Activities
The New Apostolic Churches in Manenberg Cape Town asked GDX for a presentation for their very long school holiday programme during the time of the World Cup Soccer in June. Robert offered to talk to the children about Caster Semenya, identity and human rights. He chose to don an outfit that consisted of layers of T-shirts with comic book heroes on them. Rolled up under the t-shirts he had a skirt on which would make an appearance at the end of the presentation.
At each church he spoke to to between 20 and 30 children between the ages of seven and thirteen. He entered with a box in his arms covered with a cloth. When the children settled down he would reveal the gift wrapped box filled with small shiny gifts bags. He proposed to the children that each small gift bag contained a gift in the form of a birthright. The right to have a name, to live with your family, to go to the doctor… He pointed to his T-shirt and asked the children if Sponge-Bob (on the T-shirt) was a human and if he should have human rights?
Later in the presentation when all the small gift bags were out of the big box, (now lined up on a table) he peeled off the Sponge Bob T-shirt and asked the children whether The Hulk was a human. Some said he was a monster, others remembered that he had been a human once and that he only became a monster when he was angry. They then explored with Robert if one could ever lose your human rights because of behaviour.
Finally the ‘right to express’ one’s self was discussed and how people are expected to express themselves related to being a boy or a girl. He presented them with pictures of Caster Semenya, and as with the rest of the presentation allowed them to noisily voice their opinions. They then explored how some people try to take away the rights of others because of how they express themselves and how jealous athletes tried to take away Caster’s medal because they said she was a man. In the process of taking away her right to express herself, it would impact on all her other rights including her right to have her name, to have a home to live with her family etc.
Throughout the presentation he often stopped and asked them to chant a war cry the words that rhymed best with right - fight.
The presentation ended when Robert unrolled the skirt from under the last t-shirt and marched up and down in front of the children. They giggled and some shouted “moffie” upon which he responded that they were attempting to take away his right to expression and to have his own name.
To end off he reminded them that at this point he would have to…? At every event the Church echoed with loud voices of children shouting “Fight right! Fight right!...” until the teachers came to laughingly quieten them down.
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FTMs Vulnerable and Misunderstood - Barcelona conference workshop.
The workshop facilitated by Liesl Theron, Executive Director of Gender DynamiX and Tebogo Nkoana, Outreach Officer, at the International Congress on  Gender identity and Human Rights in Barcelona, Spain in June 2010, was attended by few people, but it was well received, and the audience participated fully, and contributed with their own experiences.
Tebogo spoke about “Working with Diverse Communities”, which highlighted the challenges like language and culture.
“Different languages and cultures would each have their limitations and we need to find different ways of dealing with issues,” Tebogo said.
Over and above difficulties Trans people experience in society in general, they face even more challenges in the LGBT community. Those who decide they do not want to go through surgery are discriminated against, even by transsexuals who subscribe to the notion of “true transsexuals”. There is also discrimination against transgender homosexuals by other LGB people who still do not understand the difference between gender identity and sexual orientation. Facing discrimination in society as a whole, a number of transgendered youths drop out of school and society, then face even bigger problems
Added to this is the violation of their basic human rights, which they are sometimes not even aware of. When accessing medical care, even for non-transgendered related issues, there is serious misunderstanding of the needs of a body that may seem unfamialiar and threatening to a medical proffesional. A transgendered person coming out late in life experiences resistance from all corners. This, Tebogo said, confuses society who thinks the transgendered person wants to transition to get away from unrelated problems in their lives.
Tebogo admitted that organisations working and dealing with transgendered people are still young in South Africa, and although the Female to Male (FTM) Transgender Community is the most vocal, they are also the most vulnerable and misunderstood. People think FTMs want to transition from female to male in order to gain perceived privileges in a male world. The discrimination and violence FTMs suffer is still largeley in the dark.
Tebogo also facilitated a workshop on Trans-national networking, during which he shared experiences of how we use networking as a tool in South Africa because a large part of the population has no internet access, and mostly uses cell phones to access social sites like Facebook and Mixit.
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Mama Trans in Mozambique
The 19th and 20th June yet again served to add important dates on the African trans history timeline. During this weekend Portuguese speaking activists from Angola and Mozambique came together to learn and share about Gender identity. This remarkable workshop was initiated by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and included Gender DynamiX and Lambda, the local LGBT organisation in Maputo, as partnering organisations. This workshop resulted from the previous joint venture between IGLHRC and GDX with the gender identity workshop hosted in Cape Town in December 2008.
Diversity in official languages on the African continent proved a challenge for communication, yet with proper planning arrangements had been made to ensure translators were prepared to have conversations flowing. “It is very important to be well prepared for the differences in understanding ‘the same word’ in various cultural settings”, says Liesl Theron from GDX who learned during the weekend that whereas the word ‘gender non-conforming’ is acceptable in English it would come across as derogative in Portuguese when directly translated and ‘gender non-normative’ should rather be used.
