“JOBURG ROCKS TO THE BEAT OF PRIDE 2009” blared the Pride press release. Note the party metaphor. First mistake: life's not all a party, especially for queers, as even the names of our service organisations attest: OUT LGBT Well-Being, Health4Men. We all love a party, but many of us also suffer rejection by family and peers, need counselling, attempt suicide, are raped and sometimes even killed.
Organisers estimated fifteen thousand gays and lesbians - and their friends and families - descended on Zoo Lake Sports Club in Johannesburg on Saturday 3 October to celebrate the 20th annual Joburg Gay Pride Parade, which according to the Pride Committee's press release was “presented by 94.7 Highveld Stereo”.
The Parade started at around 11am from Zoo Lake, when whoever was at the microphone on the 94.7 stage (No gay flag. No red ribbon) announced that people should make their way over to the road on the left. “Have fun, and try to keep your clothes on,” was the instruction.
Second mistake: the Parade is by its nature a political act (a sexual minority, reviled by many, takes to the streets to demonstrate its existence, and its right to exist) and so it should have been sent on its way with a speech by a gay person of consequence. The Committee would have been spoilt for choice if they had tried finding one. Edwin Cameron spoke at Wits Campus Pride the day before (see story on p3), so maybe repetition would have put him out of the running, but what about Kathy Satchwell, whose recent application for a position on the Constitutional Court was controversial because she is a lesbian? What about lesbian activist Bev Ditsie, or Phumi Mtetwa, currently the director of the Lesbian & Gay Equality Project?
Exit invited Phumi to write the speech she would have given at Pride if invited to do so, and you can read it on p2.
I was told at a dinner party recently that Jeremy Mansfield, of 94.7, had read out something like a list of countries where homosexuality is illegal and punished. I didn't hear it, and hope this underlines my point: if the focus had been on a significant speaker at a crucial point, like the start of the Parade, and s/he made some important points, we would have paid attention and newspapers would have reported it.
Back to the Pride press release: “The festive parade wound its way through
the streets of Rosebank. Stretching out over three and half kilometres, the
procession - featuring marchers, floats and open top buses - brought traffic
to a standstill as people lined the streets to watch the celebration.” In fact, the streets were empty, the traffic frustrated. Celebration? What's gay in the theme: You Need Pride? What are we celebrating? Homosexuality is illegal in most of the countries around us, and further north in Africa it can result in a lengthy prison spell, or THE DEATH SENTENCE. OK, we're lucky we're at the enlightened southern tip, but we should be drawing attention to the plight of our brothers and sisters further north, and elsewhere in the world. Even in Washington there have been gay demonstrations for Equality this month.
According to the Pride press release, “The event was held under the theme of You Need Pride, to emphasise the history and value of Pride to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) community in South Africa and the continent.” When I was a school teacher I'd have put my red pen through that for its lack of content. Waffle.
My intention here is not to trash the event (15 000 can't all be wrong), but to lament the opportunity squandered. At Pride we need to reiterate for our captive audience some very important points: that though we in South Africa may have achieved legal equality, most LGBT citizens of the world have not; we should emphasize that the situation is particularly bad in Africa and call for our government to bring influence to bear in international forums; we should acknowledge our past and present heroes of both the LGBT and HIV struggles, like Simon Nkoli, Peter Busse, Zackie Achmat, Edwin Cameron, Kevan Botha; and probably most importantly we should remember lesbians like Sizakele Sigasa and Salome Masooa, Eudy Simelane and Zoliswa Nkonyana who have been murdered in recent years because of their sexuality, and thus draw attention to the danger many LGBT people still face in this country.
If these points are enunciated at Pride by someone with a really prestigious label (e.g. High Court Judge) it makes the marchers aware that they are participating in something important, not just partying, and gives the straight media something meaty to report on. They would be forced to publish pictures of something other than drag queens.
The party continued the whole afternoon at Zoo Lake, and at numerous venues around Gauteng into the early hours of Sunday, so surely we could have devoted a few minutes during the day to the more serious side of life: life's not just a party.