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Resisting Homophobic and Transphobic Violence As Forms of Patriarchal Social Control

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Resisting Homophobic and Transphobic Violence As Forms of Patriarchal Social Control YOUR WON’THATE CHANGE US! Resisting homophobic and transphobic violence as forms of patriarchal social control Triangle Project Human Rights Report 2013 By Peggy W.Y. Lee, Ingrid Lynch and Matthew Clayton Table of contents 4 Acknowledgements 5 Glossary 7 1. Introduction 8 Research methodology 9 Selected hate crime case summaries 10 23 June 2001: Murder of Ivan Johannes 10 4 February 2006: Murder of Zoliswa Nkonyana 11 7 July 2007: Murder of Sizakele Sigasa and Salome Masooa 11 6 October 2007: Murder of Waldo Bester 11 28 April 2008: Murder of Eudy Simelane 12 20 June 2008: Murder of Sibongile Mphelo 12 24 April 2011: Murder of Noxolo Nogwaza 12 6 September 2010: Murder of Nontsikelelo Tyatyeka 13 9 June 2012: Murder of Thapelo Makhutle 13 23 June 2012: Murder of Phumeza Nkolonzi 13 7 July 2013: Murder of Duduzile Zozo 14 2. The promise of LGBTI human rights in South Africa 14 Constitutional obligations 18 Obligations in accordance with international law 20 Domestic law, policy and practice 26 3. Realities of patriarchal homophoBic and transphoBic oppression 27 Black lesbian women and compulsory heterosexuality 28 Gender-based violence and patriarchal social control 29 Historical legacies of crime, violence and inJustice 31 4. Transforming LGBTI human rights into lived realities 31 Enact hate crimes legislation specifying positive duties 32 Improve services to enable LGBTI persons’ access to justice 32 Support LGBTI community-based empowerment 34 5. Concluding recommendations to advance LGBTI rights 35 For the South African government 37 For South African NGOs and community-based organisations 39 For everyone anywhere 3_ Publication details We would like to dedicate this report to Jill Henderson (1974 - 2012) former Research and Advocacy Coordinator at Triangle Project. Jill was a passionate advocate for the human rights of LGBTI persons and Triangle Project is deeply saddened by her passing. We would like to thank Vanessa Ludwig, Emily Smith and Sharon Ludwig for their invaluable contributions to this work. We are also grateful for the commitment of the community activists involved in the Action for Justice Programme at Triangle Project who assisted with documenting cases of LGBTI related hate crimes; in particular we thank Velisa Jara, Dineo Mofoka, Ntombi Mbucane, Beverly Soldaat, Yolanda Qayiso and Tshom Gcakazi. !is project was undertaken in collaboration with Oxfam Canada, with the "nancial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). !e views expressed in this report do not necessarily re#ect the position of Oxfam Canada or CIDA. !e project was also supported by a grant from the Open Society Foundation for South Africa (OSF-SA). Published by: Triangle Project – a non-governmental human rights organisation based in Cape Town, South Africa, that advocates the rights and wellbeing of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons by working towards a society free of discrimination, prejudice, victimisation, heterosexist violence and the oppression of gender and sexual minorities. Design and layout: Aragorn Elo$ Report to be cited as: Lee, P.W.Y., Lynch, I., & Clayton, M. (2013). Your hate won’t change us! Resisting homophobic and transphobic violence as forms of patriarchal social control. Cape Town: Triangle Project. _4 Glossary1 Bisexual: A term used to refer to a person who is capable of having sexual and romantic attraction to someone of the same gender and/ or someone of other genders; such attraction to different genders is not necessarily simultaneous or equal in intensity. Not all people who are attracted to different genders self-identify as bisexual. 1. This glossary was compiled with reference to the following sources: Human Rights Watch. (2011). “We’ll Butch: Lesbians with more masculine gender presentations and performances. show you you’re a woman”: Violence and discrimination against black lesbians and transgender men in Lesbians with more feminine gender presentations and Femme: South Africa. New York: Human Rights performances. Watch; PsySSA. (2013). Sexual and gender diversity position statement. Gay: A term deriving from the global North as a synonym for homosexual Retrieved January 20, 2014, from men in many parts of the world; its use is more nuanced in South Africa http://www.psyssa.com/documents/ where it often refers to feminine-identified men (ladies) whose primary PsySSA_sexuality_gender_position_ erotic orientation is towards gents, i.e. other men who may see themselves statement_2013.pdf; Reid, G. (2013). as ‘straight’. Not all men who are attracted to other men self-identify as gay. How to be a real gay: Gay identities in small-town South