Johannesburg, South Africa - Black lesbians, transgender men face discrimination, violence in SA - HRW. Black lesbians and transgender men in South African townships and rural areas face an overwhelming climate of discrimination and violence, despite protections promised them in the country’s constitution, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released here Monday. HRW said the 93-page report, “'We’ll Show You You’re a Woman’: Violence and Discrimination Against Black Lesbians and Transgender Men,” is based on more than 120 interviews which it conducted in six provinces.

The New York-based group said it found that lesbians and transgender men face extensive discrimination and violence in their daily lives, both from private individuals and government officials.

It said the abusers of people known or assumed to be lesbian, bisexual, or transgender act with near-total impunity.

“The threat of violence that dominates the lives of lesbians, bisexual women, and transgender men, particularly in poorer and non-urban areas, beggars belief,” said Dipika Nath, researcher in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights programme at HRW. “South Africa, at the forefront of the fight for legal equality on LGBT issues internationally, is desperately failing lesbian and transgender people in their everyday lives at home.”

The report reveals widespread ignorance about lesbians and transgender men and deep-rooted prejudice against gender and sexual non-conformity.

It quoted 22-year-old Dumisani (pseudonym) as saying in an interview: “He had seen my lesbian friends coming home and he talked about how we all dress like men. He dragged me to the bushes. There was no one around. He told me to take off my pants. I was refusing but he was beating me. He raped me until it was late at night. … I saw the guy after that, too.

'A week later I heard he had raped another girl. He was arrested but he came out three days later and beat her up so badly, she was in hospital for three weeks. I was so scared.”

The report recommended, among others, that the South African Police Services separate out data on physical and sexual violence by motive to track incidents of homophobic and transphobic violence; and that the National Prosecuting Authority: ensure that all cases of sexual and physical violence against women and transgender people come to trial in a timely manner, and that prosecutors make cases involving sexual offenses a priority.

It also recommended that the Department of Education establish monitoring systems to ensure effective implementation of non-discrimination policies, such as a toll free help line for students to report discrimination and verbal, physical, and sexual abuse by  teachers and other school authorities.

Pana 05/12/2011