Lesbian and Gay Equality Project

Lesbian/Gay Equality for South Africa Action

The Lesbian and Gay Equality Project (LGEP), formerly known as the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality (NCGLE), is a non-profit, non-governmental organization in South Africa that focuses on the expansion of LGBT civil rights in South Africa and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It was co-founded by Zackie Achmat in 1994, and successfully lobbied for the inclusion of sexual orientation as a basis for non-discrimination laws in the country after the end of the apartheid period.[1] The organization has continued to operate after South Africa officially legalized same-sex marriage in 2005. Its work includes "law reform, lobbying, litigation, advocacy, employment equity, leadership training and development."[2]

The late South African activist Simon Nkoli was a member of the executive committee of the NCGLE upon its formation in 1994, and was a key figure in the organization's successful campaign to include sexual orientation in post-apartheid South Africa's constitutional equality clause.[3] As a result of this lobbying effort, South Africa became the first country in the world to constitutionally cement the rights of homosexuals, and the NCGLE could lay claim to successfully including gay and lesbian issues in South Africa's liberation struggle. After securing further rights gains through the legislature and in the courts throughout the 1990s, the NCGLE ceased to function as a coalition of member organizations and became a freestanding non-governmental organization, the LGEP, in 1999. The NCGLE was one of the most prominent gay and lesbian organization in South Africa for more than a decade.[3]

One of the foremost concerns of the organization is the continued homophobia that is present in post-apartheid society, and it is also in solidarity with LGBT organizations in Zimbabwe, where the Mugabe regime has placed severe restrictions on the living rights of the LGBT minority and other citizens.

The LGEP was a litigant in a number of South African court cases related to LGBT rights:

References

  1. ^ Hoad, Neville Wallace; Martin, Karen; Reid, Graeme, eds. (2005). Sex and Politics in South Africa. Cape Town: Double Storey. p. 8. ISBN 9781770130159.
  2. ^ Power, Samantha (19 May 2003). "Letter from South Africa: The AIDS Rebel". The New Yorker. p. 54. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  3. ^ a b Oswin, Natalie (Spring 2007). "Producing Homonormativity in Neoliberal South Africa: Recognition, Redistribution, and the Equality Project". Signs. 32 (3): 649–669. doi:10.1086/510337. S2CID 146266525.

External links

  • Lesbian and Gay Equality Project
  • v
  • t
  • e
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender topics in South Africa
Law
Legislation
Case law
Repealed
South Africa
PeopleOrganisations
SportLanguagesGay villagesEventsMedia
  • Wrapped (magazine)
IssuesOther
Category:LGBT in South Africa
  • v
  • t
  • e
By province
Flag of South Africa
Flag of South Africa
Political
movements
Ideologies
Political parties
see South Africa political parties
Other political
organisations
Trade unions and
Social movements
Law
see South African law
Political culture
Slogans
Books and
periodicals
Other
Category
  • v
  • t
  • e
Political history of South Africa
Defunct polities
Events
Pre-colonial
1652–1815
1815–1910
1910–1948
Apartheid
Post-
apartheid
Political culture
Defunct
organisations
Civic and political
organisations
Trade unions and
social movements
Paramilitary and
terrorist organisations
Histories of
political parties
Category


Stub icon

This article about a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender-related organization is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

  • v
  • t
  • e
Stub icon

This article about an organisation in South Africa is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

  • v
  • t
  • e