Woman Activist: Celebrating the role played by Ditsie in LGBTI activism

With Women’s Month coming to an end and the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) month approaching an LGBTI activist is remembered for the role she played for the emancipation of the LGBTI community.

LGBTI activist, filmmaker, musician, actor and television producer Beverly Palesa Ditsie (46) played an important role together with other activists such as Simon Nkoli during the apartheid era in ensuring that LGBTI rights are recognised in the Constitution.

Born and bred in Orlando West, Soweto Dintsie was an anti-apartheid LGBTI activist and also one of the founding members of Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand (GLOW) which was established in 1988 was the organisation involved in organising South Africa’s first Gay and Lesbian Pride March in Johannesburg in 1990.

According to the Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action (GALA), Glow insisted that liberation from homophobia could not be separated from the broader struggle for liberation in South Africa. GLOW was involved in the formation of the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality (NCGLE) and participated in the campaign to ensure sexual and gender rights were entrenched in South Africa’s new constitution.

As explained by the South African History Online, Dintsie during the drafting of the South Africa’s constitution was at the forefront arguing against the discrimination of people on the basis of sexual orientation.

In 1995 Ditsie spoke at the United Nations Conference on Women making her the first African lesbian to address gay and lesbian rights before a U.N. 4th World Conference on Women.

At the conference, Ditsie highlighted the importance of including lesbian rights in discussions about the empowerment and upliftment of women.

According to the South African History Online Ditsie said, “if the world conference on women is to address the concerns of all women, it must similarly recognise that discrimination based on sexual orientation is a violation of basic human rights.”

Despite the role, she played as an activist Ditsie has appeared in the South African television since the age of 10 as an actress, a presenter and voice over artist.

She has directed reality television shows such as; All you need is love, Big Brother Africa, Love life’s Scamtho ground breaker and ground to name a few.

In 2002 Ditsie spearheaded a documentary film ‘Simon and I’ an inspiring portrayal of black South African gay rights activist Simon Nkoli, who died of AIDS in 1998.

In an interview with Polari, Magazine Ditsie said; “I never saw myself as any kind of big deal in any way. I just did what needed to be done. There was Simon, a man, saying, ‘I’m black, I’m gay’ and I thought, I’m black and I’m gay, but where are the women speaking on my behalf? There were none so I stood up.

“We need to go back to basics as human beings – you see a vacuum and you fill it. I have great respect for anyone doing that – scientists, doctors, activists, anyone working for humanity, we have to see and treat each other as human beings, acknowledging and respecting who we all are. That’s how I’d like to be treated and I think it’s how I’ve lived my life. Everything I do comes from that place.”

Related Story: Black, Love, Borders: “Long live the undying spirit of Simon Nkoli

Social Media Platforms for News:

Twitter: @SowetoUrban, Facebook: Soweto Urban News, Instagram: @SowetoUrban

News site 1: Westside-Eldos Urban News, News site 2: Soweto Urban News