https://www.mambaonline.com/2012/10/31/trans-bashing-at-western-cape-varsity/ South Africa's leading LGBTQ news and community platform Wed, 10 Apr 2013 15:15:33 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.10 https://www.mambaonline.com/2012/10/31/trans-bashing-at-western-cape-varsity/#comment-16834 Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.mambaonline.com/?p=13071#comment-16834 How a is the rest of society to behave when this is what happens at institutions of higher education. And to think that Prof. Pierre de Vos taught there..,

]]> https://www.mambaonline.com/2012/10/31/trans-bashing-at-western-cape-varsity/#comment-16835 Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.mambaonline.com/?p=13071#comment-16835 Another question is why society (more specifically the University and the police) is making light of this situation. It sickens me every time I hear of hate crimes anywhere in the world. It is more troubling however that when a marginalised group like the trans community is assaulted people don’t take it seriously. It’s one thing to remain impartial and another thing to glibly “condemn” such an incidence. There was no need on the part of the spokesperson to mention that the alleged victims were drunk and “unruly”. This undermines the validity of their claims and prompts people to justify what happened. The University should have stated, categorically, the need of tolerance, respect of diversity: if only to convince its students that they take such actions against the LGBT seriously and that they aim for diversity. I would also have to wonder if there would be as “much stress relief” for the constable were it a racially charged incident instead of one fueled by transphobia. I can only hope that this story doesn’t fade out of existence and that it serves as a compass for the University in guiding the people it educates to a more tolerant line of thought. (Bigots get higher education too.)

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