 WOMEN |
Being
a Public Lesbian in Namibia: Reflections on Some Recently
Experienced Absurdities
By Liz Frank
When
in early October the Namibian Minister of Home Affairs, Jerry
Ekandjo, urged 700 graduating police officers to arrest gay
and lesbian people and "eliminate them from the face of Namibia,"
my lover and I did not hastily pack our bags and seek political
asylum in another country, although as the publicly known
couple "Liz and Elizabeth" we would not have been too hard
to find and arrest. Indeed, our names and address were contained
in my file at the Ministry of Home Affairs, where I had repeatedly
applied for permanent residence in Namibia on the basis of
my professional experience as well as our long-standing lesbian
relationship.
MORE ...
Donna
Smith - BTM Online Counsellor
DONNA
A M SMITH is a 16 year veteran of the Jamaican Bar, who recently
relocated to South Africa. Apart from running her own law
firm for the last six of those years, Donna was also a pioneer
in the fields of Conflict Resolution and Youth Empowerment,
as well as a passionate gay rights activist. MORE
...
In
The Same Boat
Pastor
Nokhtula Dhladhla's story
I was
born in November 1973 and raised by my grandmum in Soweto.
My mother was very busy working out of town. I didn't know
who my father was. We later moved to another place because
at one time houses were sold to rich people. So, we ended
up in Kathlehong where I attended Sijabulile Higher Primary
School from Standard 6 until Matric. MORE
...
'A
threat to women's freedom'
 On
9 March 2000 ILGA co-secretary Phumi Mtetwa spoke on behalf
of the international lesbian caucus at the Beijing Platform
of the United Nations.
'I am honored to be able to give a face to the many and diverse
lesbians
from our caucus but also present at this conference, and all
over the world. As a citizen of South Africa, I am even more
proud to be from the first country in the world to have recognized
that sexual orientation has a place in human rights and justice
for all.
Even though a few of us are "open" here and in our
own countries, lesbians are still invisible even at this gathering.
They are invisible because even if the 21st century, is pretending
to be the century of democracy and that diversity is recognized
as an advancement for the civilization, there are some people
who prefer to stay behind on the historic advancements in
name of the morality. For us who are open, it is difficult
to even organize safe space to enable us to raise and participate
free from persecution. MORE
..
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