It was a year of extremes in South Africa – from basking in the glow of legalised gay marriage to the horror of the hate crime murders of lesbians. We explore the most significant local headlines of 2007.

The Civil Union Bill

The year began on a high note: same-sex marriage in South Africa had been legalised in December 2006 thanks to the Civil Union Bill – a first on the African continent – and by mid January 84 gays and lesbians had been married. But we were to discover later in the year that liberal laws would make little difference to the actions of murderous homophobes.

Implementation of the bill was however not especially smooth. Marriage officers struggled to be licensed to be able to officiate under the new Act. The Cape Argus further reported that the first same-sex couple to get married in South Africa, Western Cape game rangers Vernon and Tony Gibbs-Halls, received death threats.

March also saw reports of the first impending South African gay divorce just over three months after same-sex unions were legalised. Richard Thornton and Andrew Jacobs however went on to reconcile temporarily leaving the dubious distinction of being the first local gay divorcees to fall on Pretoria’s Kenneth Henning-Hattingh and Jaco Johan Henning-Hattingh later that month.

It was reported that seventeen minor South African churches had been given the go-ahead to perform same-sex marriages, but that the list - provided by the Department of Home Affairs - excluded the major churches, such as the Anglican Church, the Baptist Church, the Presbyterian Church and the Catholic Church - which all barred their ministers from playing any part in officiating gay unions.

Over 500 prominent South African Christians signed a petition urging the synod of the Dutch Reformed Church to end its discriminatory stance against the gay and lesbian community. Notable signatories included singer Steve Hofmeyr, Deputy Justice Minister Johnny de Lange and Allan Boesak. The petition did little to change the church’s policy however – at its annual general synod meeting in June it refused to allow clergy to bless same-sex marriages.

In contrast, the South African Union of Progressive Judaism (SAUPJ) chose to allow its rabbis, and lay marriage officers, to marry same-sex couples in a full Jewish ceremony. The decision was taken at the National Assembly of the SAUPJ in Durban.

In July, South African prisoners had something to rejoice about when the department of correctional services announced that same-sex inmate couples would be allowed to marry in prison.

Juan Uys

In January, the Citizen newspaper reported that Juan Uys, the head of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance (GLA), and thought to be the man behind the Crime Expo website was on the verge of being arrested on charges of “theft by false pretences.” Uys and his discredited organisation have been the bane of legitimate LGBT organisations over the years, issuing outrageous statements and claims supposedly on behalf of the lesbian and gay community.

In one of the year’s biggest and most bizarre stories, a furore erupted in May over an anonymous self-professed former male prostitute’s internet blog in which he claimed to have serviced a number of South African male celebrities and then proceeded to name them. These included prominent actors, politicians and sports figures.

As the blog released the names of more public figures and alleged lurid details of their sex life amid a media frenzy, there were soon suspicions that the man behind the site was really Juan Uys. Following threats of legal action by a number of the men named, the blog was shut down. The author’s identity remains unknown to this day.

The notorious Uys was finally arrested on charges of theft, as a result of a minor business dispute, at his mother’s home in Kroonstad, in the Free State. The elusive Uys is believed to have used a number of aliases over the years and had rarely been photographed. Later news reports suggested he may have also been linked to the murder of a prison official in 1993.

Ultimately all charges against Uys were dropped due to lack of evidence. He denied having anything to do with either the Crime Expo website or the male prostitute internet blog. He and the GLA remained quiet and out of sight for the rest of the year.

The killing of our sisters

In what was the start of a spate of attacks on lesbians in 2007, it was reported in March that a 19 year old woman was raped near Witbank by two men who wanted to know what it would feel like to sleep with a lesbian.

July became the South African gay community’s darkest month of 2007 when it was reported that two lesbians, Sizakele Sigasa and Salome Masooa were murdered, after apparently being raped, in an alleged hate crime in Meadowlands, Soweto. While two men were briefly detained in connection with the crime, they were later released. No one has to-date been charged with the murder. The killings were to become the impetus behind an anti-hate crime campaign by LGBT activists known as the 07/07/07 Campaign (named after the date of the murders).

As the country celebrated National Women’s Day in August, an international Human Rights organisation called on President Thabo Mbeki’s government to make a commitment to “equality and tolerance a reality for the nation’s gays and lesbians.” Human Rights Watch further called on the government to ensure that the investigations of the murders of Sizakele Sigasa and Salome Masooa were thorough and impartial.