During the workshop participants had the opportunity to map the challenges and opportunities experienced in Mozambique for trans and gender non-normative people. Social stigma in various forms was pointed out as the most challenging for any person who does not fit in the hetero-normative mainstream.
Without any previous organised advocacy for the rights of trans or gender non-normative people in Mozambique, one has to negotiate your way around within existing systems at the Home Affairs office in Maputo. One person said that when applying at the Home Affairs office with certain documentation, the official went as far as telling the person that the only way the paperwork could be completed was to strip it naked to ‘establish gender’.
Nearly 20 people attended the workshop, one person was from Angola and the Mozambiquans were from different provinces. Although clergy, journalists and a lawyer were invited, only activists and members from Lambda attended the workshop.
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Siyahlangana meaning “we are coming together” is a support group initiative of Gender DynamiX. The group focuses on female to male transgender people and their masculine identified lesbian friends. The group was asked to speak at a Youth Day gathering initiated by Inclusive and Affirming Ministries (IAM).
Two Siyahlangana members presented their life stories. Patrick spoke to the audience about the difficulties he has in his community because he finds it hard to pursue a relationship. He tells the story of his young life as an intersex child who was medically mistreated in hospitals. The result today is that he has a body that he feels is incomplete and thus it is hard to find a partner. He talked about the rejection he suffered from his mother as a child because his medical issues as an intersex person is stigmatised and evokes fear in society.
Nomfusi spoke about the importance of her friendships with Transmen in the group. As a masculine identified lesbian she felts she shared so many issues with transmen. Both Transmen and masculine lesbians have to live in fear of community phobias because their identities challenge people to which many men respond to with violence.
The group enjoyed the rest of the Youth Day activities, which were drama to re-enact the Sharpeville massacre and explore the meaning of the freedom it brought to us today.
You can see a short fun video about the day on the GDX youtube channel. www.youtube.com/Genderdynamix
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The first leg of the long-awaited Exchange Programme involving transgender activists from five countries on the African continent kicked off in Namibia on 24 May to 29 May 2010. The second leg of the two-tiered programme will take place in September in Cape Town. The organisations represented were Gender DynamiX from South Africa, SIPD and SMUG from Uganda, Rainbow Identity from Botswana, Trans Bantu from Zambia and Outright Namibia from Namibia. Sixteen people attended.
One of the interesting items on the programme was presented by Immaculate Mogotse, Lecturer in Gender Studies at the University of Namibia. Her paper explored what a norm is, how it is policed by society and what that means for transgender people as norm-breakers.
The following day participants joined students at the University of Namibia. The students interacted with workshop attendees in an open Question and Answer session. At first all the usual curious questions were asked about transgender people’s bodies and how transition works. Robert Hamblin, Tebogo Nkoana and Skipper Mogape handled these questions skilfully so as to inform and at the same time avoid intrusion. The discussion also led to questions and answers on social constructs, religion and Gender identity and how you fit into society.
Unfortunately, but not really unexpected, the meeting became disruptive at some point, but Skipper threatened that they would leave if they weren’t treated with respect. “Skipper gave me a fright when he did this,” Robert said, “but I soon realised that asserting oneself would often gain the respect from people instead of alienating them. We do not have to be apologetic or take abuse because of our identities.”
One of the highlights of the week was the movie, Kuchus of Uganda which focused on the challenges faced by our Ugandan friends. The film deals largely with an event that happened at the University of Uganda. LGBTI people were on a panel supposedly there to explain to students that homo and transphobia is a Western concept. The film shows that they didn’t get any chance to speak but the students used that time to malign, shout and swear at the panel.
The HIV & STD and safer sex workshop explored transgender sexualities and was presented by Robert Hamblin and Holo Hochonda from Zambia. The question “How do you identify?” caused some confusion, especially for the less experienced activists. Do we judge our sexual preference by our genitals or do we judge it by our gender identity. The workshop attempted to lead participants to an understanding that the world should respect our identities based on the gender we feel we are and not what was assigned to us at birth. For example: Should a pre-op transwoman choose to partner with a woman, one should respect her sexual orientation to be that of a lesbian.
Not surprisingly, the Malawi case of the transgender couple who had first been sentenced to 14 years’ hard labour and then pardoned by the President of Malawi, Bingu wa Mutharika, also found its way onto the agenda.
“We discussed why we believe that it is important that the world acknowledges the gender identity of Tiwonga and Steven and explored why LGBTI organisations are so insistent on calling them gay when they do have the information of gender identity at their disposal,” Robert explained. A statement was constructed regarding this matter for international release. “It was our first taste of how powerful it could be when we are in solidarity on transgender issues,” he added.
The attendees enthusiastically acclaimed the programme. Themba Nkosi from South Africa commented on how the exchange programme brought home to him that South Africans were really in a privileged position compared to some others on the continent.
