GET UP AND DO SOMETHING
Weekends come and go. We sit back and witness the same things happen over and over again: We bitch; we cry; we moan; and then we bitch again about the lack of clubs or hangout spots that cater to the black gay community in Cape Town. Yet we do nothing about it.
In a recent article titled Reclaiming our Hood, Jeanine Cameron, television journalist and producer, wrote that “bad things happen when good people stand by and say nothing.”
Cape Town’s gay community is notoriously known for being overwhelmingly pale in its activism, its nightlife as well as its visibility. The lack of the black face and voice in the community is deeply worrying, and is possibly one of the reasons why homosexuality is often seen as a Western phenomenon.
During his February visit to Cape Town, an American friend of mine, who works for an international gay rights group, asked me where the black gay clubs are. I, of course, couldn’t direct him to any one club in particular because no such club exists.
A similar scenario occurred when a friend of mine recently moved to Cape Town from Jozi. He complained about the paucity of nightlife – or any entertainment for that matter -that’s targeted at the black gay population.
This has forced me to ask myself, and others, what is it that’s keeping us from creating those events for ourselves? We know what is missing, we know what we want and enjoy so why aren’t we doing anything about it? We are good people, we are a creative bunch and definitely intellectual, so why do we just stand by, say nothing and let “bad things happen”?
Black people have come a long way in South Africa. We have moved past the times when we were forced to be silent about the issues bothering us. We must rise from our comfort zones and put a black stamp in the struggle for gay rights.
“Let us vocally challenge the cultural beliefs that our very existence is unAfrican…”
Addressing the Pretoria Supreme Court in the Rivonia Trial in 1964, my hero Nelson Mandela said, “During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal, which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
This is the same ideal we must fight for. We must, together, challenge the hetero-normative ideals forced upon us. We must break away from the cocoons we have enclosed ourselves in.
Complacency in our way of life is one of the major causes of black apathy in the gay community, particularly in Cape Town. We sit back and let others do the work for us. We feel left out, yet we do nothing to make the situation better.
Looking at Cape Town Pride events, the majority of the participants are white. Where are the black gays and lesbians? Why do we allow ourselves to be invisible? Why do we sit ourselves in the back of the bus instead of steering it?
Let us be visible leaders in the struggle for gay rights. Let us vocally challenge the cultural beliefs that our very existence is unAfrican. Let’s feel proud to be the gay sons and daughters of the African soil.
The time has come for us to claim our space in this community. We need to be more visible and active in terms of gay rights. We need to create those opportunities we deem lacking in the sphere of entertainment. We need to take the bull by the horns and get more involved in the integration of both black and white spaces, and certainly in the creation of events that suit our tastes.
Vista Kalipa
Vista is Media Co-ordinator for Cape Town’s Triangle Project.
stargayzers in parow. there’s a gay club in the suburb of parow
Parow Gay !. You see I am Gay live in the northern suburbs and have never headr of stargazers …. weher is it ?
hallo alll. hallo all!!!stargazers is4drama queens!!mixit poppys and the drag gang frm m/plain, hanoverpark and the cape flats please watch u pockets the gals there are stella queens!!!!
Invisible Gay !. I think it’s high time that all gay people in Cape Town support the gay venues. but then on the other hand if more gay themed parties are arranged maybe we will see a shift ….. were are the go-go boys etc …….. Cruz was so average I have just returned from the UK and there gay themed parties are extremely well organised and supported !!
Is that the only thing that we are concern about. Are gay and being gay the on;y issue we are concern about, let first be human, and be concern about our sexuality.
gay theme parties. I agree,the UK has so many theme parties,and at their gay clubs there is always something happening from Monday to Sunday.If you have a look at G-A-Y from their bar to the club there is always something happening.I think its high time that the Gay community of Cape Town should start requesting these parties,it will most certainly bring the community together.
