Congratulations to Cape Town, South Africa, for being dubbed (by CNN) as the “gay capital of Africa.” It was sort of an easy superlative to come by, because really, who was Cape Town up against? Kampala? Harare? [photo via]
monopolies
Was It That Hard to Choose Africa’s Gay Capital?
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Random Rashes
I thought it was Darfur hands down, my bad.
Nick
Actually, there probably would have been strong competition from Johannesburg. I hear that the gay community there is particularly thriving.
Cairo as well. However, that one would have been more subliminal.
Jason
J-burg is already Africa’s JEWISH capitol.
It’s unfair to claim two titles.
None
Congratulations. I’m sure that all the indigenous black and mixed raced gay men and women still reeling from apartheid and dwelling in shantytowns will be pleased with CNN’s announcement…
counterpoll
I was voting for “Ouagadougou” which has a dozen different spellings but which is very fun to say aloud. CNN didn’t permit me to vote.
Unless mistaken, I believe no African nation has yet codified any GLB antidiscrimination language into their national laws.
J’Burg is a fun place to visit, but I would most definitely want to live there as a g/l person. Or Trans, for that matter.
Hilarious
@None: Thank you!
m.safra
yay! that’s Clifton 3rd Beach. i lived in Clifton for 3 years.
NDM
@counterpoll. Well, the South African constitution does have a passage that explicitly says one cannot discriminate on the grounds of “sexual orientation”. Cape Town is widely accepted to be the gay capital of SA by most South Africans. Apparently men out number women 2 to 1 (or something like that) in Cape Town. We’re rather lucky in SA, we have the exactly the same (some would say even more) rights as straights. It’s just a pity that they’re not enforced as well as they should be ….
counterpoll
@NDM: Thanks for the info! I always suspected my African Studies professor was behind the times, and I have not made up for his lapses in my own reading. I apologise for my generalisation.
Enacting laws and enforcing them are two very different things in any country, aren’t they? Still, it’s far better to have the rules on the books than not.
DX
Uh, Tangier, Marrakesh…hell anywhere in Morocco. Guess the country’s been officially expelled from Africa. Burroughs must be turning over in his grave.
khoi_boi
@counterpoll: SA has legalized gay marriage and adoption, in addition to the Constitution clause. Not saying the whole country’s a love-fest, especially for township lesbians, but Cape Town has a long and rich open-ish gay history, much more so than Jo’burg. Mother City Queer Project, for instance, is a world famous party
Chris
Not Malawi? Damn.
JohnnyTrue
Some of my friends that live in Africa will save up just to go to S. Africa to have fun. Sure there are gay folks in Cairo – but with the government there firmly opposed to gay folks – I wouldn’t recommend going there if one is looking for a gay ole time.
Also gay folks have equality written in the constitution. When the new constitution was written following aparthied, Nelson Mendela and others made certain that we were included. That’s pretty freaking awesome.