Last Sunday, Duanna Johnson, a transgender woman was found murdered in Memphis. Back in February she was brutally beaten by a Memphis police officer for refusing to respond to his transphobic taunting.

The report in Angry Brown Butch points out the discrepancy between the attention given to Duanna Johnson and that of Prop 8.

Yet still, the disparity in attention is damn stark. And that skew isn’t limited to this particular incident; it is a skew that is present in the collective coverage of and attention paid to all violence against trans women of color. And it is a skew that reflects what the GLb(t) mainstream chosen to prioritize with time, energy, and resources, and what it has chosen to address primarily with lip service and leftovers. An apt example of this: the Prop 8 op-ed written by Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese communicates more anger, more commitment to an enduring fight for justice, more of a sense of giving a damn than his brief, comparatively tepid statement in HRC press release on Duanna Johnson’s death…..Continue reading

The family of Duanna Johnson need financial support for her funeral. For more information see here.

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Duanna Johnson
Transgender
Transwoman
LGBTI
Transphobia

A group of young lesbians particularly from the disadvantaged communities in Cape Town, SA are telling their own stories through the lenses of a camera. Most of them are coming from the poverty stricken areas like Gugulethu and Nyanga and where the unemployment is very high. And they’ve never set a finger on a camera in their entire life and they were very fascinated by it.

Zanele Muholi is a well known and established black African lesbian photographer and she’s been taking pictures for many years. Her wonderful work has been shown in various galleries like Le Case d’Arte Gallery, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

She recently initiated a project called “Indawo Yami - Thru Camera Lenses” based in Cape Town. In her project she trains more that 20 young women where she introduced them into camera techniques and the importance of taking pictures and what does it mean to her. It is part of her community work which started in 2004 in Johannesburg to enhance the participant’s self-esteem and their participation in social development.

She said she also saw a dire need to share her camera skills with these forgotten and less fortunate young souls- who will probably never be listed as women who make histories in our democratic South Africa. This month, October is a photography month here in Cape and she’s visiting some galleries and talking about her work. While she was there she was interviewed by Martha Qumba(MQ)

MQ: Why did you initiate this project?

ZM:”In September I attended Out in Africa Gay & Lesbian festival at the Waterfront in Cape Town and I saw these youngsters enjoying their drinks. I asked some of them what were they doing and they said nothing. I told them that I want teach them photographic skills in their townships. They agreed. I visited their homes to explain and talk about other big events (like soccer) that were taking place at a local and international level.”

MQ: Why did you particularly choose these young women?

ZM: “Black lesbian’s herstory has been recorded or written by other people. There’s nothing on young African lesbians. They need to do - with the help of experts wherever necessary - through non exploitative mentorship. I’m very pleased to share my skills with them and if not me who else can do it? We’ve some African lesbians who are working and educated. And where are they? Are they helping these poor kids? I don’t know.”

“These young women are only remembered when there’s picketing and toyi toying. It’s high time for them to tell their own stories by using a camera. This is “herstory” in making. Some of them think that drinking and smoking is good. We are the role models and they must look up to us.”

MQ: What do they actually do in this project?

MZ: “They take pictures of what’s happening and interesting in their communities. They must understand taking pictures is recording the history. I want to have an exhibition of their pictures just to encourage other youngsters as well. We also visit r places like boardroom in certain offices Cape Town. They must have a feeling of it.”

MQ: Why did you choose boardrooms in all places?

MZ: “” I used to be a cleaner at the bank. Every time I cleaned there I used to picture my mom doing the same and not being part of it. That’s when I understood how painful it was to be a cleaner and be excluded from the rest. They don’t know what’s a boardroom and some of them have never set their feet there. These youngsters are from areas where opportunists are scarce.Some of them think their sexual orientation is the most important thing in life. They don’t worry about other things. I don’t blame them. They need people like us to show them the way. I know it’s difficult when one’s not educated and opportunities are slim. One’s sexuality could become a hindrance if one’s uneducated and with no skills to.”

MQ: Did you choose any particular boardrooms?

MZ: “Yes certainly. We went to boardrooms where they were gay people. We first went to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC). I wanted them to market themselves and tell their own stories not me. I noticed that some couldn’t express in English and they were comfortable in Xhosa. When they spoke Xhosa people at IGLHRC couldn’t understand them as well. They must understand how do these young women felt when they were speaking the English? Can you see what role does your language play? This is what I’m talking about-exposure.

MQ: What do you say about education to these guys?

MZ: “These black queer youth need to have education and be assisted with finance and morale support in order for them to realize their dreams in life. With education there’re many opportunities in life.”

Hear what some of these young women have to say about the project:

Bellinda Nwabisa Ndandani,

“I’m 23 years old and I grew up in Gugulethu and I live with my mom and my three brothers. I’m a soccer player and I started playing when I was young. I played for Winnie Football Club in Gugulethu, one of the famous soccer women’s club in Gugulethu. My greatest dream is to play for Banyana Banyana.”

