Two recent events brought the question of decriminalisation of sex work into the public eye. The first was the leaking of a draft policy document developed by Amnesty International advocating for decriminalisation of both the buying and selling of sex.
Ayesha Krige and Marlise Richter
Opinion | 23 May 2014
Things are looking up, right? Just days ago, our beloved Caster Semenya was in the headlines of none other than the Daily Sun, not because her gender or hormone levels were, once again, put under a degrading spotlight, but because she had announced her soon-to-be marriage to her girlfriend.
Laura Pascoe
Opinion | 16 May 2014
Aubrey — “Dr Shock” — Levin, the South African army psychiatrist accused of torturing gays and dissidents in the apartheid military, has started a five-year jail term in Canada.
Terry Bell
News | 30 April 2014
When David Olyn was tortured and murdered in the idyllic Western Cape town of Ceres just because he was gay, the town's residents came together to fight homophobia.
GroundUp Staff
News | 25 April 2014
Political parties participated in a discussion yesterday at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) about the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) constituency after 20 years of democracy.
Dumisani Dabadini
News | 24 April 2014
At a meeting on 12 April convened by Ikasi Pride, members of a divided gay and lesbian community discussed the future of gay pride in the city, its steady depoliticisation, its lack of community outreach and its image problem.
Brent Meersman
Opinion | 15 April 2014
Activist Kenith Abrahams, who was a friend of David Olyn, a gay man murdered in Ceres three weeks ago, says gay people in the community do not feel safe.
Pharie Sefali
News | 15 April 2014
Not everyone in Cape Town celebrated Gay Pride in the same spirit.
Pharie Sefali
News | 10 March 2014
Sex workers and sex worker advocates in Durban, Polokwane, Cape Town and Johannesburg took to the streets on Monday to honour International Sex Worker Rights’ Day. Similar marches were held in cities and towns all over the world. The protesters were calling attention to the human rights abuses suffered by sex workers and demanded legal recognition of sex work as a form of employment.
Marlise Richter
News | 4 March 2014
Uganda’s brutal new anti-gay law puts Dembe Ainebyona (not her real name) in a difficult situation because she may never see her country of birth again.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 4 March 2014
The leaders who spoke of an African renaissance and who brought about the African Union ignored gay rights. We are seeing the consequences of their omission today.
Leon Linz
Opinion | 3 March 2014
On 24 February 2014, Uganda passed legislation that criminalises homosexuality. Paul Semugoma, a gay Ugandan activist who recently gained temporary residence in South Africa, says that the legislation’s impact will be extensive among all Ugandan society. The legislation, according to Paul, is more about consolidating President Yoweri Museveni’s power ahead of the 2016 Ugandan elections than about dealing with any meaningful social ill.
Jonathan Dockney
News | 27 February 2014
Cape Town Pride 2014 (CTP) takes place from 21 February to 1 March. The annual festival aims to celebrate gay rights in South Africa. This year’s theme is “uniting cultures in Cape Town”. However, people from communities around Cape Town have said that they feel CTP excludes them and the serious issues affecting them as gay people.
Jonathan Dockney and GroundUp Staff
News | 27 February 2014
Paul Kasonkomona, a human rights activists working in Zambia, has been acquitted after almost a year of legal proceedings.
Jonathan Dockney
News | 26 February 2014
The battle against Uganda’s anti-homosexual law is not over. Health and HIV may be the new frontier to confront homophobia explains Dr Andrew Tucker.
Andrew Tucker
Opinion | 24 February 2014
On 20 February 2014, a preliminary ruling will be made in the case of The People v Kasonkomona in the Lusaka Magistrates Court. The ruling will determine if Paul Kasonkomona needs to defend himself against the state’s case or if the case should be dismissed and Kasonkomona acquitted.
Jonathan Dockney
News | 15 January 2014