GAY & LESBIAN PRIDE NEWS
Pride and prejudice
Melanie Judge and Helen Wells | October 03, 2005
Scene from Pride 2005
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A broken bottle was thrown off a high rise building in Hillbrow seriously injuring a young black lesbian women during the 2005 Joburg Pride march. Despite being able to boast the most progressive Constitution in the world, this incident throws into the spotlight the stark reality of being gay or lesbian in South Africa. And so we ask: Are LBGT people feeling the positive impact of the laws and policies that enshrine our right to equal benefit and protection by the law? Or, are we still dodging the broken bottles of widespread prejudice and homophobia?
Since the onset of our democracy, notions of equality, human dignity and freedom have been central to South African legal reform and jurisprudence. With the Constitution as the embodiment of our foundational values as a nation, we can be proud that non discrimination is an integral part of the judicial and legislative system. Indeed, the Equality Clause in the South African Constitution is the first in the world to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and the repeal of laws that discriminate against lesbian and gay people has formed a crucial part of a broader transformation agenda that commits itself to respect for diversity and human rights.
So, why is it that instead of being able to freely express our sexual and gender identities on the streets of our cities, we are still not adequately protected from hate speech and attack? The harsh reality is that the human rights of gay and lesbian people are still under threat in South Africa, as is evident in the almost daily occurrences in which we face exclusion, marginalisation and abuse because of our sexual orientation. High levels of homophobia and insufficient interventions to both combat and respond to daily human rights violations, are partly the stumbling block toward ensuring that legal gains translate into real life changes.
A recent study conducted by OUT LGBT Well-being, in collaboration with seven other LGBT organisations, brings to the fore the experiences of victimisation currently facing lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Gauteng. The study – quantitative in nature, representative, and the first of its kind in South Africa – draws on hard statistics about the lived experience of being lesbian, gay or bisexual in South African today.
Hate speech and hate crimes against lesbian, gay and bisexual people are widespread. The study showed that hate speech was experienced by 40% of lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Gauteng in 2002/2003. These incidents have a negative impact on personal well-being, and in some instances hate speech may even prove fatal. The data indicates that thoughts of suicide and suicide attempts increase as a result of verbal abuse.
Abuses against LGBT people do not end at hate speech, but may extend to both physical and sexual assault. The study revealed that 15% of the respondents had been physically assaulted and 8% sexually abused/raped in the years 2002/3, because of their sexual orientation. Most often these cases are not reported. The reasons stated for not reporting cases of victimisation to the police were:
75% felt that the police would not take them seriously
50% had previous negative experiences with the police
42% felt that by reporting hate crimes, they would be making themselves vulnerable to abuses by the police
This illustrates that the criminal justice system remains largely inaccessible to lesbian and gay people, and suggests that the police services are not adequately trained to deal with LGBT cases.
Furthermore, many LGBT people experience difficulty in realising their right to health care. The research findings indicate that 6% of the respondents were refused healthcare treatment because of their sexual orientation. In addition, 12% of respondents delayed seeking treatment for fear of discrimination. More subtle forms of discrimination in the form of heterosexism are also experienced in the health care sector. Heterosexist health care workers compromise openness and trust in the provision of health care and this negatively affects the quality of care rendered to LGBT individuals. Discrimination in the health care sector has a direct impact on the health-seeking behaviour of LGBT people, which is particularly concerning in the context of HIV transmission.
We need a police service committed to protecting our rights; a health care service that is accessible and appropriate to our needs, a schooling system where children grown up knowing it is not okay to bash up the 'queer kid', and a society that is outraged when a broken bottle is hurled at a lesbian women who dares celebrate her freedom. Until then, our pride will be blemished by the prejudice of others.
So, the march goes on.
 Article kindly supplied by:
Melanie Judge is the Programmes Manager of OUT
Helen Wells is a Researcher at OUT
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