Welcome, dear reader, to Iranti’s quarterly newsletter! Long-time followers of Iranti’s work may be familiar with our ZwaKala Speaks! Newsletter, which documented some of Iranti’s work under the ZwaKala Project banner. With the end of the ZwaKala Project came the end of that newsletter series, but through that work we learned the value of updating…
The following piece by Letlhogonolo Mokgoroane was originally published on New Frame At the first pride march in Africa in 1990, Justice Edwin Cameron said: “The criminal law is for criminals. Gays and lesbians are not criminals. Being gay or lesbian is part of being human. To criminalise gays and lesbians is to criminalise part…
The 7th edition of the Changing Faces Changing Spaces (CFCS VII) conference hosted by UHAI EASHR took place in Kenya from the 19th to the 21st of July 2019 with the theme Visibility, Voice, Freedom. The conference brought together varied voices and activists from the African region as well international donors and funders. The conference…
This year, academic, activist and friend of Iranti, B Camminga, became the first openly trans person from the African continent to obtain their PhD. Their research project culminated in the publication of a book entitled “Transgender Refugees and the Imagined South Africa: Bodies Over Borders and Borders Over Bodies”. The book, Camminga uses the stories…
On date 11 June 2019, the High Court of Botswana formally handed down a ruling acknowledging that Section 164 of that country’s penal code was discriminatory and should be struck down, marking a significant victory for local LGBTI+ groups. While not ostensibly worded in such a way as to criminalise homosexuality, the law forbade “carnal…
Words by Neo Musangi; Edited by Kellyn Botha The High Court in Kenya chose to uphold a piece of legislation that criminalises ‘carnal knowledge against the order of nature’ as stipulated in the country’s British colonial-era Penal Code. This was lauded by many in the conservative country as a “moral” judgement, but represents a blow…
The ICD-11 is about to be voted in at the World Health Assembly, after being completed last year by the World Health Organization. After moving trans-related categories out of the Chapter on Mental Health, the next steps in the process include getting rid of the remaining pathologizing language and advancing towards legal depathologization and universal…
We, the undersigned intersex-led organisations and groups, welcome moves by the WHO that continue a trend to depathologise sexual and gender minorities in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), expected to be approved at the World Health Assembly in May 2019. However, we express our deepest regret that the ICD-11 reverses this trend in relation…
Everybody deserves the right to safety and protection. Everyone deserves the freedom to express themselves and live authentically. These rights and freedoms are, however, not always extended to the LGBTI+ community. The ongoing stigma and violence in society has to stop! Iranti has documented countless instances of violence, rights violations and discrimination in South Africa…
In a blow to the ongoing battle for equality in sports; the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) ruled on 1 May 2019 that Caster Semenya will have to artificially lower her natural testosterone levels in order to compete professionally against other women in a number of middle-distance running events. This is the latest in…
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