Why Pride Month is a protest for LGBTQ+ rights

IOL News

21-06-2025

Sandton Gay Pride went ahead as planned despite a terror warning by the US embassy in this file photo. South Africa is not only one of the only pro-queer African nations to date, but it is also the only country to have legalised same-sex marriage, and only the fifth in the world to have done so.
Image: Timothy Bernard/African News Agency (ANA)
IN South Africa, June is not only Youth Month, it is also the international Pride Month. This is a commemorative month-long observance dedicated to the celebration of LGBTQ+ pride, celebrating the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people in local and international cultures and communities.
South Africa is not only one of the only pro-queer African nations to date, but it is also the only country to have legalised same-sex marriage, and only the fifth in the world to have done so.
Although, contemporary, other African nations have decriminalised same-sex relationships, South Africa is the only nation to fully legalise and enshrine the protections of queer people under our Constitutional laws.
Legal progress for South Africa's LGBTQ+ community has not translated into lived safety: violence against gay and queer individuals remains rampant. The names Siphamandla Khoza, Andile 'Lulu' Nthuthela, Nathaniel 'Spokgoane' Mbele, Lonwabo 'Jack', and many others, echo loudly in discourses around South Africa's homophobia and violences against queer communities.
Mere months ago, fearless advocate for queer Muslims and the world's first openly gay imam, Muhsin Hendricks, was murdered in a targeted attack near Gqeberha on February 15th. The 57-year-old cleric ran a mosque in Cape Town intended as a haven for gay and other marginalised Muslims. The car he was travelling in was ambushed as he made his way to officiate an interfaith marriage — an act symbolic of his mission to build bridges in the face of hate.
Mere months before that, the remains of Lazarus Ikaneng Thomas, a 50-year-old gay man from Galeshewe in Northern Cape, were found after he was mutilated in a targeted homophobic attack. It was reported that Thomas had been strangled and had acid poured all over his body.
Thomas's death was not just a horrifying murder — it was a savage and deliberate act of hatred. It reflects the cruel, barbaric violence still directed at queer bodies in a country that claims to uphold human rights.
South Africa is internationally revered for having the best Constitution in the world. It is oftentimes praised for its progressive legal framework: same-sex marriage is legal, discrimination based on sexual orientation is constitutionally prohibited, and LGBTIQ+ people are, on paper, fully protected citizens.
Still, queer lives are targeted, violated, and taken — often without consequence. Violence against queer people persists not just because of hate, but because our systems allow it to happen without punishment, letting perpetrators walk free under the cover of institutional neglect.
Pride Month is a time meant to honour resilience and demand justice for all, despite gender and sexual orientation. The brutal murders of Hendricks, Thomas, and so many other vulnerable victims' murders serve as a searing reminder of the gap between legal recognition and lived experience.
Laws may exist, but they have little weight when queer people are afraid to walk home, afraid to love openly, or to simply exist in peace. The violence in our society is not random; it is enabled by societal apathy, cultural prejudice, and the failure of institutions that are meant to protect our people.
Queer people in our society still face oppressions and unspeakable violences, to the point of being dangerously normalised. According to the Mamba Online, 622 queer people were murdered in the span of just three months. From hate crimes and violences such as corrective rape, to various forms of institutional biases, queer people grapple with challenges such as unemployment, gender pay parities, exclusion in leadership, and more, purely because of their sexual orientation. This, being imposed in a constitutional democratic society, is an absolute travesty.
This Pride Month, South Africa must look inward. The problem is not a lack of solid legislation, it is the deep-rooted stigma that festers in families, in religious communities, in townships, in schools, and in our justice system. Police still mock victims of queerphobic violence, and even refuse to acknowledge them. The SAPS has, in the past, been severely criticised for its harsh, dismissive attitude towards homophobic crimes.
Courts drag their feet, sidelining homophobic violence and atrocities for more sensational — often political — cases. In addition to this, only 28.6% of Home Affairs branches had marriage officers who were willing to marry same sex couples. This is deplorable and shows that our government institutions don't take constitutional rights seriously.
Politicians pay lip service to inclusion while staying silent when queer people are brutally murdered. Pride cannot be reduced to rainbow logos and corporate hashtags; it must be a genuine call to action. The era of empty promises is long gone. Legal protections mean nothing without moral conviction. Equality can't be legislated into existence alone. Our nation must reckon with the values it claims to uphold and confront the prejudices it still tolerates in its homes, churches, schools, streets, and beyond.
What is required now is transformation at the level of mindset, culture, and conscience. Until queer lives are valued not just in law books but in everyday interactions, in homes, and in the hearts of our fellow citizens, our democracy remains incomplete. Pride means nothing if it leaves the most vulnerable among us behind.
South Africa's youth — particularly during Youth Month — are uniquely positioned to be the driving force behind real change. Unburdened by some of the rigid prejudices of older generations, many young people are boldly challenging homophobia, transphobia, and the silence that surrounds queer issues in their communities.
From student-led movements, to social media activism, the youth are demanding that queer rights be treated not as optional, but as essential to a just and inclusive society. They are reshaping cultural norms, holding institutions accountable, and creating spaces where queer identities are affirmed rather than erased.
In a country where legal protections already exist, it is this generational shift, powered by the courage, creativity, and a refusal to settle for performative partnerships, that can transform SA from just a nation of progressive laws into a truly liberated society. This was the very essence of the national liberation movement: freedom and the entrenchment of equal human rights across our entire society.
It is Section 9 of our Bill of Rights that explicitly stipulates the right to sexual orientation and prohibits discrimination in its entirety. South Africa is the First Nation ever to enshrine these protections in the Constitution.
South Africa's youth have always been at the forefront of change — from the June 16 Soweto Uprising to #FeesMustFall. Today, they continue to breathe life into our constitutional promises. Young people have an undeniable, unyielding sense of justice, and their commitment to queer rights is critical to the advancement of Pride in our post-democratic society.
The youth are not only defending human rights in our society, but expanding the meaning of freedom for future generations. They are holding institutions accountable and demanding that the values enshrined in the Constitution become lived realities for all, including queer communities.
In South Africa, everyone in our society knows the fight for freedom, human rights and true liberation — past and present. True Pride means more than survival. If Pride is to mean anything in South Africa, it must move all of us, from law to culture, from silence to solidarity. This means dignity, safety, and freedom for all queer people.
We owe it to Hendricks, Thomas, and to the innumerable lives taken by rampant, inhumane queerphobia, to demand nothing less than true justice. It is evident that: 'To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.' Until South Africa confronts the hatred that lives beyond its laws, Pride will remain a protest, not a celebration.
* Tswelopele Makoe is a gender and social justice activist and editor at Global South Media Network. She is a researcher, columnist, and an Andrew W Mellon scholar at the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice, UWC. The views expressed are her own.
** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, IOL, or Independent Media. Get the real story on the go: Follow the Sunday Independent on WhatsApp.