Posted inEqualityGeneralNews/Politics

Religious freedom is not at stake

This past week long-time African Christian Democratic Party MP Cheryllyn Dudley called for the creation of a multiparty parliamentary committee focused on protecting religious freedom. This issue is becoming a hot topic among conservative politicians the world over, with numerous South African organisations such as Errol Naidoo’s Family Policy Institute (FPI) claiming to champion religious […]

Posted inEqualityGeneralNews/Politics

A queer understanding of community?

By Matthew Clayton* & Thorne Godinho** It should come as no surprise that South Africa’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex community is stratified along similar race and class lines as the rest of South African society. The big umbrella that is the LGBTI term actually falls short of being big enough to cover white […]

Posted inEqualityGeneralNews/Politics

The thinking Christian’s gay dilemma

It is no surprise, if media reports are to be believed, that the driving force behind Uganda’s new hate legislation against its LGBTI citizens is backed by US-based fundamentalist evangelical Christian organisations. It’s frankly embarrassing, as an albeit liberal Christian, to be associated even in general description with this kind of behaviour. What would Jesus […]

Posted inNews/Politics

Magical thinking is behind the gloom over SA’s Constitution

Despite the evidence to the contrary – 20 years of successfully protected freedoms – it has becoming increasingly fashionable to badmouth the South African Constitution. Sceptics range across the political spectrum, from radicals, who want the state to be unconstrained, to liberals who claim that the Constitution has effectively already been negated by the state. […]

Posted inEqualityGender violenceNews/Politics

Why are (black) men silent on the war on queer bodies?

By Gcobani Qambela and Thoko Sipungu Toni Morrison says “evil has a blockbuster audience, goodness lurks backstage. Evil has vivid speech, goodness bites its tongue”. It is not difficult to remember these words when looking at the peculiar silence from heterosexual black men when it comes to issues of LGBTI and queer individuals. Writing for […]

Posted inGeneral

Loving on Mugabe’s lap

By Gcobani Qambela May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (Idaho), presents an opportunity for us young people, the so-called “future leaders” of the continent, to reflect deeply about what we are going to do differently to our many ageing African homophobic and misogynistic leaders when it comes to our treatment of non-heterosexual […]