RAINBOW flags were flying high as Durban’s LGBTQ+ communities, celebrated Durban Pride at the Gugu Dlamini park, on Saturday.
They also celebrated the legal equality for the South African LGBTQ+ communities and remembered those who lost their lives to hate crimes.
The day was also used to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York in 1969. Police harassed patrons of the Stonewall Inn, a local gay bar and trans women led by Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P Johnson fought back, sparking a riot which lasted three days and gave birth to the LGBTQ+ liberation movement.
With this year’s theme Keep the Promise to LGBTQ+ People, the headline sponsor of Durban Pride, the Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF) reaffirmed its commitment to the LGBTQ+ community.
“We recently celebrated the decriminalisation of consensual same-sex relations in Botswana. This battle is part of the larger war that still rages, as 29 African nations consider same-sex relations as unlawful. These laws make it harder to combat HIV because people are afraid to ask for help for fear of prosecution. That is why AHF is supporting Durban Pride,” said Hilary Thulare, AHF South Africa, Country Programme Director.
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Same-sex marriage was legalised after a landmark ruling by the Constitutional Court in 2006, making South Africa the only African country with full legal equality for LGBTQ+ people. Despite progressive laws, hate crimes against LGBTQ+ continue and stigma and discrimination are common.
Larissa Klazinga, Regional Policy and Advocacy Manager, AHF South Africa said: “AHF keeps the promise to the LGBTQ+ community to ensure stigma-free healthcare for all. We stand with the LGBTQ+ community against homophobia and discrimination. Phrases used in the media like ‘sexual preference’ perpetuate the mistaken belief that being gay is a choice. It isn’t. People with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations must be welcomed in our healthcare facilities and treated with dignity. AHF commits to doing just that.”
No historic reflection on LGBTQ+ rights in South Africa would be complete without acknowledging the sacrifices made by people like Simon Tseko Nkoli and Prudence Nobantu Mabele.
At the Delmas Treason Trial Nkoli was one of the first anti-apartheid activists to publicly come out as gay. In the 1990s, Nkoli advocated to destigmatise HIV and was a founding member of GLOW (Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand).
His death from AIDS in 1998 sparked the establishment of the Treatment Action Campaign. Prudence Mabele was one of the first South African women to publicly disclose her HIV status. She went on to found Positive Women’s Network and was a champion for LGBTQ+ rights and against gender-based violence until her death in 2017.
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