Peter Tatchell wins James Joyce Award 2016

Human rights and LGBT rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has been named as winner of Ireland’s prestigious James Joyce Award 2016 and the recipient of an Honorary Fellowship from University College Dublin.

Previous winners include Noam Chomsky, Desmond Tutu and Hans Blix.

Mr Tatchell received the award at a ceremony at 4pm on Wednesday, 21 September, in the Fitzgerald Chamber at University College Dublin, before an audience of university staff and students.

The James Joyce Award committee of the Literary and Historical Society states that it is an honour conferred on persons who have “excelled in a field of human endeavor and have made a profound impact on the world around them” and is awarded to Peter Tatchell for his contribution to the cause of LGBT equality and human rights over the last 50 years.

Reacting to the award, Peter Tatchell spoke about the future evolution of human sexuality:

My huge gratitude for this distinguished award and honorary fellowship. I feel humbled and overwhelmed to follow in the footsteps of so many illustrious past recipients.

I would like to dedicate my acceptance of this award to the heroic LGBT campaigners of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) and allied Ugandan movements.

They are spearheading the fight for LGBT rights in Uganda – in a deeply repressive, intolerant society, at great personal risk to their liberty and lives.

Despite government, police and religious persecution – and the constant threat of vigilante and mob violence – they carry on the fight for LGBT freedom.

I salute SMUG and allied LGBT groups, and urge people to go to their website and make a donation to help them carry on their inspiring work against anti-LGBT hate.

As the theme of my acceptance speech, I invite you to join me in looking beyond the current state of national and international LGBT rights, to what is likely to come to pass in the future.

Specifically, I'd like to offer some ideas on the likely evolution of human sexuality, primarily, but not exclusively, as it pertains to LGBT people.

While homophobia, biphobia and transphobia have not disappeared, and while they remain particularly acute in many non-Western countries, here in the West this prejudice is much less extreme and prevalent than it once was.

Occupy Heterosexual Spaces

By Kagiso Senaudi Masemola (In partnership with Phobic Organisation)

Representation, one word, used often by many discussing anything from lukewarm topics on entertainment to those using it to question/inform deep socio-economical principles, it is a word that alone, is very vague and monotomous, but behind the word is a force to be reckoned with. “God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” apologists who are ever so enthusiastic when the topic of Anti-LGBTQI-ness is on the hot seat, seldom fail to remind us that we live in a world that isnt tailor made to fit all the beautiful gowns, all the great gowns that come with our community – though theres enough hanging space for all of us to coexist.

The challenges most LGBTQI beings face having to go through their day-to-day lives are exhausting, from homophobic slurs, cringed-faced-looks, violent attacks and murder, if i were to list all of them there’d have to be another post in order for me to fit everything in, but even with this known, we are still being policed. Have you ever heard one say “Thats too gay”? If not, ear-buds. Reason why this is thrown around comfortably is because well, first of all, homophobic, both from the LGBTQI and cis-gendered heterosexuals, but also because there is not enough representation of genuine LGBTQI bodies for people to realise the normality of there being one, everywhere. Too often, a benchmark is set when one public figure identifies with the LGBTQI, the kind of person they are will be used as the ideal that others should aspire to being, simply because that will for whatever reason be the kind that laymen learn to tolerate. Society will celebrate such a person and cast a dark cloud over those they fit in the same box with such a person, often asking others why they are not like them.

But, that’s only because that admiration stems from tolerance, not acceptance. That’s life or death materialised.Take for instance, the much celebrated gay television personality, Somizi Mhlongo. Somizi Mhlongo is a much celebrated and adored South African Television personality, with incredible work ethic and a personality to back it up. He has identified with the LGBTQI community publicly for a lengthy time and has opened doors for those like him to get into industries that he has trail-blazed in, where he has shown that those like him are as capable, as hardworking and as goal-orientated. Problem? “those like him” whispers tolerance louder than explainable, and thats the danger with setting the trail-blazer as a template for the kind of “those” you want in your industry. (Refer to sexual identity articles Mr Mademoiselle ). Though Somizi has managed to break into the entertainment industry’s front row list, he has unfortunately been one of very few, fewer than what should be.

