Today we reflect on the ongoing scourge of hate- crimes in South Africa and across the globe as we mourn the brutal murder of 16-year-old Kwakhanya Mhlanganisi. By Mogau Makitla Kwakhanya, a young queer teenager from Khayelitsha, Cape Town (South Africa), was allegedly beaten with bricks before being burnt in an attack that his family…
Bangkok, Thailand — December 5, 2024 — Iranti’s Trans Rights Program Officer, Sylvester Kazibwe, actively participated in the 15th Global AWID Conference, held in Bangkok from December 1-5, 2024. The conference, a significant event for feminist and human rights movements, featured a diverse range of discussions focused on gender justice and the rights of marginalized…
Written by: Mogau Makitla Thirty four years after the Gay & Lesbian Organization of Witwatersrand (GLOW) took to the streets of Johannesburg to host the first Pride march in South Africa, pride continues to roam the streets with community-driven celebrations, events and safe spaces across the country. This landmark event was a steppingstone towards highlighting…
Growing up in Otse in Botswana, Iranti’s new LBQ Rights officer – Matlhogonolo Samsam, has always had an interest in human rights issues and saw herself growing up to become a diplomat. To her surprise, she found herself working at a rugby club for the first four years of her career. It was only when…
by Dimakatso ‘Garfield’ Sebidi I am unshakable. I am unstoppable. I am God-fearing. And I am proudly intersex. I was treated differently because I am different. This is because I was born with two genitals. I spent the first six years of my life in and out of Baragwanath –which is now called…
by Sazi Jali It is said that there is no manual to raise a child yet there has always been a culture of imposing heteronormative norms and ideas on children. Society is full of toxic and harmful notions about gender that are passed on to generations of children, such as hypermasculinity – which has led…
By Kat Grey It has always been my dream to be a model, but in chasing this dream I quickly discovered that finding a talent agency as a transgender woman was near impossible because of the stereotypes and prejudiced beliefs about us. Trans women in South Africa are not considered, seen nor treated as real…
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…
by Gosego Monoane Trans erasure simply means that “we the people”, transgender people, are being erased effectively from public awareness merely due to assumptions that everyone is cisgender, or that transgender people are rare. I identify as a rural transgender woman of colour, I use the term rural because I would like to distance myself…
By Keabetswe Makhotla and Nomsa Manzini. As a transgender woman, having to go to a healthcare facility can be daunting, not only to get what I’m looking for, like medication and regular check-ups, but because I receive hostile treatment from the medical professionals employed to provide patients with healthcare. In addition to the hostility in…
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