South Africa is considered a safe haven on the African continent for other GLBT people persecuted in their homelands and because its constitution specifically bars discrimination based on sexual orientation. Most of the time, that's the case, but here's the tragic story of Daisy, a transwoman who escaped Zimbabwe with her accepting mother only to die a violent death in South Africa simply for daring to be herself.
My dad often goes on at me about how I'll be okay because there are employment equity laws here and hate-crime laws and the like, but as with everything, laws are only as good as their enforcement. And in terms of social impact, it takes a long time for legislation to translate into societal acceptance. We've made huge strides here, especially considering that any form of sexual or gender "deviation" was a criminal offence under Apartheid, but there are still deeply-entrenched hatreds and insecurities here that will take generations to disappear - we have the dubious distinction of having the most violent males in the world here. That won't be changed by laws, only with time.
ReplyDeleteMina.
Mina,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the insight on what's happening there. You can look to your African descended cousins here in the States to see how true your words are.
The passage of the 1964 and 1965 Civil Rights Acts didn't magically change things here overnight but after a few years, it seemed as though the changes in American society for African-Americans came swiftly.
We are still fighting for the society that Dr. King envisioned in his numerous writings and know that you will achieve it one day in South Africa and across the continent as well.