Comments on: CAPE TOWN: A GLOBAL GAY CAPITAL?

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

How about emailing me a very sexy pic of yourself please.
Thanks Greg

By: kznguy

kznguy — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I must say after reading this article and the comments I agree cape town is accepting of being gay but not so accepting of those who show cleche signs of being gay.

Whenever I've been to cpt its been great the straight people don't mind that I'm gay. But the gay people are more judgemental. I've seen how they look down on those who don't have gym toned bodies and I've seen how they stay away from the fem gays.

I have seen the gay jhb scene and dbn scene and PE scene. And cpt has the best so I see cpt as a gay capital for africa but not for the world

By: chris

chris — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

For the last 5 years I have spend 10 days every two months on business in Cape Town. For the first 3 years I was also in CT over the festive season, but for the last 2 years I have decided to give CT a miss. The reason being, come high season, the rip-off culture of the CT gay bars & clubs! Not to mention the restaurants! The last straw for me was the disastrous, poorly organised boring 2009 street party. It appears after reading Boy George’s comments, nothing has changed!

By: yogi_bear

yogi_bear — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

London has about 9m people so obviously they have more venues and thus more diversity; but SOHO is very ordinary – Compton St has a few bars and coffee shops and the few blocks around have some entertainment, some of it very downmarket.
I find the Castro area and Haight Ashbury in SF very grey (I’m told they throw great parties like pride, but the area remains a bit run down; Sydney is nowhere near Cape Town, in my view.
And therein lies the nub: at the end of the day it is a matter of individual taste until you have established a set of criteria if you want to formalise the rating process (which is just a media con-job anyway, simmillar to the Table Mountain/seven wonders BS).
The essence is: we may not live in the best city in the world, but we sure as hell live in one of the best. …. and it is up to us to optimize the wonderful potential we have.
Here endeth the lesson
Aahh men!

By: John B

John B — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I was at Crew’s NY shin-dig, I as I was sta ding outside downstairs, I heard someone, (i think the owner perhaps) counting down from 10, 9,8 with everyone counting out with him for New year;s, everybody shouted “Happy New Year”! so, to Boy George, I had a great time this New year, yes, I paid R280 to get in but Bronx Was charging R100 I thik, but I choose to go where the action and hot boys were, Boy George, maybe you should have come out from the toilets to enjoy the party! I had a ball! Thank you Cape Town!

By: Boy George

Boy George — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Simply put Cape Town is the best of a bad bunch. South African cities are so lacking in gay ghetos and gay culture. The scene in Cape Town has deteriorated. The only really central place to go to, to welcom in the New Year was at the horrendous Crew Bar where they crammed revellers in to cash in on the night. It cost R280 to go and they didn’t even have the intelligence or organisational skille to give its patrons, a lot from abroad a 12 midnight countdown. I was horrified. NO COUNTDOWN on NEW YEARS EVE, and I paid R280 for what. Anyone else feel the same way??????? So pissed off with CREW. Somebody should do something.

By: BigBay

BigBay — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I have chosen to live in Bloubergstrand – and must admit that it is like living in another city. Working in the CBD, I travel on the R27 daily during the week to another city. The vibe around Somerset Street (Gay Village area) is amazing…. Big Bay side it is a question of the Love that dare not speak it’s name! Interesting article nonetheless…. Thank you Al Mackay!

By: capetimes

capetimes — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

We live in Observatory CT that is known as a very welcome home for Gays and lesbians. It really is a very interesting little suburb and the influence of Gay people helping to improve the area is welcmed by the DA councillor for the area. He actively promotes the suburb as a Gay haven of sorts and wishes for more gays to move in. The area has roughly 2000 houses and it is estimated that between 200-250 homes are owned by Gays and Lesbians. Most of the Gay people I know in Obs are married which is also another plus. The area is also getting a nice upmarket Gay Friendly Tavern soon. Lion Corner Tavern. Obs is a very diverse and open minded place to live.

By: KingBob

KingBob — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Interesting that you have such an English-centric view of gay capitals in the world. You’ve excluded others such as Cologne, Paris, Stockholm, Barcelona, Rio de Janeiro… all which are significant gay capitals for their regions and countries.

Which is basically why Cape Town is the gay powerhouse, it’s the most liberal city in Africa. This stems back from a history of being more racially integrated during apartheid years (Sea Point being an example) and having many gay hotspots during the 90s and early 2000s. I agree though that with the shrinkage of De Waterkant’s clubbing areas Cape Town’s gay reputation is pretty much riding the wave of December visitors to our shores, but lets face it the clubs have tumbleweed rollling through them in Winter tourist drought months. Cape Town is a seasonal city and therefore summer month party venues would be the way of the future to sustain a gay-friendly image… and in Cape Town this is all just an image really, as once you’ve crossed over to the Northern Suburbs and city limits things are a lot less welcoming and open-minded. I guess this is just another classic example of what a bubble existance life in Cape Town is really like, compared to the rest of South Africa.

By: Max Mataco

Max Mataco — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I read an amazing book as a child called ‘Watership Down’. The heros of the story are rabbits searching for a safe place to start a new warren. They stumble upon a colony of beautiful large well fed rabbits living in an idealic pasture. All is perfect till one day one of the ‘locals’ disappears. The others simply don’t talk about him like he never existed…turns out the farmer was feeding these ‘free range’ rabbits and protecting them from poachers, wild animals. But every once in a while he would go hunting for rabbit meat…
I was 12 when I read that book and 25yrs on I am reminded of it when I read articles like this