Homophobic US pastor Steven Anderson banned from entering South Africa

This is a man who praised the Orlando shootings as it means there are now 'less pedophiles in the world'

Homophobic American pastor Steven Anderson will not be allowed to enter South Africa.
Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba said the preacher, who goes on rants about the ‘evils’ of homosexuality in his sermons, would not be allowed a visa.
‘Mr Steven Anderson and members and/or associates of his church are prohibited from entering the Republic of South Africa,’ Gigaba said.
‘This prohibition will be implemented in terms of section 29(1)(d) of the Immigration Act. This section affords the department the legal means to prohibit a foreigner who is a “member of or adherent to an association or organization advocating the practice racial hatred or social violence.”
He added: ‘I have informed the DG that I have informed Steven Anderson and members and/or associates of his church as undesirable persons. Undesirable persons are barred from traveling to South Africa for periods determined by the department.’
A petition of over 60,000 signatures called on South Africa to ban Anderson entry to the country.
‘People like Desmond Tutu go parading around and talk about their pro-homosexual beliefs but they did not get that from the Bible and any Bible believing Christian will know that,’ Anderson has previously said.
‘The religious leaders are a bunch of perverts themselves like that Desmond Tutu who goes around in a pink dress.’
Anderson has previously called for God to rip out Caitlyn Jenner’s heart and for themass execution of gay people to create an AIDS-free world.
He also praised the Orlando mass shooting, saying he was happy there are now ’50 less pedophiles in the world.’

Chefs who Share - Young Chef Award

As you read in the August Exit, Chefs Who Share is taking place in Johannesburg this year, from 19 to 24 September. Part of the event is the Young Chef Award and we thought we might take a closer look at this. A total of 77 restaurants from around the country have been invited to participate in the event. Their young chefs will be given a budget of R25 and asked to create a canape for the gala dinner. They will be judged on their creativity, uniqueness, taste, and visual impression. In the final part of the competition seven finalists will also be judged on personality, the ability to take instructions from chefs, and teamwork.

The young chefs will meet the event’s kitchen heroes and will get the chance to work with them at the same stove. On the night of the Chefs Who Share gala on 24 September, patron Reto Mathis and the 14 chefs participating in the event will vote for the overall winner of the Young Chef Award 2016, and he or she will be announced at the end of the evening.

The Young Chef Award includes a trip to Europe (with a flight sponsored by Swiss International Air Lines) to cook in a Michelin-starred restaurant for a few days. The executive chef of the restaurant will spend time with the winner and will share personal tricks and advice. Additionally, the winning Young Chef will be invited by Moët & Chandon to visit its headquarters in Épernay, in the heart of the Champagne region in France. The Champagne house will host the winner for one day and one night, and present him or her with a VIP tour of the Maison as well as the opportunity to participate in a workshop with a member of the Moët & Chandon winemaking committee and a resident chef to inspire them on how to perfectly pair food and wine and recreate wonderful experiences for their patrons and guests in years to come.

Tickets for the various events can be booked by email on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You will find more details on the facebook page chefswhoshare

Mr Mademoiselle

Hi, im Mr Mademoiselle and I come forth to shake your concept of homosexuality, to the core – using make up. The art of slow, rapid, almost not-there self-realisation is a very beautiful thing, the fact that you are going through a defining phase/ moment/ time in your life that is somewhat significant in its own right but you cannot see it is inconceivable. It can be related to watching a hour long movie based entirely on your life and not seeing that its based on the shit you’ve had to take your sandwich with. You’re there, its happening to you, but you’re blinded by all life has to offer such as breathing and buying bread that you fail to pick up on your life’s God-goool-map rerouting your path in life.

We unfortunately do not possess the ability to view our lives in an aerial perspective and see where it is that universe takes us, anyway..   Back to what this is actually about, masculinity, the myth, phantom, relatively circumstantial since it depends on the box secular ideologies thrown you in. I have held both shallow and abstruse conversations with many of my fellow LGBTQI brothers, sisters and fluid beings on the topic of femininity and its relation to our world, how one balances it with their masculinity and if one should, at all, try to.

Needless to say, there were many head nods and a lot of “where the fuck is this going”? moments. From the moment one comes out the closet or accepts themselves as whatever it is that they are – when it goes against societal norms that is, there is always backlash, always. But the odd thing now is, the backlash is received from both the heterosexual world’s inhabitants as well as from those in the LGBTQI community. This is because of the ‘kind of gay guy’ image that society (both cis-hetero and LGBTQI) has created fits one shade of gay that the world is okay with, that we now all should aspire to being. This is normally the “straight acting” gay guy you find, who has “Not your typical gay guy, love sports, love hiking, I don’t know who Beyoncé is” writing all over his bio’s because that somehow makes him less gay. Is it that difficult to acknowledge that we CANNOT be the same?