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Abstract
Much work has recently explored the remarkable legislative achievements that have benefited queer groups in South Africa. Less well understood has been an appreciation as to how the links between histories of racism and histories of sexuality deployed to legitimate such legal challenges may also have directly helped to entrench the ability of others to argue against queer rights. Drawing on the work of Stuart Hall, this article will explore how queer activist's association with an ideology of ‘equality’ (and the link between racism and sexuality-based discrimination) has not simply concluded discussion about the rights (or wrongs) of queer rights. Instead that association has helped align the issue of sexuality within a far broader debate as to what the ‘New South Africa’ should mean after a racist past. This may help us appreciate a so far little understood and yet key reason why homophobia remains such a pervasive problem in the country.
Beaucoup de travail a récemment exploré les remarquables achevées législatives dont ont bénéficié les groupes queer en Afrique du Sud. Moins bien compris a été une appréciation en ce qui concerne comment les liens entre les histoires de racisme et les historiques de la sexualité déployé pour légitimer tels défis juridiques pourraient également aider directement à assurer les capacités des autres à débattre contre les droits queer. En élaborant le travail de Stuart Hall, cet article va explorer la manière dont l'association des activistes queer avec une idéologie ‘d'égalité’ (et le lien entre la racisme et la discrimination basée sur la sexualité) n'a pas simplement conclu la discussion sur les droits (ou les torts) des droits queer. En fait cette association a aidé à aligner sur le problème de la sexualité dans le cadre d'un débat plus élargi ce que la ‘Nouvelle Afrique du Sud’ doit signifier après un passé raciste. Cela peut nous aider à comprendre une raison jusqu'à maintenant peu entendue mais une raison clé pour laquelle l'homophobie reste un problème aussi insinuant dans le pays.
Últimamente muchos autores han explorado los logros legislativos que han beneficiado los grupos ‘queer’ de Sudáfrica. No obstante, estos estudios no han reconocido como los enlaces entre historias de racismo y sexualidad desplegados para legitimar estos retos legales habrían ayudado la capacidad para discutir contra los derechos queer. Utilizando el trabajo de Stuart Hall, este artículo explorará la asociación que tiene el activista queer con una ideología de ‘igualdad’ (y el enlace entre discriminaciones basadas en racismo y sexualidad) no ha concluido la discusión sobre los correctos (o incorrectos) de los derechos queer. En cambio, esta asociación ha ayudado alinear el tema de sexualidad con un debate mucho más amplio de que el ‘Nuevo Sudáfrica’ debe significar después de su pasado racista. Este nos ayude entender porque la homofobia sigue siendo un problema omnipresente en el país.
Acknowledgements
This research was made possible by an ESRC award, grant number PTA-026-27-1392. I would also like to thank Gerry Kearns for his help and assistance with this project and its earlier beginnings. Thanks also to Philip Howell, James Duncan, Richard Smith, Jude Browne, David Nally, David Beckingham and Fran Moore at Cambridge who have all offered many helpful suggestions and continued support. Many thanks as well to all those individuals, groups and organisations in South Africa who assisted with this research project and my earlier projects.
Notes
1 The term ‘queer’ is used here in an emancipatory and egalitarian sense to highlight not just the naming of same-sex identity but also the diversity of ‘queer’ experiences among different communities that then have the possibility of ‘queering’ how unitary and essentalistic identity or political categories are handled. This is clearly relevant in terms of the diverse ways in which ideas of sexuality and race can be understood.
2 There were, however, also exceptions. Immediately after the unbanning of the ANC in 1990, ABIGALE (Association of Bisexuals, Gays and Lesbians) attempted directly to interface issues of sexuality with issues of race. They disbanded within four years. Also, activists such as Simon Nkoli were very instrumental in attempting to link issues of race and sexuality in South African queer politics. Nkoli was rightly considered a highly influential activist both within the ANC and GLOW (Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witswatersrand), which he founded. Yet as those commentators listed above would perhaps attest, he stands out precisely because there we so few others who found it possible to engage with issues of sexuality and race. As Gevisser and Reid (Citation1995) point out, GLOW remained unique precisely because it was one of the few organisations that saw conceptual links between diverse forms of discrimination. Yet as they point out even it could not fully bridge such divides.
3 From communication records between OLGA and Pierre de Vos. Available from the Gay and Lesbian Archive (GALA), University of Witswatersrand, Johannesburg.
4 Although the actual outcomes of these different types of regulation, contrary to the quote by the NCGLE above, were in many ways starkly different as well.
5 Each sentence here was originally displayed as bullet points on one slide in the presentation.
6 Customary marriage being a noticeable counter example.
7 It is also important to point out that such concerns were not simply raised in the latter part of the twentieth-century. As Epprecht (2005) points out, concern was raised by the British as to the possibility of homosexuality affecting black African mine workers through the trope of the ‘childlike’ worker that needed ‘protection’. The irony of the similarity between such a view and that of those who propose arguments that gain legitimacy through an ideology of ‘unAfricanness’ appears somewhat lost.
8 Indeed, Gillian Hart's (Citation2007) illuminating work on the struggle within the ANC to create ideological hegemony either for or against a ‘two economies’ approach (between the then President Mbeki and Vice-President Zuma) may also directly impact on queer groups. This can occur due to Zuma's attempt to position himself as what Hart characterises as a ‘man of the people’ with far better ‘struggle credentials’ tied to a form of Zulu tradition. In other words, the articulations put forward to create a counter-hegemonic ideology opposed to President Mbeki could also be used to attack queer groups—again through ideas of ‘tradition’ tied here to a populist form of nationalism.