The African National Congress (ANC) must make the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people a ”living reality” at its upcoming national conference.
In a statement on Thursday, the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project and the Triangle Project said an open manifesto demanding these rights will be sent to the ANC ahead of the conference, which starts on Sunday in Polokwane.
Phumi Mtetwa, director of the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project, said South Africa faces a ”social crisis”, visible in the difference between the rights enshrined in the Constitution and what is happening in practice.
She said the ANC needs to ”recommit” itself to upholding those rights, and its watershed national conference provides an opportunity to do so.
Mtetwa said sexism and homophobia that have emerged, particularly during ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma’s rape trial, indicate a need for the party to make a renewed commitment to human rights.
The manifesto calls on the conference to ”fully and publicly affirm the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people as full and equal citizens” — and make those rights a living reality.
It also calls for access to medical rights for these groups, a commitment of state resources for their needs, the integration of sexual-orientation education in all schools and for ”effective and consistent” action to be taken against hate crimes against these groups.
It wants the ANC to ”take decisive disciplinary action and other sanctions against homophobes and others who violate the Constitution who are ANC members and leaders”. — Sapa