On the morning of Joburg Pride 2012: “Protect Your Rights”, I thought a post necessary.
So Joburg Pride? How? What? Where? When?
Simon Nkoli
“The Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand (GLOW) was formed in Johannesburg in 1988 by a group of black gay and lesbian activists. The person elected to chair the organisation was SIMON TSEKO NKOLI, who had already gained political prominence as an ANC Activist and Delmas treason trialist. At the time GLOW was the only South African gay and lesbian organisation with a predominately black membership. GLOW gained public attention by ensuring a gay and lesbian presence in the 1989 wave of political activism and demonstrations campaigning for democracy and the unbanning of the liberation movements….
Johannesburg’s first gay pride parade through the streets of Hillbrow in October 1990 was marked by people wearing paper bags over their heads (Photo: Shaun de Waal)
In 1990 GLOW was involved in organising South Africa’s first Gay and Lesbian Joburg Pride March in Johannesburg. GLOW campaigned for gay and lesbian rights in the media, including television and print, and tried to stimulate debate.”- GALA Archives
Conveniently these political roots of SA queer history have been OMITTED on the Joburg Pride official website. This is one part due to white middle-class privilege and the commercialisation of anything “pink”, one part prejudice and one part political agenda.
Re-writing/altering history will never benefit the progression of the LGBTI rights movement and it certainly will never benefit the queer South African youth who search for role models and meaning. Young folks searching for that place to feel safe – a place to belong – are finding a space where there is clear racial and economic segregation in its most insidious form. How is this progress?
Know your history, question your present. Are we doing enough as LGBTI folk in South Africa to really be proud? What would our predecessors say about us having 3 SEPARATE Prides in one city OR not heeding the call to take a firm enough stance on labour issues and the education crisis in this post-Marikana climate?
Joburg queers have been up in arms recently over a corporate sponsorship deal gone south. Well folks, Jacaranda FM pulling out as a sponsor to the Joburg Pride “party” today should be the least of the “community’s” concerns.
If we need something to celebrate, let’s celebrate our return to the core values Simon and his comrades had in mind for our community.
 #Letskeepitinperspective
Ramblings in the Mi[d]st 