This article seeks to retegrate the history of the Gay and Lbian Organisatn of the Wwatersrand (GLOW) to southern Ain queer historgraphy, which has advertently siled the role of the anisatn, ignorg the plight of GLOW’s activists, as well as many others, mostly black gays and lbians. Through the e of archival material and terviews wh former GLOW members, this article exam GLOW’s role nnectg the gay liberatn stggle to the anti-apartheid stggle. The article terrogat GLOW’s role South Ai’s anti-apartheid stggle, which helped align gay and lbian rights wh the broar ia of rights for all cizens at a time South Ain history when beg agast rights for any group of people was emed unacceptable. This article further exam the var schisms wh GLOW that facilated s eventual cle, but which also ma the anisatn multi-layered. The multiple aspects of GLOW were ccial creatg solidary between gays and lbians who were able to succsfully fight for a Constutn that would protect the rights of non-heteronormative society.
Contents:
- “WE ARE CLAIMG SPACE, WE ARE VISIBLE!”: THE GAY AND LBIAN ORGANISATN OF THE WWATERSRAND AS A SPACE OF SOLIDARY, 1980S–1990S
- TAG ARCHIV: GAY AND LBIAN ORGANISATN OF THE WWATERSRAND (GLOW)
- GAY AND LBIAN ORGANIZATN OF WWATERSRAND
- THE FIRST GAY PRI MARCH IS HELD SOUTH AI
- GAY AND LBIAN ORGANIZATN OF THE WWATERSRAND (GLOW).
“WE ARE CLAIMG SPACE, WE ARE VISIBLE!”: THE GAY AND LBIAN ORGANISATN OF THE WWATERSRAND AS A SPACE OF SOLIDARY, 1980S–1990S
* gay and lesbian organisation of the witwatersrand *
GLOW gaed public attentn by ensurg a gay and lbian prence the 1989 wave of polil activism and monstratns mpaigng for mocracy and the unbanng of the liberatn movements. GLOW members were also volved the formatn of the Hope and Uny Metropolan Communy Church (HUMCC) 1994, rponse to the need for a church groupg where gay and lbian Christians uld make their voic heard and uld oppose the notn that homosexualy was un-Christian or immoral. Inclus the followg subllectns: Campaigns, lobbyg, and proposals -- Corrponnce and munitn -- Events, nferenc, and workshops -- GLOW anizatnal material -- HIV/AIDS material -- Lbian fom -- Miscellaneo -- Natnal Coaln for Gay and Lbian Equaly (NCGLE) -- Newsletters and publitns -- Pri material.
url={}This article seeks to retegrate the history of the Gay and Lbian Organisatn of the Wwatersrand (GLOW) to southern Ain queer historgraphy, which has advertently siled the role of the anisatn, ignorg the plight of GLOW’s activists, as well as many others, mostly black gays and lbians. Through the e of archival material and terviews wh former GLOW members, this article exam GLOW’s role nnectg the gay liberatn stggle to the anti-apartheid stggle… 7 ReferencUn centre-ville roseJonathan BotRevue d'histoire ntemporae l'Aique2021Johannbourg, pl gran ville d’Aique du Sud et cœur énomique du pays, possè une riche histoire culture queer.
Another law says that is a crimal offence for a gay person — a man or a woman — to have homosexual sex wh someone who is younger than 19.
TAG ARCHIV: GAY AND LBIAN ORGANISATN OF THE WWATERSRAND (GLOW)
One gay mister, Herich Pretori om Pretoria, recently rigned om the Dutch Reform church, sayg that he uldn’t preach a church that se homosexual love as a s.
“We want people to know that a gay relatnship is jt as betiful and wonrful as the relatnship between a man and a woman and that we serve the same rpect as any other person. In South Ai, people were speculatg about the sger’s sexualy, as they were all over the world, and when Dsie heard that to be gay was to love someone of the same sex, she felt a shock of joy.
