Just hours before President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation address the gay community, says eventhough there are more pressing issues that the president should focus on, it is equally important to condemn crimes and abuse committed against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI) due to sexual orientation.

Emily Craven of the Joint Working Groups says it would be fitting for Zuma to condemn the proposed Anti-homosexuality Bill in Uganda and to state categorically that Jon Qwelane will not be going to Uganda as South Africa’s new High Commissioner.
“I would love to hear the president speak out against violence and abuse targeting LGBTI people”, she added.

Social issues such as unemployment and service delivery, economy, the world cup and the 20th anniversary of Madiba’s release from prison and the strides towards a human rights based nation that the country has made since that time, are top issues that the gay community thinks the president will touch on however it says that human rights and issues such as homophobia and killings of black lesbians should also be addressed.
 

“I don’t think that the ANC has started to engage with the real issues facing the LGBTI community, although their rights are protected by the constitution. We are holding our breath”, said Marlow Valentine, Deputy Director of Triangle Project (TRP)
Other gay rights activists such as Anthony Waldhausen of the Pietermaritzburg Gay and Lesbian Centre have no faith that the president will touch on any of the issues faced by the LGBTI community in the country.
 

“We know that the president’s views towards LGBTI issues are at the best unconcerned and at the worst very negative. I think there is a broader silence from political leadership (with a few exceptions) on the issue of LGBTI rights and especially the hate crime crisis we are facing,” Craven concluded.