So Who Is Erroll Naidoo?

Over a number of days recently, I was engaged in an email debate with Errol Naidoo of the so-called "Family Policy Institute", based in Cape Town. 

 

The reason for the debate? 

 

Mr. Naidoo is leading an attack on Cape Town Tourism over its support for the Mother City Queer Project, and the use of a catch-phrase advertising Cape Town as "the Gay Capital of South Africa". He also issued another call to fellow Christian fundamentalists and homophobes to target entities which he frequently accuses of "promoting the homosexual agenda".

In the course of this debate, Mr Naidoo played the card which has become expected of him - that is, he pretends to be nothing more than a "concerned citizen", a "pastor" and "faithful Christian" who is nobly "standing" for "Christian biblical values" while "doing the Lord's work". In addition, he said he "doesn't hate gay people" (despite the proof that he actually said the complete opposite only last year), in fact he says he has a "good relationship" with one gay man who has been his barber for 30 years, and whom he invites to family celebrations.

 

Yeah, right.

At the same time, he has been using his own religious views to fight against the equality and civil rights of our community since the early 1990's, and is probably the most outspoken and visceral opponent of our human and civil rights in South Africa. Well, aside from that other guy on Facebook last year who claimed to be calling for the return of the death penalty because he was a Christian and believed gay people should die for their "sin". Wow, seri-haas. 

 

Not exactly good PR material, that one.

'The homosexuals are coming! The homosexuals are coming!'

Yesterday I received an incredibly long-winded and frantic response from Errol Naidoo - a man who sits at the head of a one-man show called "the Family Policy Institute" based in Cape Town, with offices apparently right across the road from Parliament. This is to keep his eyes on them, of course - both of them, just in case those sneaky homosexual activists and their liberal allies try to sneak (or is that "rail-road") some pro-gay legislation into Parly.

 

Chuff...chuff...woo...wooo.

 

Er, sorry.  

 

Coming back to the email from Mr. Naidoo, it seems the email campaign to demonstrate our objection to his attack on Cape Town Tourism for supporting the city as a gay and gay-friendly tourist destination must have struck a nerve somewhere. For one thing, in the space of just two A4 pages, he used the word "homosexual" no less than 22 times! 

 

My, my - his feathers must really have been ruffled.

Reading Between The Lies

Apparently South Africa has gained a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council - for the second time. 

 

Considering their track record of betraying the principles of the SA Constitution so far, I can only imagine the kind of mayhem they could wreak if they ever got a permanent seat. 

As a South African of mixed sexual orientation and gender identity, it makes me shudder. No, really. I love my home, and I love my country - but lately I cannot help but to be ashamed of it.

SA Government Betrays Human Rights Principles Set In The SA Constitution - Again

South Africa's government has once again shamed our nation before the free world by adding its vote to the voices of member nations of the UN who are oppressors of the human rights of the global Pink Community, in order to deny UN protection of the human rights of GLBTI individuals from hate crime specifically directed at LGBTI people!

Driving While Blind

It is ironic in the extreme that there are people out there who are very vocal about their feelings or so-called "moral convictions" on what you or I do in our private lives, who we love, how we choose to express ourselves, about what makes us happy or how we differ from them in any way, shape or form - regardless of whether or not we cause any harm to anyone else or not.

The irony of course lies in the detail that the same folks can't stand the heat when others apply the same heat to them in the same kitchen.

Yes, He Can

The last few days has given me some things to think about. 

 

The recent cabinet reshuffle in South Africa seems, so far at least, to be something to be glad about. 

 

Lulu Whatshername was reposted somewhere else, away from arts and culture, presumably where she won't be able to criticize and condemn works of art as "pornography" and "anti-family", and Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba was also "redeployed" somewhere else. Hopefully those places will be spaces where neither of them might cause any further trouble by pushing their xenophobic religious fundamentalist bullshit into government narrative.

City Of Apples, Land Of Penguins

Where do I live?

I live in South Africa, a country which has one of the most advanced Constitutions on the planet, in terms of human rights and equality for people like me. It's a country full of contradictions, as a careful analysis will show. For me, as a transgender woman who doesn't care much about the gender of my prospective partners, it's my home, but also a place that occasionally makes me feel unwelcome enough to want to leave.

Who Are We? Why Are We Here?

I sat down this morning wondering what our community is all about. I'm thinking about the Pink Community of course. Pink, because of the confusing array of acronyms we apply to describe ourselves, that almost always put some sub-groups before others, and invariably leave someone out. Pink, because of our association with the feminine, with the notion that we break the boundaries set for us by society, and because it flies in the face of some beliefs that pink represents weakness and inferiority - an idea some are growing to realize is not the case at all.

Holding Hands

Last night I attended the inaugural meeting of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians And Gays), a new group in Port Elizabeth. It's an initiative I developed through a group I'm involved with, called ECGLA (Eastern Cape Gay & Lesbian Association) and the PE branch of Lifeline. This initiative is the culmination of the past year's co-operation between Lifeline PE and ECGLA on developing a community-focused counseling service for the Pink Community in Port Elizabeth - and I have to admit, it's a heart-warming experience when you start to see and feel the fruit of your labors!

Based on the American concept, PFLAG is a support group for the straight parents and friends (and colleagues) of the Pink Community, intended to provide information, counseling and education on the issues surrounding the pink people in their lives, and to break down the social stigma faced by pink folks and their relatives and friends. It's also heart-warming when people who are, for all intents and purposes, outside our community, reach out a welcoming hand and work to make things better.

Choice - A Matter Of Perspective

I was a little caught by surprise this weekend when I saw an article about conscription in the Old South Africa, in which the author claimed that "conscription was a choice", and basically placed blame on young white South African conscripts who were forced to serve their year or two years, on them. 

 

The author claimed that they could well have made use of the loopholes to avoid national service if they so desired, as he did.

There are some flaws in this theory of his, however, as I can attest. I was one of those white "men" who went to the army in January 1992, the very last compulsory intake. In fact, it was my intake that very nearly rioted when we heard after arriving at our training base that those who hadn't reported for duty no longer had to - and who had and were already there, had to finish our year.

I was an 18 year old child, straight out of school, confused about my my sexuality, my gender and about who I was - trapped and tormented by religious indoctrination, lost in a world of political turmoil and threatening violence, possible military coups and potential civil war, and living under the authority of the state, enforced by both parents and society.

Where was my choice?