Local activists also made their voices heard in a march on the same day in Soweto to protest against the murders and hate crimes against LGBT people. A few days later a group of New Yorkers gathered outside the South African Consulate in New York to demand an end to hate crimes in South Africa.

There were reports in November that another group of women, some of them lesbian, was attacked in Johannesburg. According to a number of activists, Lebogang Mabe and three friends were attacked early on a Saturday morning by a group of men. When the women resisted the men allegedly started firing guns – shooting one woman in the head and Mabe twice in the stomach. She was rushed to the Johannesburg General Hospital and the other victim is reported to have died on the scene.

February was a landmark month for Exit newspaper - South Africa’s longest running lesbian and gay publication - which turned 21 with its 200th edition.

The global gay community was shocked by the news that millionaire Gary Frisch, the South African born co-founder of popular gay dating site Gaydar, had died in London after throwing himself off his flat’s balcony. Investigators later concluded that he was under the delusional influence of the drug ketamine.

Parts of Cape Town's city centre came to a standstill when hundreds of gays and lesbians took to the streets for the city's seventh annual Pride Parade, which was followed by a successful street party. Cape Town was also the scene of the trial of the murderers of gay actor Brett Goldin and fashion designer Richard Bloom who were brutally murdered in 2006. Samantha Goldin, Brett’s sister called on supporters to protest against South Africa’s crime epidemic outside the courts.

Local airline, British Airways Comair apologised to a gay couple after they were told to "cover up" when cuddling on a local flight. Businessman Jamie Robertson and his partner Francois van Tonder were accused of being overly amorous by a stewardess.

March kicked off with screenings of the art-house film Shortbus, which featured explicit gay sex scenes, in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Interestingly there was little outrage or controversy around the screenings.

On a related note, the 13th Out In Africa International Gay and Lesbian Festival was opened in Joburg by Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang. The festival underwent some dramatic changes – including screening its movies at Nu Metro cinemas for the first time in its 13 year history. This change in venues was not widely welcomed.

At the festival, the SABC acknowledged that more needed to be done to represent LGBT lives on national television and promised to work to rectify the matter. The remaining year however saw little of the promise being fulfilled

The charges against 14 men who had been arrested at Pretoria’s Camp David nude bar were withdrawn by the state. The move was the conclusion to a long-running dispute between Camp David and the authorities. While police claimed that the club is a public venue, the owners insisted that it is a private club open to paying members only.

The seventh annual gay and lesbian Pink Loerie festival took place in the picturesque South African coastal town of Knysna in late April. According to the organisers an estimated 8 000 to 10 000 people flocked to the town.

African lesbian and gay activists met in Johannesburg to challenge state homophobia in 38 countries on the continent. The first regional conference of the International Lesbian and Gay Association in Africa took place in the city from May 5 to 8. It sought to challenge the notion that being gay or lesbian is “un-African.”

South Africa’s Constitutional Court issued a ruling which came under much criticism. It chose not change the law to ensure that forced anal penetration of a male fell under the legal definition of rape. The court said that this decision should be made by Parliament, which later in the year was.

Controversial Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi was the subject of ridicule after he told parliament that it may be necessary for the police to allocate specific prison cells for gay inmates. “Instead of focusing attention on gay and lesbian people, the Commissioner should be exploring ways in which the SAPS can guarantee all citizen’s safety whilst in a holding cell or in police custody,” responded Glenn de Swardt of Triangle Project.

There was some closure for the families of Brett Goldin and Richard Bloom in May when the men accused of their murder, Shavaan Marlie and Clinton Davids, pleaded guilty to murder and other charges. They were each sentenced to 28 years in prison.

Bronx, Cape Town’s most popular gay bar, reopened in June across the road from its old location. This after the demolition of parts of what was known as the “Gay Village” in Green Point. The village has been making way for a new R268-million commercial development. While some saw this as an opportunity to re-vamp the city’s gay nightlife, others bemoaned the end of a chapter in gay history.

The Cape Times reported that a Gugulethu man alleged that he was victimised by police because of his sexuality. Banele Qhina, 19, lodged a complaint with the Independent Complaints Directorate claiming to have been assaulted by a constable who also made derogatory remarks about him being gay. The Triangle Project slammed the alleged assault as a “hate crime.”

