FEW - Defending Women, Advancing Rights
Dear Friends, Comrades, Colleagues

In the past month we as the LGBTI community of South Africa have witnessed and experienced immense trauma and pain, due to the ongoing attacks killings against LGBTI persons. We say enough is enough. We met this past Friday and collectively decided to take action against hate-crimes and violence.

South Africa is increasingly shamed by the lack of response from key leaders in South Africa towards attacks against vulnerable persons, namely, LGBTI persons, refugees, migrants, immigrants and asylum seekers, women and children. WE have to put a stop to these homophobic and xenophobic attacks.

We call on you to join us on Mandela's Birthday, 18 July 2012, to give your 67 minutes to civic action against hate-crimes. Mandela gave his life for human rights and activism, and so should we. Mandela also gave his life for the vision of living in a free South Africa, he was a dedicated member of the ANC.

The ANC drafted the Freedom Charter and we fought against all forms of discrimination. Now we live in a democratic state with a progressive constitution, we have to uphold the ideals, that the "People's Power, Reign Supreme".

The ANC has failed us! the President of the ANC has been silent on violence, homophobia and xenophobia. The ANC has excluded sexual orientation from its gender policy and is silent on hate crimes and violence against LGBTI persons.

We are spending 67 minutes on Mandela's birthday, to protest against the silence of the ANC and demand action against hate crimes and violence.

Join us:

18 July 2012 Library Gardens, 11h00 - 13h00 in Johannesburg. We will hand over a memorandum to the ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe.

In addition we will hold a political and commemorative vigil at 6pm - 8pm, at the Women's Jail, Constitution Hill. Bring a blanket, a candle, flowers, anything you wish to bring to remember our fellow LGBTI friends and loved ones, killed over the past years.

For more information please contact
FEW : 011 4031907

In solidarity
Jabu

Press statement. For immediate release.

Kaleidoscope Youth Network and University of Johannesburg host successful Gauteng Regional Lekgotla

Written by Thuli Mathabela, Auxiliary National Vice Convenor                                                         11 July 2012

Kaleidoscope Youth Network held its second Regional Lekgotla at University Of Johannesburg, Kingsway Campus from the 5th to the 8th of July. The member societies that were present included UJ Liberati (University of Johannesburg), Activate (Wits), Pillars of Consciousness (Central Johannesburg College), Flamboyant (Tshwane University of Technology), UP and OUT (University of Pretoria), POUT ( North West University) and OUT n Proud (NWU,Mafikeng Campus).The societies came together under the topic "History of LGBT and the Media".
 
The aim of the Regional Lekgotla is to get organisations within the regions acquainted with each other so that collaboration and solidarity may grow in the region. It was also implemented with the hope of transferring and sharing skillsets in campaign building and documenting hate crimes.
 
A UJ representative, Mr Godfrey Helani welcomed the Network and its youth leaders on the first day of the process. He emphasised the fact that South Africa has a challenge where people are discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation. In his speech, he stated that "we are happy to have a national organisation that is willing and able to tackle these challenges. UJ pledges support because we understand the need for human rights; we promote the understanding of harmony and the fact that the LGBTIA community does not owe anybody an explanation as to why their sexual orientation is different"
 
Campaign Development was one of the focus of the Lekgotla and was facilitated by Anzio Jacobs, the National Convenor of the Network. Tish White, National Vice Convenor focused on Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation, whereas Gabriel Khan from Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action facilitated outside exercises and educated the delegates on the history of LGBTIA and important individuals that surfaced the path for activism. Delegates were also taught how to report hate crimes to the Hate Crimes Working Group.
 
In addition to the campaigns developed by each society, the "It Gets Better Campaign" was recorded and the Network managed to compose an anthem that could possibly be sung at all Pride Marches.

The outcomes of the Regional Lekgotla will be seen through the extensive planning that went into campaign building, the implementation of a hate crimes documentation system and the bonds forged through team-building. It is the hope of the Network that in the immense challenges faced in the rise in hate crimes, and structures and services reinforced by heterosexism and patriarchy, that delegates will use their skills and regional networking bonds to overcome common challenges and strengthen the capacity of the sector.

