South African activist Simon Nkoli (1957 – 1998) played a key role in getting his country to adopt the first constitution in the world that guarantees equal rights for LGBTIQ+ people.
“If you are Black and gay in South Africa, then it really is all the same closet… inside is darkness and oppression. Outside is freedom.”
These words were issued by Simon Nkoli, a South African gay activist and anti-apartheid leader. In his quest for freedom, he fought for the rights and acceptance of the LGBTQI+ community in South Africa and facilitated a cross-over with the anti-apartheid movement. This way he demonstrated that these two movements shared a common ground in their fight for equality. He was the founder of the Gay Association of South Africa (GASA) and the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand (GLOW). In 1990, he was the organiser of the first Gay & Lesbian Pride march in Johannesburg. On the 26th of November this year Nkoli, who died of aids related disease, would have turned 67 years. What was his influence and legacy? And how have his ideas shaped the acceptance of the LGBTQI+ community in South Africa?
Bart Luirink will talk about Nkoli’s legacy and the LGBTQI+ equality clause in the South African contstitution. Luirink is editor of ZAM Magazine, an online platform for journalism, photography and art from Africa. He is co-author of Homosexuality in Africa: a disturbing love (2016). This book provides insights in the development of the resistance and acceptance of homosexuality in Africa. His talk will also be available through live streaming on Youtube.
Workshop
After Luirink's talk a workshop will be held, in which we create a magazine about Simon Nkoli and queerness in South Africa, based on photo’s, newspaper articles and other archival material. This magazine will feature in the next edition of Spectrum!
This event will be the start of a series of events on queerness in South Africa. Stay tuned for more!
Tickets are 5 euros, more information here.
A ‘vogue opera’ about the life and trials of Simon Nkoli, composed hy Philip Miller, recently premiered in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Watch a video here.
