edwin cameron speech at the launch of balancing act

A book launch is a celebration - of a process of creation and birth and new life for an important product. We gather to congratulate the parents, the helpers, and the admiring family.

And we express our joy at the new arrival.

We have much reason for celebration this afternoon. I want to mention two special reasons.

First, the book that Joanne Bloch and Karen Martin have compiled is filled with touching and vivid and expressive and important stories, of young South African men and women who have claimed their gay or and lesbian or bisexual or transgendered identity.

Some of the stories have pain. We read that there is still discrimination and ignorance and fear and prejudice, and that lesbian women in particular are still targeted for being lesbian.

These are sad and sobering facts. For eleven years, the South African Constitution has officially affirmed the equality and dignity of people of all sexual orientations - young and old. However, in practice, widespread hostility and prejudice still means that lifestyles that are 'different' are hidden: and they are not adequately represented in the public realm.

More than a decade into our democracy, acceptance of 'otherness' is not yet fully part of our society. Often stigma attaches to being foreign, to having a disability, being HIV positive - and this collection of stories tells us that some young people are already living with HIV - or to having a same-sex orientation. These aspects of a person are not considered to be "normal".

But what is significant is not that there is sadness and complexity and difficulty in these lives. What is important is that this book collects a group of young people whose account of their lives is an act of assertion - of identity, of self, of truth.

They are affirming their identities as sexually different, and claiming their birthright under our Constitution as equal and proud South Africans.

That this is happening at all is wonderful, and the book records its process in rich and touching detail. It tells us that we have come far in the last eleven years. That we have not yet come far enough is an important part of the story that this book relates: but the appearance in print of so many proud, assertive, self-identifying, self-claiming young gay and lesbian men and women also shows us how far we have come.

That is the first reason for celebration. The second is that this book is about and for young people. It contains their voices. It is aimed at their fellows of school-going age. The book is designed as an educational tool.
And the question of youth in relation to homosexuality has always an important and sensitive one.

Homosexuality used to be regarded not just as a crime, but as a moral taint, a contamination, a blot and perversion - one, most importantly, that could be passed on to unspoilt youngsters, that could be used to infect and damage them.

For most enlightened and rational people, those conceptions have long been abandoned. Yet the notion of homosexuality as something perverse, alien, unfamiliar, contrary, even non-African, persists.

Here the book is a break-through. It is the first of its kind and provides positive reference points for young South Africans. It highlights the experiences of a range of gay South African teenagers and young adults, faced with the challenges of embracing their sexual orientation in sometimes hostile and judgemental communities.

It relates the lives of real people and tells stories of real courage. Its publication constitutes an important step in combating prejudice by promoting understanding and acceptance in schools as well as in the broader society.
South African material on sexuality has until now not focused on homosexuality in depth, or it presents it as merely a passing phase, or as deviant. Material coming from Europe or the United States might contain useful information - but the context is very different and hence its resonance for us is limited.

The lack of material from this region has surely contributed to the notion that to be 'other' is undesirable, unacceptable and even shameful - among young gay men and lesbians themselves, and, importantly too, among their heterosexually oriented peers.

Most learners still have an inaccurate, unbalanced and prejudiced understanding of homosexuality, and most educators lack the necessary information, skills and tools to address the issue properly.

There is thus a need to bring issues about homosexuality into the open in schools so as to create an ethos that is honest, informative and supportive.

By doing this, we will encourage an environment that supports LGBTI youth to stay in school, and create lifelong respect for human rights among all.

The book explores the lives of gay youth in this country in a way that challenges stereotypes and prejudices, and provides much needed information to young gay and lesbian people.

It is part of a continuing process of human rights education in which it is particularly important to involve young people. The future of our constitutional dispensation depends on their understanding it, owning it, embracing it as theirs.

Balancing Act has been specifically written to be used in schools and contains teachers' notes relating to Life Orientation. This book is a valuable resource for teachers. Teachers play an important role in establishing the value systems that learners will internalise.

We need to challenge the way of thinking that was deeply entrenched during apartheid when same-sexuality was criminalised, pathologised and forced underground.

We are also challenged by the mindset of many African nationalists today who maintain that homosexuality is un-African and not part of African culture.

The voices and faces and identities in this book show that this is wrong. They are young South Africans of all races and genders. They claim their full identity under the Constitution as gay and lesbian South Africans.
While the identities in the book are specific, the issues are in many senses common to all young people. This positive, life-affirming book will help promote openness on the broader issues of sexuality and difference and tolerance. That is a gain for us all.

This book was written to publicize the experiences of young gay people to help foster a sense of entitlement and community.

It is only by an inclusive pride in each other as members of a diverse community that we can fulfil our joint potential. This book affirms that message. Its arrival is thus a happy event, and we wish it much success. May its message travel far.