“I was very stout and I used to drink alcohol and smoke cigarette but now I’m no longer smoking. This project has changed me and my family is very happy to see me being involved. Now I’m doing positive things and I want to go back to school next year and finish my matric.”

“It was my first time touching a camera and I couldn’t even hold. I didn’t know the importance of it. Now I know and I’m becoming very confident and attached to it. I never knew that taking pictures is to tell a story. Now I can see many interesting stories that I didn’t know before. I used not to give a damn about what’s happening in my area, now I know. I’ve another eye now.”

“I’m happy to be part of my own history and other people have been writing about our history. It’s my first time to set my foot in a boardroom and I felt great and excited about it. I thought a boardroom is only for educated and bourgeoisie people. The mood and the atmosphere were totally different. I was in another space,” she laughs.

Nolwando Matshoba

“I’m 18 and I grew up in Gugulethu. I live with my mom and my younger sister. My parents are divorced. I left school in 2006 in grade 10 because of my parents’ divorce. It traumatized me. I couldn’t concentrate on my books. I’m a camera first timer. At first I was shaking and scared. Zanele taught me and now I’m fine. I walk around and taking pictures in my area. I take pictures of people socializing. There’s hostel here in Gugulethu called “Khikhi” and men who are from the Eastern Cape used to stay there. Also there’s a big braai place and most people like it. I’m happy to record our history.”

“My dream is to go back to school, finish her matric and go to College or Varsity. I want to become a businesswoman and own a business. My first time in a boardroom and I used to see it on TV. I felt like a better person and encouraged.

Millicent Gaika

I’m 29, I grew up in Gugulethu. I live with my aunt and grandma. My mom died while I was young and my granny looked after me.

I started playing a street soccer at the age of 14 with other boys in Tsakane, Johannesburg. I became very hooked with it till today. I played for Batshana FC and for Winnie FC for many years and now I play for Sizwe Football Club also based in Gugulethu.

“I used to take pictures just for fun not involved in a project like this. This project is great and it gives an opportunity to tell my own story. We don’t have any recorded material about young black lesbians and I think it’s a good thing. I wish I can have my own camera and take pictures everyday.”

“It was nice to be in a boardroom and to speak and listen to successful people. When I take pictures I look at things that are important to the people. I took Nyanga Junction it’s the first shopping centre in Gugulethu and most people make use of it.”

Eulander Koester,

I grew up in Gugulethu and I live my grandma. I’m an artist and a soccer player. I started playing soccer in 2003 in Ladies Club in Gugulethu. Taking pictures has taught me a lot of things like recording one history. I never knew these things that are happening in our areas. I took a picture of two people fighting here in my area. I felt confident afterwards. Now I feel good about myself and I want to carry on doing this. It’s exciting. I wish Zanele can stay in Cape Town forever. I want my own camera now.’

In their boardroom field trip they were introduced to various people like Thobeka Phongoma, Viola May and Jacqueline Tamri. They were allowed to express themselves in their own language.

Jacqueline is a field worker and she’s been working with grassroots women for 25 years. She told they must do what inspires them in life.

Thobeka and Viola work for the Economic Development & Tourism Department, local government in Cape Town.

TP welcomed them and she asked them some questions regarding themselves.

She indicated that life’s not easy and they have to have dreams in life. She told her about her challenges and her dreams in life. She encouraged them to keep on dreaming and not waver.

These soccer players participated in the friendly match for the Federation of Gay Games delegates after an annual meeting held at Ritz Hotel, Cape Town a week ago and they are looking forward to participate at the 2010 Cologne Gay Games, if not the 2009 World Outgames, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Report and interview by Martha Qumba

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Technorati: Zanele Muholi
Black Lesbians

Anyone regularly reading this blog will by now have a fairly good idea of the long hard struggle faced by the African LGBTI community against homophobic bigots, even in South African where LGBTI rights are enshrined in the constitution and where same-sex marriage became a reality in 2006. However we often imagine that things are much easier in the US and I guess relatively they are but there the recent passing of Proposition 8 [a constitutional amendment in California which bans same-sex marriage] is a wake up call that all is far from being OK.

The title of this post comes from Pam’s House Blend who thought of using the word “hysterical” but thought it “too serious a topic for snark“. But that depends how you interpret the word “hysterical” - as in “hysterically roll on the floor funny”or as in “hysterical psychoneurotic - marked by excessive or uncontrollable emotion - mad frenzied raving; “a mob of hysterical vigilantes”. Taking this interpretation the use of the word is very appropriate.

The passing of the amendment was not just because Black voters supported it but they did have a considerable part to play[to make this point clear it should read “relative to their numbers and percentage vote*“] and we as Black people need to step up and own up to the homophobia in our communities whether here in England or Nigeria, Uganda or the US. And as Pam writes it’s not just Prop 8…..