PRESS STATEMENT – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

26 June 2012

The Kaleidoscope Youth Network hosts first Regional Lekgotla in Durban, in partnership with Durban University of Technology

Written by Tish White – National Vice Convenor

The Kaleidoscope Youth Network is a body of student solidarity organisations for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Asexual (LGBTIA) students in places of tertiary education across South Africa. The 17 member organisations include regions ranging from Fort Hare, Stellenbosch, Mafikeng and Bloemfontein to Pietermaritzburg.

The mission of the Kaleidoscope Youth Network is to promote health and wellness amongst youth, empower future leaders and eradicate hate crimes. The Network is run by two core teams – an auxiliary and executive team – which oversee operations across South Africa. The entire Network meets annually for a national AGM (known as a lekgotla), where policy, strategy and documentation is discussed, and training done. The Network has seen a growing need for capacity-building, networking and training at a regional level across South Africa, and has addressed this through the launch of the regional lekgotla project. In partnership with hosting universities, the executive and auxiliary team will travel across South Africa giving training and guidance specific to the organisations they visit.

There are two student organisations in KZN that cater for LGBTIA students – Shadows in the Rainbow (based at Durban University of Technology) and MOVE (UKZN, Pietermaritzburg), though the LGBTI NGOs in the KZN region, such as the Gay and Lesbian Network in PMB cater for youth issues too. Both MOVE and Shadows in the Rainbow are fairly new organisations that have very promising futures. Shadows in the Rainbow took up the call to host a regional lekgotla in 2012, in partnership with the institute at which they are based - Durban University of Technology. DUT will be hosting delegates from UKZN and DUT, as well as some members of the Kaleidoscope Youth Network management team. The group will follow an intensive programme which includes training in campaign building, networking strategies, partnership project work with regional LGBTIA initiatives and problem-solving strategising for any issues the two societies might face. The group will also be partaking in the Durban Pride 2012 march, and will be at a stall to answer any questions Pride-goers might have regarding the Network operations. It is the hope of the Network leadership that the KZN student societies will take the skills taught at this regional lekgotla and implement them in their work.

Should you have any queries about the lekgotla, please contact the Network

"8 WEEK TRANS SUPPORT GROUP (JOHANNESBURG) (AUG & SEP 2012)

You are not an isolated individual but part of a broader community with similar experiences. It is often easy to forget this when living under continually difficult social circumstances and the fear of discrimination.

Please join us for a short-term support group for trans-identified individuals. This group aims to provide a safe and mutually supportive environment for its members to share their personal struggles and triumphs.

Venue: Roosevelt Park Area, Johannesburg
Day: Wednesday evenings from 01 August 2012 until 19 September 2012
Time: 19h00 to 20h30
Duration: 8 consecutive weeks
Cost : R200 per session (partly reclaimable from medical aids)

Aim

This is a short-term supportive therapy group for M2Fs and F2Ms at various stages of their journey.

The group aims to provide a safe, confidential and mutually supportive space where members may share experiences that they are struggling with and would like to discuss in the group.

Benefits of group work

One of the powerful aspects of group work is that one may often see aspects of yourself in others. These are both aspects that you embrace and aspects of yourselves and your past that are difficult to accept.

By committing to a group process one has the potential to:
1) learn more about yourself and the way you interact with those around you,
2) learn through others’ struggles and triumphs,
3) receive fresh insights and feedback from the group around concerns that may be troubling you, and
4) the opportunity to provide support to others.

Group membership reminds one that you are not an isolated individual but part of a broader community.

About the facilitator

I am clinical psychologist in private practice in Parkhurst. I completed my Masters in Clinical Psychology at the University of the Western Cape (well-known for its liberal thinking) and my community service at Sizwe Tropical Disease Hospital for patients with MDR and XDR tuberculosis. I see members of the LGBTI community in my practice and completed my honours research around transsexual identity at the University of Cape Town with the assistance of Gender Dynamix (Cape Town).

How do I join?

Contact me on 081 263 2217 if you would like to join this much-needed group. I will forward you an application form and arrange a mutually convenient time for us to get to know one another and assess whether groupwork is best suited to your needs. This consultation is charged at a fee of R200.

Places in the group are limited to 8 members so please do apply soonest.

