Melanie Nathan – March 06, 2011

CAPE TOWN – One of my goals in being in South Africa is to have International LGBT voices heard – here in South Africa – and in my messaging about the issues to which I speak, including corrective rape, I had hoped that the news would pick up the fact that International gays, et al expect South Africa’s President Zuma to take the lead on the fight to decriminalize homosexuality in Uganda and all of Africa.

While the issue of leadership and expectations – such as the ANC recall of ambassador Jon Qwelane from Uganda, sleeps in the shadow of what many in SA refer to as “bigger fish to fry” as Ambassador to Africa of MEUSA, I have included in my speaking, the fact that South Africans must start to realize the depth of their constitutional rights and the  freedom it exudes; and that without voicing the respect its people expect,  the Zuma administration will believe it has license to continue to support Museveni with AID and investment. We have yet to see a single African from the ANC stand up and say homosexuality must be decriminalized in Africa and because the SA Constitution includes sexual orientation and for many other reasons, that expression and enforcement must come from a South African Minister or President.

Unless the South African gay, lesbian , LGBTQI community fight for these rights and expectations for the rest of Africa, they are in effect undermining their own protections, because the more their neighbors punish their citizens for being gay, the more at risk their own SA rights become.

So here s a start in the reporting main stream here in SA and in addition I hear my quote was carried on SABC  TV note South African spelling)

“The annual Cape Town Gay Pride Parade kicked off with colourful floats and ritzy dress today where rainbows of resplendent colour, music and festive cheer were what characterised the pride.

Organisers want gay rights better protected. Festival Director Gareth Dallas says: “We are here to celebrate our queerness our beautifulness our trans gender folk, our inter sex folk. But also to put a little bit of a spot light on issues such as corrective rape in South Africa and how wrong that is and why it needs to change.”

There were also calls for South Africa to distance itself from Uganda because of its anti gay stance.  Gay Rights activist Melanie Nathan says: “How can South Africa welcome Museveni (Ugandan president) in this country, and thank him, and then go and invest in Uganda when they are killing and wanting to kill gay, lesbian, bisexual people, trans gender too.”

read more http://www.sabcnews.com/portal/site/SABCNews/menuitem.5c4f8fe7ee929f602ea12ea1674daeb9/?vgnextoid=dc4f715da868e210VgnVCM10000077d4ea9bRCRD&vgnextfmt=default&channelPath=home

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
Facebook Melanie
twitter @oblogdeeoblogda

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

MEUSA Ambassador to Africa

__________________________________________________________________________________________________