Black people should become more visible! . If there are people who know how to party,then its black and coloured people.We are supporting venues like “Mzoli’s” in Gugulethu,why not starting something similar like that for gays and lesbians,especially “black gays and lesbians”.We know how to do these things but still we are scared of failure.Please people,let’s see a venue in Cape Town where blacks can feel free to express there sexuality and be proud to be “Out and proudly African”.
black gay clubs. i stirred the pot last time with my observations of complacency in the gay scene in south africa, especially capetown, and now it seems someone else is taking up the challenge. i mean no disrespect to vista kalipa or his article but let’s look at the reality. it costs money to go out and quite frankly i believe the reason we don’t see more black clubs for gay men is it just cost too damn much to open a place and keep it going. let’s not forget that horrible incident a few years back when some gay black men were denied entrance into bronx. and how do you get from the suburbs to town when taxis are so bloody expensive if you don’t live in town…and who can afford that these days? i think a look at the economics of the situation is far more telling. i’ve lived in many cities where gay neighborhoods thrive and most of the time the people who frequent the clubs live in the area. i don’t know of many black people who own houses in the waterkant. i know alot of black gay people who are stuck at home on weekends afraid to go out because of what may happen to them when they return home if it’s discovered they are gay or frequent gay clubs. i know even more people who just don’t have the money to spend going out and having to pay 15 bucks for a beer. we need a proper sustainable gay community that supports each other regardless of colour or status. a gay community of men and women who stand together with pride and nurturing for each other. maybe being gay has become a rich white lifestyle after all.
ppl there like to steel(stella queens and back bit like braidly retreat and others!!thank u very much
black cape town. realistically speaking, in order to have a black gay scene in cape town, you would need to have a viable black middle class in cape town, and as we all know, that does not exist. as i say to my black middle class friends, every black middle class capetonian is either foreign or works for the government. south african black middle class people, for various and somewhat justified reasons, want absolutely no part of cape town. after nearly 4 years here, i never thought i would miss the uber-racist spanish-speaking caribbean, from which i come, but it looks like i will be moving back *there* rather than dealing with this kak that is cape town. (im black, from a spanish-speaking island, and resident in cape town.) the plus side about returning to the caribbean is that new york is only a 4 hour flight away, and there is PLENTY of black gay nightlife there, not to mention some of the downlow places on some of the other islands, which are black by default. cape town is almost as messed up as rio de janeiro (another place with lots of black gays, but no black spots), and for many of the same reasons. at the end of the day you need MONEY, and the kind of money necessary just is not within reach of black capetonians. south african “black diamonds” don’t live here, and given how hard it is as a black foreigner to get something as measly as a cellphone contract even when you have a million rand in the bank, trying to secure facilities to house a nightclub, insurance, a bank loan for the building, etc etc etc as a foreigner? forget it.
Forener. I share you sentiment and feel sorry for you.Cape Town was not always like that.i Believe it started with all the Rights,Human Right and as important as all those rights are with them they take us to a different place.We dont need to go to certain places just becuase we gay.Today we can just about go to any club of our choice.We have sum sort of protection.And this Right we owe to some of our gay brothers and sisters who played the price some of them with there lives.So here we are complaining about a total different issue and yet we find no way out.Just like the freedom fighters before us we owe it to ourselves and for those to come to start organising ourselves,Yes you might be a forener,but that does not mean we cannot go into business with a SOUTH AFRICAN WHO SHARE THE SAME values as you.wE SHOULD USE WHAT WE’v GOT AND USE IT TO YOUR ADVANTANGE
Gay Venues. We do not have enough choices in Cape Town.Stargayzer is nice but is the only club where black gay people can have a great time and still have our dignity in tack.
Nice Picture. Who is the hunk with the Dog?
Gat Party. The whites has a GAT party why dont we organise a Black party ONCE A MONTH ?
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Join Pride!. The next Pride AGM is Saturday, July 21, 2007 at 2pm at the Beaulah Bar in Somerset Street. Please join us and volunteer to sit on the committee of Pride and help create Pride events for the entire community. Here is a vehicle on how YOU can get invloved today! We need more representation on the committee – so join us. e-mail info@capetownpride.co.za for more info.