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PRESS STATEMENT: IDAHOBIT 2024 – Fighting for Equality Despite Regress

“No one left behind: equality, freedom and justice for all” is this year’s theme as we commemorate International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT).   The day commemorates the decision made on the 17th of May 1990 by the World Health Organisation towards the declassification of homosexuality as a mental disorder, thus removing it from...

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STATEMENT: African Intersex Movement  

31 July – 1 August 2023, Balaclava, Mauritius   Theme: Bodily Autonomy: A fundamental human right  Between July 31st and August 1st, 2023, Intersex activists from various African countries convened for the 3rd Pan African ILGA Intersex Pre-Conference in Mauritius. The conference provided a platform for sharing insights and experiences and fostering collaboration under the theme...

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MEET THE TEAM: Siphokazi Nombande

Say Hello to Iranti’s new Logistics Coordinator, Siphokazi Nombande. Born in the small town of Oudtshoorn in the Western Cape, Siphokazi Nombande had dreams of becoming an accountant. Having started out her career at the finance department of the South African Police Service, she always knew she was good with numbers. It was no surprise...

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Being a transgender person in corporate 

by Ligavha Murineni  During my varsity years, I used social media to follow transgender people in the corporate world, and all their stories made me see my post-varsity life as a nightmare rather than an attainable dream.  Despite having been an issue in the corporate space long before my time, the prejudice and discrimination faced...

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ABOUT US

Dignity, Equality and Freedom. “ Iranti is a Johannesburg based human rights organisation that advocates for the advancement of the rights of LBQTI persons in Africa. Iranti works within a human rights framework raising issues on gender identities, and sexuality, through the strategic use of multimedia storytelling, research and activism.”

OUR WORK

What we do and why

RESEARCH & ARCHIVE

Iranti means “memory” in Yoruba and as such we are committed to telling the stories of lesbian, transgender and intersex persons in our region. These stories and our history as a community do not exist in a vacuum, and we understand the need for evidence-based research, data analysis and documentation. One of Iranti’s key strategic...

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DOCUMENTATION

Iranti is a media-advocacy organisation, and we pride ourselves in our ability to document LGBTI+ activities and milestones, and tell LGBTI+ stories, through the tactical use of multimedia storytelling. We believe that participation of lesbians, gender non-conforming, trans and intersex persons in owning their stories is essential to the creation of a just and equitable...

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ADVOCACY

Iranti’s work, from media production to research, is all done in the service of lesbian, transgender and intersex advocacy and activism. We envision a just world where everyone lives with dignity, respect and equality and where different sexual orientations and gender identities are celebrated, but this cannot happen without meaningful, impactful and targeted advocacy. The...

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MOVEMENT BUILDING

We believe that we as a community are stronger together, and that it is in our best interests as an organisation, and in the interests of the LGBTI+ community in Africa, to collaborate, share skills and exchange knowledge whenever possible. Therefore, one of our strategic outcomes sees us working toward stronger organisations and movements of...

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COMBATING STIGMA

One of Iranti’s four strategic objectives is to increase visibility of, and seek immediate redress for, human rights violations of lesbians, gender non-conforming, trans and intersex persons. This outcome area includes impactful media reporting and advocacy, real time reporting of those violations and other critical moments and opportunities for shifting public opinion, actions and changing...

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FACTS ABOUT US

While Iranti and our allies across the continent have made great strides in advocating for LGBTI equality in recent years, many in our community face ongoing hostility, violence, prejudice and criminalisation. These numbers do not represent the whole picture, but are a snapshot of the situation in the region.

60
Known cases of violence against LGBTI persons in South Africa alone.
08
Confirmed convictions against perpetrators of anti-LGBTI violence in South Africa
34
African countries that still criminalise homosexuality
03
Southern African countries that allow transgender people to change their gender marker tic

A FEW OF OUR FUNDING PARTNERS

It takes many hands to make it work!

Heinrich Boll Stiftung
Heinrich Böll Foundation
The Baring Foundation
OSISA
RFSL
COC Nederland
Astraea
The Other Foundation
Arcus Foundation

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