This was done to commemorate the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of Witwatersrand’s (GLOW) very first pride parade in Africa.

Senior officer at the Gender Equality and anti-discrimination Office at the University of the Free State, Siyanda Magayana, says pride month for her is a month in which the LGBTQIA+ community, which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual plus, celebrate and commemorate the years of struggle for several years within the community.

“This day celebrates the stride that people have made for everyone who identifies outside of the heterosexual identities to show how important they are within the community,” she said.

She added that it is also a day we recognise the accomplishments that have been achieved by people who identify as part of the community, as well as those who are allies.

She said that the event had three panellists that were looking at different concepts that reflect on where the community is, especially higher learning institutions regarding the rights of LGBTQIA+ students of higher learning.

“We started by reflecting on the past or rather the history of pride month in South Africa, because the number of times we hear about pride, we hear about pride month that is celebrated in June, but in South Africa, we celebrate it on 13 October or the month of October,” she said.

This day was to highlight the experiences, struggles and challenges students still face within higher learning institutions and what strategies can be designed to ensure that they are equally safe and recognised within institutions of higher learning, especially in South Africa, because the experience in our country is different from those in other countries.

“Gender equality is important because our society has to realise our issues go beyond gender, what is important is that everyone has equal access to resources such as employment, wages which is something that has been pushed even in apartheid,” she said.

She added that being part of the LGBTQIA+ community means pride within yourself, it means people recognise you for who you are and not what society wants you to be.

OFM News