YOUR TOP 10 NEWS STORIES OF 2012

It was a year that saw the first Mr. Gay World competition to be held in Africa, a spike in local LGBT hate crimes, the Joburg Pride protest furore and South Africa’s first openly-gay Olympian.

Take a step back in time with your top 10 most-read news articles of 2012:


10. ADAM LAMBERT VISITS CAPE TOWN’S GAY VILLAGE – 15 November 2012

Pop star Adam Lambert wowed his local gay fans when he ate and partied in Cape Town’s gay village last night. The 30-year-old openly-gay Grammy-nominated performer and his backup dancers had dinner at Beefcakes before moving on to Crew Bar in Green Point.
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09. MUSLIM LESBIAN COUPLE TO BE WED BY IMAM – 1 February 2012

Two South African lesbians from Delft, outside of Cape Town, will be married by an Imam under traditional Islamic marriage rites. Sadia Kruger (53) and Zukayna Leonard (36) are already legally married, having tied the knot in 2007 in a civil union marriage at the department of home affairs.
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08. SA ARCHER JOINS LIST OF OPENLY GAY OLYMPIC ATHLETES – 23 July 2012

The number of known openly gay and lesbian athletes who are competing at the London 2012 Olympic Games has slowly risen in the past few days as more have come forward. The most recent to do so is proudly lesbian Cape Town based archer Karen Hultzer, who will be representing South Africa at the Games.
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07. JOBURG PRIDE MARRED BY SCUFFLES – 7 October 2012

A well-attended and festive Joburg Pride was marred by scuffles between organisers and activists who mounted an ambush protest against LGBT hate crimes and the “depoliticised” nature of the event. (A follow-up overview of the incident can be read here.)
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06. GARETH THOMAS GOES NUDE – 30 May 2012

Openly-gay rugby legend Gareth Thomas appears on the cover of Attitude magazine’s upcoming ‘naked issue’ in nothing more than his birthday suit. He was chosen as the cover model to celebrate the 2012 London Olympics.
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05. RICKY MARTIN’S FAMILY REVEALED – 22 March 2012

For the first time, singer Ricky Martin has allowed the media to photograph his full family, including his boyfriend and two children. Martin, along with partner of four years Carlos Gonzalez Abell and their children, twins Matteo and Valentino, appear in the latest issue of the Spanish version of Vanity Fair.
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04. MR. GAY WORLD TO BOAST FOUR AFRICAN FINALISTS – 19 February 2012

Organisers have announced that the upcoming Mr. Gay World contest in Johannesburg will, for the first time, see four finalists from Africa taking to the stage. (Note: Taurai Zhanje from Zimbabwe ultimately dropped out of the event due to unspecified threats against him and his family.)
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03. CONFUSION OVER BEHEADING CLAIMS – 12 June 2012

While initial reports claimed that a 23-year-old man in Kuruman had been beheaded in the early hours of Saturday due to his sexuality, police said in a statement that his head was not separated from his body but that his throat was cut.
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02. ANGER OVER PTA CHRISTIAN GAY CURE BILLBOARD – 8 July 2012

A complaint has been laid with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about a Pretoria billboard that suggests that Jesus can ‘save’ people from homosexuality. (Note: Soon after we broke the story, the church changed the billboard to remove the reference to homosexuality which saw it avoiding being ruled on by the Advertising Standards Authority) 
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01. SEARCH FOR MISSING TEEN – 20 February 2012

Joburg’s gay community has been asked to be on the look-out for 15-year-old (possibly gay) Daniel Da Costa Nunes, who has gone missing from his home in the South of Johannesburg on Monday afternoon. (Note: Thankfully, the teen was found safe and sound, soon after the story was published.)
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