Leigh-Ann van der Merwe, also of South Africa found the programme informative and educational and vowed to make the WSW and MSM Position Paper the goal and mission for herself. It establishes the position of transgender people in terms of research and HIV prevention programmes in particular and it also affirms the T in the LGBTI equation, she said.
“Looking at the global position of transgender people and the way people are treated on the African continent, I am both humbled and honoured to fight alongside these activists because everybody knows this is no easy battle. I admire the courage of the Ugandans to fight amidst danger and political unrest,” she added. She is looking forward to the second leg in Cape Town.
Socially, everyone agrees, was both enjoyable and educational to see how the people lived. The group visited two “pink friendly” shebeens in a Windhoek township called Katatura.
“The second shebeen has a sign on its toilet that reads ‘Tomboys & Men’ on the one side and ‘Women & Moffies’ on the other side. We were all very amused by this and everyone wanted to pose for a photo in front of it,” Robert said laughingly.
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New Name for newsletter update
Last month we announced that we had extended the time in which people could suggest a new name for the newsletter. We now have a healthy batch to choose from. This is your last chance to make a vote!
You can email us with your choice or go to the website and zap the number of your choice on our poll!
1.X-pression
2.TransXpression
3.TransActions
4.Trans in Formation
5.Spectrum
6.Gender News
7.Transparent
Remember, the prize is a copy of the book: TRANS—Transgender Life Stories from South Africa. Recommended price R165.00 Buy a copy at many bookstores especially Exclusive Books. Order at
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or Amazon.com, Kalahari.co.zo or order directly from Jacana Publishers. Jacana.co.za |
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Best new queer African short fiction
Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action, the pioneering, highly regarded South African gay and lesbian archives, invites African writers to submit stories on a queer African theme for publishing in a ground-breaking anthology. Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action intends the anthology to query stereotypes, show that there are many ways of being queer in Africa, and encourage queer artistic expression and appreciation. Literary merit and an insightful response to the complexities of African queerness will guide the selection.
Submit your unpublished short fiction of between 1,000 and 5,000 words to
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by 30 June 2010. Provide a covering page with the title of the story, your first name and surname, your email address and a contact telephone number, and a bio of not more than 100 words. All submissions will be acknowledged.
The selection will be made by 30 September 2010, and writers will work with an editor to refine their stories for publishing in June 2011. The anthology will be launched at the 2011 Cape Town Book Fair and will be distributed locally, in Africa and internationally. With writers’ permissions, all submissions will be archived by Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action and will be accessible to the archives’ many local and international users.
For more information visit the Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action website at www.gala.co.za, or email
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. And find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Best-new-queer-African-short-fiction/392161331257.
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After three and a half months at Gender DynamiX, American intern from the University of Connecticut, Michelle Farber, has left our shores to put what she has learnt here in practice
Michelle is an anthropology and woman’s studies student and is also involved in the Women’s Centre at the university. She said she has gained insight into how NPOs and NGOs work and while most of her studies focuses on women, her time here highlighted the need for a gender studies programme.
“It also inspired me to become more involved at the Rainbow Centre for LGBTI issues,” she said. However, the Rainbow Centre, which is sponsored by the University, concentrates mainly on the “LG”, so she hopes to contribute more to the “T” issues.
Her current focus at the Women’s Centre is on reproductive rights, but very little on Transmen and Transwomen’s reproductive rights in which she hopes to become involved. She added that while she had always taken Gender identity and sexual orientation for granted, it has now made her think more about it and question herself in terms of her own gender identity and sexual orientation.
“You have helped me challenge everything I thought I knew about gender and I can’t wait to see how your hard work will truly continue to change the world,” Michelle said.
“I have really enjoyed my stay here and learnt a lot about transgender issues. I’m really going to miss it here,” she added.
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More than 25 people, many of whom were university students, attended a Youth Lekogtla to form an umbrella LGBTI body for all organisations at universities countrywide. The purpose of the newly formed 'Kaleidoscope' is for networking and support. According to a Gender DynamiX Board member, Themba Nkosi, the Youth Lekgotla was recently held to finalise the Charter of the new 'Kaleidoscope'. A new Board structure and a strategic plan for the next five years were put in place.
A few independent organisations, including Gender DynamiX, Gay & Lesbian Memory In Action (GALA) and OUT also attended. |
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More than 26 T-people and SOFFAs (Significant Others, Friends, Family, Allies) filled two mini-bus taxis from Soweto and Melville to join T-people from Pretoria at the OUT offices.
Earlier this year OUT approached Gender DynamiX to come and talk to the Transgender Support Group at their offices. Themba Nkosi, Gender DynamiX Board member and Robert Hamblin, Advocacy Manager, arranged for the Johannesburgers to get onto the T-bus to Pretoria.
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