Johannesburg Pride – Over 20,000 March for LGBTQ Ugandans

JOHANNESBURG — (11-01-23) — Over 20,000 people marched through Johannesburg last Saturday to celebrate Pride 2023. The enormous crowd were seen singing, dancing and making their support clear for LGBTQ communities across Africa, where LGBTQ communities feel unsafe to express their same-sex relationships for fear of violence and prosecution.

In May, Uganda introduced one of the world’s harshest anti-gay laws that included the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.” Same-sex relations were already illegal in Uganda, as they are in more than 30 African countries.

South Africa, in contrast, made same sex marriage legal in 2006 and is still the only African country to have done so.

“Our intention today is to march for Uganda … for LGBT communities in Africa that can’t march for themselves,” Johannesburg Pride organizer Kaye Ally told Reuters. “Last year’s Pride, the city’s first since the Covid-19 pandemic, was subdued after the U.S. warned of a possible terrorist attack beforehand. That only increased the LGBTQ community’s desire for this year’s event, held 34 years after the first. “This year we’re going full force,” said Ally.

She concluded by saying “That hunger for Pride, as well as all the happenings in Africa, has really amplified the need for us to take to the streets and to come out in all our flamboyancy and assert our authenticity.” said Ally.

 

Article by: Paul Goldberg, Staff Writer

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