State agency fights gay dad ‘maternity’ leave ruling
A state owned agency seems intent on wasting money after requesting leave to appeal a recent judgement granting a Pietermaritzburg gay dad ‘maternity leave’. According to the Sunday Times, the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) has decided to challenge the groundbreaking March ruling that saw the Durban Labour Court agreeing that the agency had discriminated against […]
ACDP blocks Mr Gay World motion in Parliament
The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) has objected to a parliamentary motion in support of the Mr Gay World contest, which was held in South Africa last week. The congratulatory ‘motion without notice’ was proposed by the DA’s Zakhele Mbhele, who became Africa’s first openly-gay black male MP in May last year. The motion acknowledges […]
DA’s Maimane (kinda) supports gay marriage, despite anti-gay church
Mmusi Maimane, the frontrunner in the race to lead the DA, appears to have a rather complicated perspective on homosexuality and LGBT rights. A pastor and elder with Liberty Church, Maimane is in a race with Wilmot James to be elected as the head of the official opposition this weekend. Thanks to a spate of […]
The Black Swan on the streets of Soweto and PTA
Over the last week passersby in Johannesburg and Pretoria have been shocked, amazed and possibly disturbed by the unlikely scenario of a muscular gay man performing ballet on the streets. Former Mr Gay World Chris Olwage, who is South African-born but now lives in New Zealand, has donned his black tutu, pointe shoes and little […]
Cape Town court: religion no excuse to discriminate
In a groundbreaking settlement the Equality Court in Cape Town has agreed that owners of a guesthouse cannot use their religious beliefs to turn away gay customers. Neil Coulson and his husband Jonathan Sedgwick were denied accommodation in November 2013 by the House of Bread in the town of Wolseley, near Ceres, because their sexual […]
Concern over Ceres gay hate murder trial
An LGBT rights group is concerned about the state’s handling of the prosecution of the suspect in the horrific torture and murder of a young gay Ceres man last year. Christo Oncker has been accused of allegedly beating a bound David Olyne, 23, with a rock, jumping on his face and then repeatedly setting him […]
Sama-winning Nakhane Touré to début a novel
Nakhane Touré, the openly gay South African singer and songwriter, is set to release his first novel, titled To Whom Shall We Go? Touré, who won Best Alternative Album at last year’s South African Music Awards (Samas), told Mambaonline that he started working on the semi-biographical book around six years ago. “At first it was a […]
Over a million people in Gauteng support violence against gays
A survey has found that up to 1,2 million people in South Africa’s most populous province are likely to support violence against gays and lesbians. The chilling statistic was uncovered by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) Quality of Life Survey, which is run every two years. Field workers asked over 27,000 Gauteng residents to agree […]
Will Nigeria’s new president be better for gays?
Muhammadu Buhari has become the first opposition leader to be democratically elected into power in Africa’s most populous nation. But will he be more accepting of LGBT equality than his predecessor? The current president, Goodluck Jonathan, has certainly been no friend of the LGBT community. In January last year, he signed the Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) […]
Bisexual woman gang raped at gunpoint because of her “lifestyle”
In another horrific LGBTI hate crime, a 30-something bisexual mother of three in Limpopo has reportedly been raped by a group of men who said they wanted to show her that her “lifestyle is wrong.” Activist Cindy Molefe, from the group Limpopo LGBTI Proudly Out, told Mambaonline that the woman, Abby*, who has often worked with the […]