope.
In an article published by the Mail & Guardian in August this year, transgender activist Cassandra Roxburgh wrote a poignant statement on South Africa’s known identity in the face of adversity.
“South Africa was born in rebellion, yet the gatekeepers of our cultural identity are arrogant enough to think that their patriarchal structures will ever be able to constrict the vibrancy and beauty of queerness in this country. You can’t kill us in a way that matters,” Roxburgh wrote.
Our country’s legislature on same-sex marriage is one of the most respected in the world, as is our Constitution. Yet the treatment that lesbian, gay, transgender, and queer South Africans face is an antithesis of the pictures portrayed to the public eye.
There is no definition of a hate crime under South African law at present but parliament could change that. All political parties could change that if they pushed for it as much as protection for women and children against violence.
South Africans are known for marching on the streets to have their voices heard, and it has worked. The question to pose to the government is how long the LGBTQIA+ community must wait before violence against them is further outlawed and they can move freely in their land.