Today is Women's Day in South Africa. On August 9, 1956, more than 20,000 women marched to government buildings in Pretoria and presented this petition protesting laws that made African women carry special passes. Since then, the holiday has become a day to reflect on whether the country's laws are truly serving women and advancing equality.

So it's only appropriate that on this Women's Day, LGBTQ and women's groups are organizing a rally in Soweto to protest the torture, rape, and murder of a two lesbian couple, Sizakele Sigasa and Salome Massoa, this week.

"A key message of this particular action is to highlight and confront the contradictions between our constitutional provisions on equality, dignity and autonomy for all, including LGBTI people, and the ways religious and traditional institutions and others shape and/or contribute to hate and hate crime," say the organisers.

via BlackLooks.

2 Comments

August 9, 2007 7:15 PM

[0+|0-]  copyedits said:

Thanks for mentioning this today! I'm upset there aren't more comments though, feminism is such a burgeoning and truly important in South Africa. Kudos to those who attended and organized the rally-- it's often so hard to campaign for basic women's rights in Sub-Saharan Africa that important issues like the LGBTQ movement go unnoticed.

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August 9, 2007 7:16 PM

[0+|0-]  copyedits said:

Thanks for mentioning this today! I'm upset there aren't more comments though, feminism is such a burgeoning and truly important in South Africa. Kudos to those who attended and organized the rally-- it's often so hard to campaign for basic women's rights in Sub-Saharan Africa that important issues like the LGBTQ movement go unnoticed.

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