Paris 2024 Olympics: A landmark for LGBTI athletes in global sports
Posted: 6 September, 2024 Filed under: Lakshita Kanhiya | Tags: (LGBTI) rights, anti-discrimination law, anti-discrimination principles, bisexual, Caster Semenya, fight for equality, French Constitution, French law, gay, human rights, Imane Khelif, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), international human rights law, International Olympic Committee (IOC), intersex, Key international instruments, LGBTI athletes, LGBTI culture, LGBTI persons, LGBTI rights, marked a historic event not only in sports but also in the ongoing struggle for lesbian, Paris 2024 Olympics, Penal Code, sports regulation, The Paris 2024 Olympics, transgender, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) Leave a comment
Author: Lakshita Kanhiya
Pan-Africa ILGA
The Paris 2024 Olympics,[1] held from 26 July to 11 August 2024, marked a historic event not only in sports but also in the ongoing struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) rights. The Olympics is a global platform where the world’s best athletes showcase their talents, but it is also a stage where issues of equality, human rights, and inclusion come into sharp focus.
It’s not just you and me, and that’s okay
Posted: 20 May, 2024 Filed under: David Ikpo, Victoria Amaechi | Tags: African continent, Beverley Ditsie, Coming out, Coming out vs Coming home, fight against discrimination, gay, gender expression, heteronormative standards, homonormative, homophobia, Justice Edwin Cameron, lgbtq, Mark Gevisser, multi-institutional relationships, political incorrectness, queer, queer inclusivity, queer persons, queer rights, queer visibility, Sassoi of Ghana, sexuality, Simon Nkoli, The Pink Line, Zachie Achmat 1 Comment |
Author: Victoria Amaechi Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria |
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Author: David Ikpo Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria |
Queer visibility, and what it accomplishes, turns the social, cultural and legal wheels towards queer inclusivity in society, and is a great complement to the advancement of queer rights on the African continent and globally.
On the African continent, South Africa sets the tone for the merits of queer visibility, through the openly politicised lives of queer icons such as Simon Nkoli, Beverley Ditsie, Justice Edwin Cameron and Zachie Achmat. Other African queer icons have also emerged through their great work, such as Caine Youngman of Botswana; David Kato, Kasha Jaqueline, Richard Lusimbo and Frank Mugisha of Uganda; Abdellah Taia of Morocco; Rev Jide Macaulay and Uyai Ikpe-Etim of Nigeria; Alex Donkor of Ghana and Eric Lembembe of Cameroon. This list does no justice to the infinite number of queer persons within and outside of civil society and government, in the full glare of public visibility, who work tirelessly for queer inclusion on the African continent. This work is no mean feat, and for the most part makes the difference between whether or not a person returns at night to their families after a day’s work, or whether or not there is a family to return to. However, this is not true for all of us.
Happiness and same-sex affection
Posted: 22 April, 2016 Filed under: Saul Leal | Tags: autonomy of will, Brazil, Chinelo Okparanta, Civil Code, constitution, fundamental rights, gay, happiness, homo-affectionate, hope of happiness, human dignity, Justice Celso de Mello, Justice Luiz Fux, love, Nigeria, prejudice, privacy, protection of the right to life, right to equal protection under the law, right to happiness, same-sex affection, same-sex couples, same-sex marriage, sexual discrimination, sexual minorities, United States Declaration of Independence 3 Comments
Author: Saul Leal
Vice-Chancellor Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA)
Chinelo Okparanta is a Nigerian writer, currently living as a citizen in the United States. She understands the prejudices of her native country, especially against homosexuals. In some parts of Nigeria, a gay individual may be stoned to death under the Shari’a law. Okparanta writes, in her lesbian romance Happiness like Water, ‘yes, our love may be hidden, but it is strong. It can still bring happiness’.[1]
Why must the love between two consenting adults be hidden? Should the State have the power to decide towards whom one may show affection? These disconcerting questions may be answered in terms of global Constitutions.
The most important Brazilian decision which entailed the right to happiness was in 2011.[2] The Supreme Court had to rule on the interpretation to be given to article 1.723 of the Civil Code, which only recognizes a common-law relationship between a man and a woman as a family unit which must be public knowledge, continuous, and long-lasting, and be established for the purpose of building a family. The need for the aforementioned ruling resulted from the fact that government bodies refused to grant these rights to homo-affectionate couples. Therefore, the Court had to decide if this union also covered same-sex couples, even though the provision expressly mentions ‘man and a woman’.[3]
Does the new Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill fill the gaps?
Posted: 20 November, 2012 Filed under: Maya Perez Aronsson | Tags: bisexual, Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), corrective rape, disability, gay, gender-based violence, intersexed, lesbian, LGBTI, sexual orientation, transgender, United Nations 1 Comment
Author: Maya Perez Aronsson
Intern, Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria
South Africa has some of the most progressive legislation on gender equality in the world yet there is a lack of de facto equality in this country. A new Bill has been put forth to further promote women empowerment and gender equality – will this be the solution?
In September 2012 the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities presented the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill (the Equality Bill). The purpose of the new Bill is to establish a legislative framework for the empowerment of women and to provide an obligation to adopt and implement gender mainstreaming. The Bill includes detailed provisions regarding these issues such as encouraging the recognition of the economic value of the roles of women in various sectors of life, and the achievement of at least 50 % representation and participation of women in decision-making structures in all entities.
AfricLaw 