Gay Pride heads for black townships, to take on African taboo

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The Independent
By Meera Selva in Cape Town
22 January 2005


Wearing a faded red T-shirt and grubby grey trousers, Jonathan Cakey sets down perfect cappucinos and pink cup-cakes in front of lederhosen-clad German carpenters in Cape Town's Long Street.

He has learnt to not bat an eyelid at the characters who walk around the neighbourhood that is half an hour and another world away from the Khayelitsha township where he grew up. For young, gay, black men such as Jonathan, 25, Cape Town's self-proclaimed identity as a "queer city" has provided a much-needed lifeline.

"As soon as you realise you are gay in the townships, you have to move to stay sane," he said. "People will harass you, shout at you and beat you up, just while you are trying to decide who you are. I love the fact that I could come to Cape Town and disappear into this city."

Jonathan is not alone in fearing his home community. South Africa has the most liberal stance on homosexuality on the continent, and Cape Town in particular has embraced gay culture; opening gay bars and cafés, and staging annual "Mother City Queer Project" parties to attract the pink pound.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=603448