Durban Calls Itself South Africa’s Gayest City Because It Has The Fewest Gay Bashings
Completely overstepping Johannesburg and Cape Town, Siphokazi Nombande of the Durban Lesbian and Gay Community Health Centre has gone ahead and declared Durban, a busy port with about 3.5 million residents, South Africa’s gayest city.
Why?
Because, she explains, “we have a very small number of hate crimes against gays and lesbians reported in Durban and KwaZulu-Natal in general. I would say there are ten cases that have been reported. But these are the cases that we have records of. There could be many more.” Did we mention it’s Durban Pride Week?
The coastal city, South Africa’s second-largest, actually has a lot going for it. But someone needs to help Nombande with her messaging. While other “gayest cities” concentrate on the number of queer attractions and the size of the local LGBT community, she’s all, “Gay people get beaten up here the least!” It really makes us wanna visit.
It could make LGBT tourists feel safer, isn’t that one of the main things that a city needs to have in order to have a high number of LGBT tourists? I know that if I was planning a trip to another country I would be sure to avoid (whenever possible) cities with a high number of attacks on LGBT people, as hard as that may be.
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Nothing better than a bit of competition. South Africa is becoming more Gay Friendly and offer every day more to the GLBT Community.
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Baby steps.