Over 20,000 partygoers attended Johannesburg Pride (Joburg Pride) over the weekend but they interrupted by group of LGBT protestors who came out against the parades “party atmosphere” and were demonstrating against a recent rash of LGBT hate crimes and the “depoliticization” of the annual event.
Over the past two years Johannesburg has been plagued by a rash of grizzly murders of gay men Protesters from the national solidarity campaign called “One in Nine” were calling for one minute of silence to honour and mourn those who have been killed because of their sexual orientation and gender expression, but they were ignored and harassed by Pride participants.
The One in Nine protesters were called names, stepped on, and sworn at Joburg Pride participants.
Joburg Pride organizer Tanya Harford say 1 in 9 should have come to them first:
“If they had bothered to contact the Board we would have been very open to working with them. “We would have had no problem to have had a minute’s silence and we could have made a very powerful statement that would have benefited them.” Harford insisted that the protest was “absolutely inappropriate and illegal. They had none of the necessary permissions. They also embarrassed the entire LGBT community. The campaign wasn’t explained nor was it clear about what their purpose is.”
It’s very sad to see what PRIDE has become here and around the world. Permits and parties. All fluff and no substance.
God forbid PRIDE ever gets back to its roots and dealt with any real issues.
Like Equality.
It’s very sad to see what PRIDE has become here and around the world. Permits and parties. All fluff and no substance.
God forbid PRIDE ever gets back to its roots and dealt with any real issues.
Like Equality.
Spot on with this comment.
I’m from Cape Town and I support neither the Joburg or Cape Town events because I believe that they have lost their way (read purpose).
Growing up, I have followed the struggles of people like Simon Nkoli And Beverly Ditsie, who fought for equality for all, when GASA(Gay Association of South Africa), were fighting for the rights of gay whites, thereby marginalising and oppressing non-white gays even further. These local pride events are a slap in the face to those pioneers and an undoing of all their hard work. Yet, funny enough, it’s people like the aforementioned, who secured the rights for people to have pride marches.