It’s been an strange month to be black and gay in America so far. First there was the gay bashing that killed Michael Sandy in New York, and the disturbing news of Tyrone Garner’s lack of a burial 37 days after his death with the possibility of a pauper’s burial in the end. Those depressing stories were balanced out somewhat yesterday by the news of the New Jersey Supreme Court decision and the fact that a black lesbian couple was among the plaintiffs whose willingness to take a stand yielded that historic moment.

Pam’s hard-line response to the “hysterical” bigots amongst Black people is powerful and particularly addresses the religious bigots that we all know too well in African countries.

When I was growing up, I heard an old legend that if you read the Bible all the way through from beginning to end, it would make you crazy. Now I think what makes you crazy isn’t reading the Bible, but reading it literally and to the exclusion of anything else. That will drive you insane as surely as sitting in a dark room and never allowing any light to enter it would make anyone insane. Let in a little light, and you see enough to make things out. More light than that, and suddenly the way you thought the world around you worked doesn’t make sense anymore. But not enough light and you either have to create stories to explain what you can’t fully see. Or you have to just not see it. With African Americans, it began with the first slaves who were converted to Christianity only to be confronted with the biblical passages that justified and even sanctified their enslavement, and for the sake of sanity had to “not read those parts.”

Also note that in the US like Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe and other African countries, the bigotry stems from the same Victorian puritanical Christianity forced fed on Africans by the colonial rulers and speaks to the “unAfricanness” of Christianity itself. This was a religion brought by white people who claimed Black people were not human but savage animals to be controlled and fed literal interpretations of a bible that was used to confirm their sub-humanness.

I basically concur with his premise that the vehement homophobia expressed by many Blacks stems from a the history of so many Black slaves being converted to Christianity by conservative denominations that stressed biblical literalism, strict Victorian sexual morality that was prevalent during the same period as American slavery, and a reaction against the stereotypes of Blacks as insatiable sexual savages.

We have all had to put up with being at best marginalised and worse excluded and disowned by families, friends and community or forced to live in open and closed closets of hurt and anger. Coming from our own people who have been oppressed and treated like crap for the best part of 500 years - is particularly hard to take. How can people who have been through so much pain because of their Blackness then turn around and inflict the same pain on their sisters and brothers just because they have a different sexual orientation? It is shameful. Black people all over the world are celebrating the fact that a Black man has become President of the US and therefore the most powerful person in the world. Yet they cannot even begin to connect the dots and link that up with their own homophobia they are so blinded with the ink from their bibles.

*Updated with clarification

Technorati: Proposition 8 + USA LGBTI Homophobia

Putting the human back into humanity is something worth exploring especially if you happen to be of the LGBTI and have at one time or the other suffered the indignity of having your very humanity questioned. I remember some of the comments one of my posts provoked especially one that came with the suggestion that I was over-indulging my experience as a translesbian. I only have to look as far back as the 1950s, 60s or 70s and the archives hold records in abundance with members of the LGBTI telling their individual (i.e. subjective) narratives in terms of their sexuality, gender identity or even their sex. But somehow African voices about these life experiences were far and in-between. However one particular commentator’s query sounded as if she was cautioning what she saw as my “single issue/identity position”. However, I was offering a view, indeed an experience as a transsexual woman and a lesbian that would otherwise wind up buried in obscurity. If you were a fly on the wall when I went into certain places you couldn’t miss the burden of being made to feel like a roving target as mentioned in Pandering Prejudices if you tried.

Over the week end, I was talking to a friend about race and spirituality. I remember mentioning something about our animal instinct as human beings how we seem to have developed the preference for a standard narrow world view, based on our need for permanence and security or at least so we tend top assume. Even as I write this article I wondered if we have not barked up the wrong tree long enough: whatever we are, wherever we come from, who ever we choose to date in the end we are all human beings first.
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It has been two months since our only outspoken lesbian soccer team, the Chosen Few, came back from winning bronze at the International Gay & Lesbian Football Association (IGLFA) tournament in London. This was the team’s second bronze medal after winning at the Gay Games Chicago in 2006. Chosen Few is making African herstory for all of us.

Fast forward now to last Wednesday, October 22, when the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) held their annual international meeting in Africa’s pinkest city: Cape Town, South Africa. The meeting, which was organized at the Ritz Hotel in Sea Point, took place one day after the 2006 brutal murder of Zoliswa Nkonyana finally went to court in Khayelitsha township, the same place where the 19-year-old lesbian was stabbed, stoned and beaten to death by a group of men for being a female homosexual. Attending both the court hearing in Khayelitsha and the FGG meeting in Sea Point, the racialized and classed dichotomy between grassroots community organizing and international queer membership strikes me yet again. At the Khayelitsha Magistrate Court, it was our black sisters who took the risk of outing themselves to violent homophobes by protesting against hate crimes and the murder of a young lesbian. But these very same women who continue the struggle for social justice and human rights in South Africa were conspicuously absent from the FGG guest and participant list.
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