Gay pride campaign set to tackle E Cape prejudice
MOVED by the plight of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning and Intersex (LGBTQI) community, businessman and activist Dr Cino Shearer will host the first of what he hopes will be regular gay pride marches in Buffalo City Metro.
The East London-born publicist, who is currently based in Johannesburg, said he was shocked by last year’s Statistics SA figures, which listed the Eastern Cape as the most homophobic province in the country.
Through the march, set to take place on June 30, Shearer said he hopes to bring awareness to the killings of gay people in the province and practices like “corrective rape” .
“Corrective rape” is where someone is raped because of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, with the idea of turning the person heterosexual.
“I couldn’t believe it when I heard that the Eastern Cape is the most homophobic province in South Africa. We need to make sure that we change that and the only way we can achieve that is by raising awareness,” he said, adding that members of the LGBTQI community need to come out in their raise awareness.
Shearer said for the month leading up to the march the Cino Shearer Foundation, a non-profit organisation that specialises in education and skills development nationally, would be spreading the message to the LGBTQI community, in schools and rural communities.
He added he had already approached Buffalo City Metro to ask them to support the initiative.
“Together with the National Youth Development Agency, we have identified that the youth in rural areas have no information on sexuality and their pleas are not heard,” Shearer said, adding that the Eastern Cape government needed to do something to protect the LGBTQI community. numbers to
“Where is the premier and why is he quiet?
“This silent diplomacy has contributed to the shocking findings by Stats SA. The government has the power to influence behaviour towards LGBTQI people,” Shearer said.
Shearer said there had been many cases of “corrective rape” that LGBTQI people had endured in the province.
An East London-based advocacy officer from the NGO Social Health and Empowerment (SHE), Phiwe Ngcengi, told the Daily Dispatch last year that transgender women in particular were vulnerable to violence.
According to Ngcengi, a large number of transgender women in East London had experienced the trauma of “corrective rape”, placing them in danger of contracting sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/Aids. She added that cultural beliefs made acceptance of transgender people more difficult in the Eastern Cape.
Shearer said the June march would start from the city hall at 10am and move to the Esplanade in East London.
“We chose East London because it is close to many rural communities that are prejudiced against gay people,” he said.