This group is too far from home or you require a different time slot?

Please feel free to forward your details to me if you would like to attend a similar group at a different time or know that there is a need for this support group in your area."

For Immediate Release

 

 

Award-winning lineup at Out in Africa

 

The second installment of the 19th Out In Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival runs from 27 July-5 August in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Highlights include:

·         Documentaries on activists Funeka Soldaat and Judith Kotzé

Keep The Lights On, the 2012 Berlin Teddy Award winner for Best Feature, leads an impressive lineup for the second installment of the 19th Out in Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, running from 27 July-5 August in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Directed by former Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Ira Sachs (Forty Shades of Blue), Keep The Lights On is a New York love story about a sex-addicted filmmaker and a cokehead literary lawyer. Salon’s Andrew O’Hehir called Keep The Lights On “an instant landmark in gay cinema and easily the finest dramatic film I saw at Sundance this year.”

In the multi-award-winning Cloudburst, Oscar-winners Olympia Dukakis (Moonstruck, Tales of the City) and Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot) star as an aging lesbian couple who take to the road when one is committed to a nursing home. Wickedly funny, these older Thelma-and-Louises are for everyone.

Three (Drei), directed by Tom Twyker, is another highlight. Twyker is one of the world’s most acclaimed directors, responsible for cult films like Run Lola Run, Perfume and The International. He’s already won seven international awards for Three, the deceptively simple story of a couple falling in love with the same man. Simon and his lover Hanna meet and have an affair with Adam separately, neither initially aware of the others infidelity. Unashamedly intellectual, 3 is for the thinking queer, tired of the coming out stories and the Hollywood pink of mainstream gay cinema.

 

Kaboom, directed by Gregg Araki (Mysterious Skin), won the first ever Queer Palme at Cannes International Film Festival for its contribution to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex issues. It’s a quirky, entirely bizarre dark comedy that’s part David Lynch, part Glee, and all about sex.

Director Rikkie Beadle-Blair will attend the festival for the screening of Bashment, which explores the aftermath of a brutal gay bash attack at a reggae dance hall competition in London.  He’s conducting filmmaking seminars at The Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking in both Cape Town and Johannesburg.

This year’s South African programme includes two documentaries from the I Am Woman – Leap of Faith series: Funeka Soldaat, about the intersex activist who heads up the Free Gender movement, and Judith Kotzé, about the convener of the Inclusive and Affirming Ministries (IAM).

These screen together with two great local short films: Daniel McCauley’s Letting Go and Corné Koegelenberg’s Welkom By Die Schoemans.

Other must-see films include Ausente (Absent), an Argentinian suspense thriller about an older straight man being oursued by one of his students. it won the 2011 Berlinale Teddy Award; The Skinny, about the loves and losses of a group of black men, and a lesbian, who reunite in the Big Apple, is from the director of the ever-popular Noah’s Arc TV series; and Stud Life, a new Brit film that intertwines the love stories of two best friends, a cool black butch and a sharp white twink boy.

 

Out In Africa screens at Nu Metro V&A Waterfront in Cape Town and Nu Metro Hyde Park in Johannesburg.

For the second year in a row, Out In Africa is running three mini-festivals in 2012, with the third edition scheduled for 17-28 October 2012.

Watch and embed the trailers from:

Keep The Lights On

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG4EaYPsbT8

 

3 (Drei)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5vCJDwgyGIHYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5vCJDwgyGI&fe"&HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5vCJDwgyGI&fe"fe

Cloudburst

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oATCC6QrTKo

Kaboom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu9NkMCElMk

 

Bashment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7JwtDL_RhY

 

Ausente (Absent)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU7KQ-OxPY4

The Skinny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtoE9FJErmk

Stud Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVygCAcbJbU

For more information, visit www.oia.co.za.

 

ABOUT OUT IN AFRICA




Out In Africa is made possible through support from Atlantic Philanthropies, the National Film and Video Foundation, The Times, Goethe Institut, British Council, 6 Spin Street, Graton Guest House, Rutland Lodge and Holdenmanz Wine Estate.  

 

JOY SAPIEKA

PUBLICIST

+27 (0) 73 212 5492

[email protected]