A man who claimed that he was acting in self-defence when he brutally murdered another man who made sexual advances on him received 18 years in prison - the minimum sentence. Twenty four year old Frank Mahlakoana was found guilty in the Pretoria High Court of cutting off William Henry Thomas' genitals and then bludgeoning him to death with a dumbbell. Activists slated the judge for giving credence to the “gay panic” defence.

The South African government further damaged its reputation as an international human rights supporter in July by choosing to abstain in a vote to grant consultative status to two gay rights groups at the UN. Despite this, the groups received enough votes to be given recognition. “South Africa has reneged on its responsibility to take a stand on international human rights, specifically for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people,” said the Joint Working Group.

Closer to home, a lesbian inquiring about fertility treatment at a Catholic Cape Town Hospital was told "we don't help people like you." Dr Natasha Distiller, an academic at the University of Cape Town, was turned away by a nurse at Vincent Pallotti Hospital.

Depressingly, a survey about the country's values revealed that most South Africans view homosexuality as more acceptable than prostitution, but more offensive than euthanasia. Forty eight percent of black South Africans said that having gay neighbours was not acceptable, 26 percent of white South Africans felt the same, as did 39 percent of Indians.

In a strike against its former partner, the Out In Africa Film Festival which moved to its largest rival cinema chain, Ster Kinekor’s Cinema Nouveau theatres launched their own gay and lesbian film festival in late September. The first Pride Film Festival was timed to coincide with the start of the Joburg Pride celebrations, which kicked off when a hundred or so people took part in a Pride march through Soweto.

Despite a disappointing turnout, organisers called on the Joburg Pride board to move the main parade to Soweto in coming years.

A few days later on October 6, an estimated five thousand participants turned out for the 18th annual Joburg Pride Parade in Rosebank, despite inclement weather. The Parade, described by many as one of the best-organised in years, consisted of over 30 floats and vehicles and was led by the Joburg Metro Police Department.

The rampant crime epidemic in South Africa directly impacted the LGBT activist sector when the offices of Cape Town’s Triangle Project were robbed by armed men, leaving staff and clients shaken.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu continued to criticise the Anglican Church’s obsession with homosexuality in November, saying in a BBC interview that that he wouldn't worship a homophobic god. Tutu called the church "extraordinarily homophobic", adding that he felt "saddened" and "ashamed" about the matter."If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God," he said in the interview.

In December in another interview he apologised for the persecution of gays by the Anglican Church. "I want to apologise to you and to all those who we in the church have persecuted... I'm sorry for the hurt, for the rejection, for the anguish that we have caused to such as yourselves," he said.

South Africa’s constitution didn’t stop two men from being turned away from a four star guesthouse in the Western Cape. Morne Stickling and his partner, Johan de Klerk, booked accommodation at the Villa Vita Nouva guesthouse via e-mail, but when they asked, "I hope you are a gay-friendly guesthouse?", they were surprised by the response. Marion Botha, the house's owner replied that, "We are certainly not gay-friendly, this is a Christian household. We have never had a gay couple staying in the house and we prefer to keep it that way."

With the aim of highlighting lesbian and gay rights outside the larger urban centres, a group held a small Pride march on 24 November in Mafikeng in the North West Province. The event was organised by The Gay Umbrella and is thought to be the first in Mafikeng or the province.

The end of 2007 in South Africa was dominated by the ANC’s National Conference in Polekwane. Leading up to the momentous event, LGBT organisations issued a manifesto addressed to the ANC demanding a commitment to lesbian and gay equality.

The manifesto stated that, "In our collective and plural reflection, we concluded that in our daily lives, the promise of the Constitution is not a reality and that if this remains unchallenged, then that its aspirations will remain a pipe dream."

The much awaited Sexual Offences Act, which extended the legal definition of rape to also include men, was finally signed into law by President Thabo Mbeki. Controversially, the act bars any sexual behaviour between consenting teens 15 years and younger, including kissing and non-penetrative sexual activity.

Despite gripes about an uncreative theme, the eagerly anticipated annual MCQP costume party, themed Matric Dance, drew thousands of revellers to Cape Town High School on 22 December. Now in its 14th year, the event has become an institution on the gay social calendar in South Africa.

The year to come is expected to be dominated by the battle for control of the country’s leadership by factions within the ANC. The possibility that Jacob Zuma, a man who has made openly homophobic and sexist statements in the past (although he later apologised), may become South Africa’s new president will be of concern to many.

The struggle to ensure that LGBT people, and especially black lesbians, are protected by the Constitution on a practical daily basis is unlikely to come to an end anytime soon.