Africa. Scottsville, Gender: The socially constructed roles, behaviour, activities and RSA: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press. attributes that a particular society considers appropriate for women and men based on that society’s conceptions of femininity and masculinity. Gender-based violence: Violence directed against a person on the basis of their sex or gender. Gender-based violence includes sexual violence, intimate violence, psychological abuse, sexual exploitation, sexual harassment, harmful traditional practices and discriminatory practices based on gender. The term is widely understood to include violence targeting women, transgender persons, and men because of how they experience and express their genders and sexualities. Gender identity: A person’s inner sense of an authentic gendered self, which could range along a continuum from femininity to masculinity, and which varies across social spaces, i.e. locations, cultures and contexts. Gender presentation or performance: The way in which people express their gender identity through behaviours which a society deems ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’. It could include language use, body language, dress, mannerisms and so forth. Hate crime: Any incident that may or may not constitute a criminal offence, perceived as being motivated by preJudice or hate. The perpetrators seek to demean and dehumanise their victims, whom they consider different from them based on actual or perceived race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, health status, nationality, social origin, religious convictions, culture, language or other characteristic. Heteronormativity: Related to ‘heterosexism’ discussed below, it refers to the privileged position associated with heterosexuality based on a normative assumption that there are only two genders, that gender always reflects the person’s biological sex as assigned at birth, and that only sexual attraction between these ‘opposite’ genders is considered normal or natural. 5_ Glossary continued Heterosexism: A system of beliefs that privilege heterosexuality and discriminate against other sexual orientations. It assumes that heterosexuality is the only normal or natural option for human relationships and posits that all other sexual relationships are either subordinate to, or perversions of heterosexual relationships. In everyday life, this manifests as the assumption that everyone is heterosexual, until proven otherwise. Homophobia (homoprejudice): Literally the fear of homosexuals (lesbians and gay men) and transgender people. Homophobic attitudes are rooted in preJudice and Othering, and therefore the term homopreJudice is also used. Homophobic behaviour ranges from all forms of discrimination, hostility and contempt to harassment, bullying and other forms of extreme violence such as rape, assault and murder. Intersex: Refers to individuals who are born with genitalia that are not typically male or female. Intersex people, if given the choice of genital surgery, most often opt not to have surgery performed. Intersexuality is not a disorder. LGBTI: An abbreviation referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons. Although neither transgender nor intersex is classified as sexual orientations, similarities in experiences of marginalisation, exclusion, discrimination and victimisation in a heteronormative and heterosexist society are considered enough Justification for their inclusion in efforts to ensure equality before the law and equal protection by the law, irrespective of sexual orientation. Lesbian: A term promoted in the global North for a woman whose primary sexual and romantic attraction is toward other women. Not all women who are attracted to other women self-identify as lesbian. Patriarchy: A social hierarchy that privileges men over women and masculinity over femininity. Queer: An inclusive term that refers not only to lesbian and gay persons, but also to any person who feels marginalised because of her or his sexual practices, or who resists the heteronormative sex/gender/sexual identity system. Sex: The biological and physiological characteristics socially agreed upon as defining men and women. Sexual orientation: The way in which a person’s sexual and romantic desires are directed. The term describes whether a person is attracted primarily to people of the same sex, to another sex, or to both. Transgender: People who have a gender identity, and often an associated gender expression, that is different to the sex they were assigned at birth. Some transgender people opt for gender-affirming treatment, while others choose not to, or to only partially undergo such treatment(s). ‘Transgender man’ refers to a female-to-male trans person, and ‘transgender woman’ to a male-to-female trans person. Transgender people can be heterosexual, bisexual or homosexual. Transphobia:
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