Gay entertainer in fear after LGBTIQ hate speech attack

 

Doniel Jansen, a young entertainer and poet from Tulbagh who identifies as a gay man, has become the victim of a homophobic bigot who’s called him a “dog from hell”.

Jansen, 23, who is also known as Bouncy, recently posted a gender non-conforming picture of himself on Facebook wearing a turban and red lipstick.

As first reported by the Son newspaper, the photo led Mervin Adams, who is from the same area in the Western Cape, to lash out at the young man.

“God will finish him because he wants to be a woman. Dog of hell,” Adams commented on the photo. He went on to add: “All the moffies (faggots) don’t have vaginas, that’s why they are mounted like dogs.”

Adams continued to defend his appalling views on religious grounds in a number of additional offensive posts. Even notoriously homophobic Western Cape Pastor Oscar Bougard chimed in with: “This damn homosexuals are from the pit of hell then they want us to agree with their animal like behavior”.

To make things worse, Jansen said that after the hate speech comments were posted online, people now stare at him and in one incident, a young girl shouted at him on the street: “Here is the dog of hell!”

Jansen told Mambaonline that Adams is the father of a good friend and that the older man walks past his house every day to get to work. He has since taken out a restraining order against Adams and fears for his safety.

“I’m scared and anxious to show my face outside and to walk past him,” Jansen said. “I’m a very outgoing person, but nowadays I’m just inside. I don’t know how to handle it and I cry and I get emotional.” Jansen is also concerned that the abuse will follow him into his performing career and that audiences will jeer at him.

After the story was published on the front page of the Son, Jansen posted a tearful video in which he opened up about his experience.

“Sorry, I’m so heartbroken… I was so hurt by the words used against me as a person. We are all people and we go through different things in life. But I believe that God will keep me safe,” he said before breaking down in tears.

“I’m sorry for the tears. I haven’t completely processed it all but… Bouncy will smile and laugh and go on with life,” he continued.

Meanwhile, Adams appears unrepentant. Posting on his Facebook page, he wrote: “People who say that I discriminate against moffies, hear what the Lord says in Leviticus 20 verse 13.”

According to LGBTIQ group Triangle Project, Adams works for the Witzenburg Municipality, the same area in which 22-year-old David Olyne was tied up with wire, beaten, kicked and set on fire for being gay in 2014.

It is also where, in 2016, Phoebe Titus, a 30-year-old transgender woman, was stabbed to death by a minor who shouted out transphobic abuse at her. In both cases, the word “moffie” was used in the attacks.

“Triangle Project is working with our Safe Space in Bella Vista (Ceres) and LGBTI activists in Tulbagh to ensure that statements like this do not go ignored and people realise their words have consequences,” said the organisation.

“We will be writing to the Executive Mayor of Witzenburg Municipality to demand answers and action!”