A Gay Zulu Weddg and the Danger of a Sgle LGBTI Ain Story | HuffPost Voic

Contents:

• VIO OF THE DAY: ZULU GAY WEDDG
• A GAY ZULU WEDDG AND THE DANGER OF A SGLE LGBTI AIN STORY
• EXCLIVE FROM “GAY ZULU WEDDG” WORLD FIRST GAY TRADNAL WEDDG

VIO OF THE DAY: ZULU GAY WEDDG

While homosexual acts are illegal most Ain untri, South Ai, gay rights are protected and same-sex marriage is allowed unr the untry's progrsive post-apartheid, acrdg to GlobalPost Senr South Ai Corrponnt, Er Conway-Smh, gay marriage still isn't broadly accepted South Ai's largely nservative society. Outsi of the big ci, gays and lbians ntue to face discrimatn and sometim btal Zuma, a 2006 speech KwaDuza - the same town where the Zulu gay marriage took place on Saturday - said that same-sex marriag were a "disgrace to the natn and to God. ""When I was growg up an ungqgili [a gay person] would not have stood ont of me.

"We cid to have a tradnal weddg bee we firstly wanted to show people that beg homosexual n be part of an Ain culture, " Thoba Shole, one of the men, told Durban's Daily om GlobalPost: The Rabow Stggle.

In se you missed , a few weeks ago, two gay black South Ain men tied the knot at their 200-gut tradnal weddg, the first of s kd the old Zulu pal, Modisane and Thoba Shole, both proudly Zulu and Tswana, rpectively, cid to go public wh their gay Ain tradnal weddg ceremony by vg reporters to ver the ocsn.

A GAY ZULU WEDDG AND THE DANGER OF A SGLE LGBTI AIN STORY

The vio report spread quickly across the Interwebs, cg a seri of media headl that scribe the unn as progrs for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex (LGBTI) Ains.

Lsons From Chimamanda Adichie: The Danger of a Sgle (Gay Ain Male) StoryChimamanda Adichie, a celebrated Nigerian wrer, said her famo TEDTalk, "The sgle story creat stereotyp, and the problem wh stereotyp is not that they are unte but that they are plete. Neverthels, the untry's stggle to shift cultural attus toward acceptance of this margalized group of people, pecially ral areas and townships, this reason, as the media ntue to hail this sgle occurrence as a tone, be cril that supporters of the LGBTI Ain movement for equaly nsir that this sgle narrative exists wh the ntext of many stance, the vio report stat that the two gay black men are based the metropolan cy of Johannburg and are workg profsnals the fields of fancial servic and IT. That's not to imply that they've been any way exempt om experiencg the bilatg impact of societal discrimatn -- far om ; the effects of homophobia (pound wh racism, as the uple is black) on the livelihoods of people prumed to be LGBTI n rult workplace discrimatn and prejudice health re, not to mentn prsn, anxiety and even, there's a huge difference between, on the one hand, the experience of beg a "regular-lookg" cisgenr male employee at a "Big Four" fancial nsultg firm a fairly liberal cy that boasts the largt gay pri para the untry and, on the other, the harsh realy of tryg to make ends meet a poor township while also fearg rape for beg a lbian, or murr for beg an effemate gay a piece wrten for a South Ain LGBTI publitn last year, wrers T.

Tallie and Maria Hengeveld shared ments by Junr, a young, black, gay-intified male who disagreed wh South Ai's reputatn as a progrsive state (emphasis alics add by me):"When you have money, 's que easy to set yourself ee om discrimatn and danger, " Junr says.

EXCLIVE FROM “GAY ZULU WEDDG” WORLD FIRST GAY TRADNAL WEDDG

"Many of the whe gay and lbian people here n afford to ri a safe and progrsive area, but the majory of live townships. " Junr's statement emphasiz that gay and lbian equaly South Ai is strongly mediated by race and class, and that sexual eedom is often available to those who have the racial and leral pal to afford light of the stggl of LGBTI Ains, the sire to celebrate any kd of progrs, pecially when the form of a gleeful Zulu weddg, is unrstandable; the vibrant ceremony prented a sharp ntrast to the media's grim (and at tim gome) pictn of vlent homophobia on the Ain ntent.

However, is dangero to assign wi-sweepg gas to all LGBTI Ains based on the perceived victory of a of gay Ains who view marriage as the least of their problems: young people, for stance, who have been disowned by their fai and, above all, seek a stable alternative to homelsns?

What about transgenr women who experience rejectn (and vlence) om both gay and straight muni alike? G., gay men, or members of the middle class), while the groups most at risk (e. Funrs are maly terted gay men bee of that.

And there is no rearch on Nigerian gay women to suggt otherwise, so we are at a disadvantage. Nigeria's recent move to further crimalize homosexualy has no doubt sent even more LGBTI Nigerians back to the clost, makg the need for safe social spac even more cril.

Consequently, before the media clare the gay Zulu weddg as progrs for the LGBTI Ain movement, they mt ask themselv, "What do progrs for LGBTI people other Ain untri (or even for different groups of Ains wh South Ai) look like?

For stance, the murr of David Kato, a Ugandan LGBTI rights activist, sparked global outrage, whereas the btal torture and slayg of Mrice Mjomba, a gay Tanzanian muny anizer, barely received attentn.