This Youth Day, as much as we look back on that iconic moment in South Africa's history that was the 1976 Soweto Uprising, it’s important that we also look at the state in which our youth currently find themselves, especially the LGBTQI+ youth.
June is also Pride Month, 30 days dedicated to celebrating and remembering the impact that the LGBTQI+ community has made and the strides that still need to be taken to create a safe environment for the queer community.
A word so common, yet commonly misunderstood, homophobia is described as “the irrational fear, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or gay people.”
The term LGBTQIA+ includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual, pansexual and non-binary people.
Gen Z are twice as likely as Millennials and four times as likely as Gen X and Boomers to identify as bisexual, pansexual/omnisexual, or asexual. Around 634,000 South Africans identified as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, in 2019.
South African youth are shaping the way society thinks about diversity, possessing an open and caring outlook, eager to learn and support others.
“The youth are leading the way in learning how to be more inclusive, while still respecting their heritage. In all religious groups and faith systems, there are those that are exclusionary and those that are inclusive of LGBTQI+. Our youth are embracing these ideals, which makes way for a stronger society, more social inclusion and more progress,” explains Kim Lithgow, Chief Executive Officer of Same Love Toti, a non-profit LGBTQ+ organisation based in Durban.
Same Love Toti has a helpline that offers free counselling with a trained counsellor, also offering support whenever queer people experience discrimination.
Behind the scenes, the organisation works with other groups pushing towards better legislation and policies that will protect the LGBTQI+ community from any hatred and discrimination that they experience.
But, in seemingly progressive times, South Africa is still homophobic in less subtle and more dangerous ways.
In theory, South Africa is paradise for the LGBTQIA+ community due to legislation; for example, the Civil Union Amendment Bill passed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in October 2020 prohibiting the denial of civil same-sex marriages by magistrates and state marriage officers.
In May 1996, South Africa became the first jurisdiction in the world to provide constitutional protection to LGBTQ+ people, stipulated in the South African Constitution, which condemns discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation and other grounds.
“Pride Month began because of the homophobia and transphobia that LGBTQI+ people experienced. People used to think that being gay was an illness and [queer] people were jailed for being gay. But in 1991, after years of research, the World Health Organisation declassified being gay [as an illness].
Today, it is not a crime to be gay or transgender or intersex, and in South Africa, LGBTQI+, people are constitutionally and legally protected from discrimination,” continues Lithgow.
Although our Constitution may not practice discrimination, it is still quite common amongst individuals who have not outgrown internalised homophobia.
The ideal scenario would be full acceptance, but legislation does not necessarily change a country’s mindset.
Homophobia is not just mocking someone’s identity with a few jokes or insults thrown around; in fact, the consequences have often materialised as life-threatening.
“LGBTQI+ youth are demonised, ostracised and victimised. They experience violence in schools, they are humiliated by peers and teachers alike, leading to them dropping out of school and suicidal ideation. LGBTQI+ adults are rejected by communities, assaulted, raped and murdered,” elaborated Lithgow.
South Africa has shocking and terrifying statistics of femicide, which has sometimes manifested as lesbian women experiencing violent sexual assault at the hands of men, who see these acts as a way to “fix” them.
“Curative rape” for lesbian women and gay men being brutally harassed (including those identifying as transgender) are increasing. Gender Based Violence in SA not only affects all women, but especially women (and those identifying as women) of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Discrimination against the queer community is usually based in misinformation and negative stereotypes. Challenging those stigmas and replacing ignorance with facts goes a long way in promoting the inclusion and acceptance of the LGBTQI+ community.
Lithgow says that the best thing straight allies of the LGBTQI+ community can do is learn, support and accept their queer friends and family, especially because they are not supported by others.
“Your support can mean life or death for that one LGBTQI+ person. Accept your friend, because we all need belonging. Learn more about what it really means to be gender diverse, or gender non-conforming, or gay, or lesbian, or transgender. If you are not LGBQTI+, then you cannot talk from experience, but LGBTQI+ [people] do speak from their own experiences. So learn from them.”
Same Love Toti will be celebrating Pride Month by attending Pride events in the Durban area.
“We generally attend as a group so that parents can also come along and enjoy this time with their children. It is a time to embrace all types of families and celebrate each family member, even if they are gay or lesbian or transgender or intersex, or any other sexual or gender identity. Each one is a valuable individual, loved and valid and respected. Everyone belongs. We may have different families, but we all have the same love for each other. This world is a better place because you are in it! Our diversity is our strength.”
Pride exists with one goal in mind, to show that queer people exist, and in South Africa, Pride has also become a celebration of diversity, where creativity is expressed and affirmed.
For some people it is a beacon of hope, a demonstration that you are not alone, an affirmation that you are valid.
This article was originally published in June 2023.
