'We didn't come here to die' - LGBTQI activist wants Parliament to pass hate crimes bill
LGBTQI+ advocacy lead at CIVICUS Mawethu Nkosana says Freedom Day celebrations are bittersweet for the queer community.
The country commemorates this year's event under a dark cloud following the recent spate of violent attacks against LGBTQI+ people.
At least 6 queer people are known to have been brutally murdered since the start of the year.
This includes 21-year-old Lonwabo Jack, 34-year-old Sphamandla Khoza and 40-year-old Andile 'Lulu' Ntuthela who was dumped in a shallow grave in the Eastern Cape.
Nkosana says there is still a lot of work to be done to unlearn the stigmas attached to the LGBTQI+ community.
"I think the conception of the LGBTQI community represents and who they are is still a very much backward conception.
"We're still getting attacked for being this way and being ourselves and I think it's a very sad thing in 2021," Nkosana says.
"The attack is always on our humanness or the absence thereof."
Nkosana believes government also needs to come to the table.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is under immense pressure from activists to address the spate of killings.
"The Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill is a revolutionary document. I've engaged it and I think it offers a great legal framework for starting to think about queer justice. It's quite detailed and it's quite exact on the kinds of punishment it will mete out and I really hope that the viability of that document and its availability and it being domesticated into law will enable space for the LGBTQI+ community
"I hope the President could speak on where we are with that document. I hope the President will also mention something about appointing an LGBTI rights expert who will monitor the situation of LGBTI rights defenders in South African and ensure an enabling environment for LGBTI rights organisations and human rights defenders.”
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The Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill was tabled before Parliament in April 2018.
Nkosana further called for broader society to take up the fight against hate crimes.
"We as the LGBTI people are your brothers, are your sisters, are your cousins, are your friends. We are members of community and society in every way.
"My plea to broader society is can we stop dying. We didn't come here to die. Can we be dignified while we are still here?"
Listen to Mawethu Nkosana below: