What the member of parliament said was very correct. We do not follow the tradition of what a pride march was intended for. Cape Town has proven over and over again that it is not interested in addressing the LGBTI issues that is facing black and coloured people by way of the platform that it is afforded annually at the PRIDE MARCH.

How are we ever to address the important issues when the gay community cannot even identify the problems that exist within? What Manny is saying should and must be heard in light of what transpired.

Our diversity and its rights were never threatened, its a small group who over reacted (GAy Flag of SA – the opportunist group that would do anything for free promotion and publicity or media coverage) and spread the wrong information. In actual fact, the committee regularly engage with all leaders, similarly like it does with the Churches Council, the Afrikaner leadership etc.

Each have its own opinions and it is never a threat to our constitution.
I really think we need to go back and learn from history and understand what a pride march is all about and then implement and use these opportunities to highlight worthy causes and then party later..

I also dont see the point in why we always highlight Melanie Nathan, who is in San Francisco and who does very little for our local community. Nathan chose to desert South Africa during the years of apartheid and has suddenly become an expert on constitutional issues in RSA and claims to understand the “situation” when she never even lived in South Africa during our democracy.. how ironic isnt that?

It’s this Twitter landscape you all live in these days: anything longer than 140 characters and your brain goes mushy.

A better party? Let me guess…you vote ANC?
Case closed!

The worst thing we can do as the gay community is alienate our own kind when for the first time in years the community has worked together on something.

Organisers of the protests and myself said before the protests that we were not worried that the constitution would be changed, but against traditional leaders who do not respect out constitution. (See also debate on the Traditional Courts Bill)

We no longer need to flight for rights, as they do exist on paper, but we need to see that those rights are recognised. LGBTI people are still being discriminated against and persecuted, and for many the rights protected in the constitution seem a million mile’s away.

Furthermore, the heading of this article smacks of sensationalism. The DA is the only party that has proved that it is fully behind the LGBTI community, and was the only party that when the Civil Union Bill was debated in parliament said that having the word “union” instead of “marriage” for same-sex couples was a form of discrimination. Africa’s first openly-gay politician and parliamentarian (also DA), Ian Ollis, is a representative of the Gay Flag of South Africa and played a role in the adoption of the historic resolution condemning violence and discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation at the United Nations. The party’s leader, Helen Zille has stated that she fully endorses the Constitutions Bill of Rights and its commitment to the right of all to determine their sexual orientation, going on to say that everyone has the right to be themselves and live a life they value. This does not sound like a party that would mock LGBTI people.