Her grandmother and mother were sred for her, but she was adamant that she had to be part of the ’s bravery ntued her fight for gay rights, but after the succs of the Pri march she gradually began to feel disenchanted wh Glow. At the time, homosexualy was still beg scribed as a wtern ventn, “so, that room, we were que clear that nnot be somebody Amerin or Br. In one particularly tense scene, a whe, male st member told her: “I ed to beat up gays, bee as far as I’m ncerned they don’t belong on Earth.
GAY AND LBIAN ORGANIZATN OF WWATERSRAND
” In reply, Dsie passnately explaed that she was not gog anywhere and likened homophobia to the prejudice that the black muny ntued to did she agree to such an extreme experiment? Simon Tseko Nkoli was a gay activist and anti-apartheid lear who fought for eedom and social jtice South Ai durg the anti-apartheid stggle. His urage to live openly as a gay man upled wh his tirels work wh the anti-apartheid movement help shift the anti-gay opns of many of those wh the movement.
Through livg his tth and owng his inty, Nkoli facilated a cross-over of the anti-apartheid and gay liberatn movements, monstratg how the two stggl shared mon ground their fight for equaly. Nkoli was tegral foundg a number of major gay rights movements and anisatns the untry cludg the Gay Asociatn of South Ai (GASA) and most notably, the Gay and Lbian Organisatn of the Wwatersrand (GLOW). Nkoli knew that his sexualy may e issu for him wh the eedom movement, as homosexualy was not somethg that everyone the movement accepted or unrstood.
In 1988, two years after his release om tentn and followg his acqutal, Nkoli found the Gay and Lbian Organisatn of the Wwatersrand (GLOW). This monumental enshrement of LGBTQI+ rights meant that the adoptn, work and fay rights were extend to the gay muny and the rights were protected unr the supreme law.
THE FIRST GAY PRI MARCH IS HELD SOUTH AI
"Wh this march, gays and lbians are enterg the stggle for a mocratic South Ai where everybody has equal rights and everyone is protected by the law: black and whe; men and women, gay and straight. That same year, Nkoli helped found the Township Aids Project, which sought to te gays about the disease and unteract the epimic that began the 80s.
GAY AND LBIAN ORGANIZATN OF THE WWATERSRAND (GLOW).
Workg wh GLOW, the project beme a fom and rource for gays the townships to learn about the disease and grant them accs to treatment. In 1994, the year South Ai’s mocracy was born, Nkoli ntued to grow the gay muny by tablishg the Natnal Coaln for Gay and Lbian Equaly (NCGLE) which nnected anisatns supportg gay rights across the untry. GLOW's membership primarily nsisted of Black Ains, which was uncharacteristic of other gay, lbian, and bisexual (GLB) groups South Ai at the time.
In particular, they were mostly black, urban, workg-class youth om the townships Soweto and was formed to fill the void of polil anti-apartheid GLB anizg South Ai and rponse to the implic racism of proment natnal anizatns like the Gay Associatn of South Ai (GASA). In Sex and Polics South Ai, Neville Hoad explas, “GLOW sisted that liberatn om homophobia uld not be separated om the broar stggle for liberatn South Ai. Nkoli, who also was a well-known activist wh the Ain Natnal Congrs (ANC), lead the anizatn's iativ to ensure gay and lbian reprentatn throughout the 1989 thst for mocracy and 23 November 2017, the offic of the Equaly and Disabily uns at Stellenbosch Universy were named for GLOW founr Simon Tseko Nkoli.
"The manifto lls upon ‘All South Ains who are Commted to a Non-Racist, Non-Sexist, Non-Discrimatory Democratic Future’ to: UNITE the fight for the basic human rights of all south Ains, cludg lbians and gay men. The GLOW newsletter was a regular and profsnal publitn begun 1992 by GLOW to circulate news on black gay polil issu and life to membership and other gay muni across the untry. GLOW has hosted the annual Lbian and Gay Pri March Johannburg sce 1990, an opportuny to safely display GLB culture public on a large sle.