We’ve established that we don’t like murder, but loyal readers know that we do like South Africa. It’s understandable, then, that we leapt at the opportunity to read this article on being gay in South Africa’s townships.
While South Africa has the world’s most progressive constitution (one that will soon become more inclusive with the court ordered passage of a gay-marriage amendment), homophobia still rears its ugly head, especialy in the townships. Take, for example, a young lesbians experience:
I’ve been raped six times, five times just because I am gay. I was raped by men I know, who wanted to show me what it means to be a woman. They thought it would change me, that it would keep me from being gay.
Not surprisingly, the young lesbian contracted HIV from one of the rapes.
As we’ve reported, despite evolving attitudes toward HIV, infections continue to mount in South Africa. While most new incubations comes from heterosexual relationships, doctors estimate that about a one-third of the nation’s homos are HIV positive. A man who called himself “Cassie” and who has been mourning the HIV-related death of his long-time lover, says: “The problem with gay men in the townships is they are so promiscuous. It is killing us. AIDS is killing us.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
It’s not the most uplifting article (obviously), but definitely worth a read…
Jean Meiring
It’s great that you offer sustained coverage of South Africa. Indeed, there’s an unhappy tension between what the country’s constitution states, mostly aspirationally, and the reality in the street. Both black and white cultures in the country are traditionally deeply homophobic – a reality brought home recently when Jacob Zuma, who many fear will become the next President, mouthed off against homosexuals. He did so in his native Zulu, hoping that his sentiments wouldn’t be translated into the country’s mainstream, mostly enlightened media. Alas for him, the story was widely aired and he emerged looking even more of a dangerous figure than he had after his rape trial, in which he was acquitted, but not before displaying a distressing level of ignorance about the spread of HIV. This all makes the legalisation of gay marriage – set for early December by imprimatur of the Constitutional Court – even more important. Notably, the strongest voices against the move have been those of the religious right – happily somewhat inarticulately – and it seems as if they’ve done too little too late. One wonders what they make of the Ted Haggard saga – a story surely too good to have been written by anyone but God, who clearly has a wicked sense of fun. To Queerty: keep up the good work!