We’re taking our cues on where to perform and direct our funds from LGBTQ South Africans and others who work with them. Here’s a roundup of what they’ve told us about how BGMC can make the greatest contributions advancing LGBTQ awareness, visibility and equality in their communities.
In Kliptown, Nelisiwe Walaza, the marketing manager of Kliptown Youth Program (KYP) an organization that works to lift young people out of poverty through educational opportunity, said that BGMC’s visit to Kliptown will provide the community with a rare opportunity to meet and engage interact with openly gay people. While there is an awareness of gay people in South Africa they aren’t fully accepted, said Walaza, noting that 80 percent of the country is Christian.
“Most people are trying to get educated about it but there’s not much education about gay people and how we’re supposed to treat them,” Walaza said.
BGMC will visit KYP on June 15 to discuss LGBT issues and give an informal performance. Later that evening we’ll perform at the Soweto Theatre with the supremely talented Mzansi Gay Choir to benefit KYP.
Walaza said she’s hopeful that our visit will help break down people’s assumptions and stereotypes about what it means to be gay, and empower young LGBTQ people in Kliptown who are living in the closet.
“Some of our young people are just like them but they are so scared to unleash themselves because of all the curses and the bad things that are said to people who are gay in the community,” said Walaza. “So it’ll be nice to see that even if you are gay…you are still a person and you can still live your life normally, regardless.”
Likewise, Keval Harie, director of GALA-Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action, an LGBT community archive, looks forward to bringing a dash of LGBT arts and culture to a city where it is mostly lacking. BGMC’s GALA benefit concert, which will support the organization’s youth programming, is scheduled for June 16 in the Great Hall of Wits University.
“The reason why GALA is firstly excited to partner with the Boston Gay Men’s [Chorus] is that we’ve noticed, particularly through the events that we do host, is that there’s such a need for… queer arts, queer culture, particularly in Johannesburg,” he said. “And being able to kind of foster that kind of intercultural exchange is so important for us.”
From Johannesburg we’ll head to George for a very special celebration: the city’s very first LGBTQ Pride parade. Our June 19 performance in George will be the region’s first-ever LGBTQ cultural event and the parade is being organized to coincide with our visit. We’re incredibly honored to be invited to share in this historic event.
Jojo, a member of George’s LGBTQ community, said LGBT people in the area experience a lot of anti-LGBT discrimination, stigma, societal ignorance, violence and abuse. The absence of LGBT organizations in the area makes it difficult “to be ourselves,” she added.
That’s why Jojo is excited and hopeful for BGMC’s visit and George’s Pride celebration.
“I think the impact that we will make is going to be very positive and this will also give out the message to our brother community and to South Africa that we as gay people…support each other and we want the support from our fellow brothers and sisters out there,” said Jojo.
On June 21, BGMC will visit PASSOP (People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty), a Cape Town-based organization that provides support and advocacy to LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers, which comprise a large portion of those who seek refuge in South Africa. In the evening, we’ll perform a concert at the Langa Community Community Hall to benefit PASSOP’s LGBTQ refugee outreach program.
Victor Chikalogwe, PASSOP’s gender rights and LGBTQ advocacy coordinator, welcomed the opportunity of our Cape Town area concert to raise public awareness and education about LGBTQ people in the refugee community and beyond.
“I think it will bring a change in the sense that people [will] understand, what does it mean to be gay,” Chikalogwe said. “When taking into consideration that the people who are going to be attending this event will not be only gay people, but it will be even parents of kids who are gay and even those people who [don’t] have kids who are gay. … I think people think being a choir member is someone who is straight and gay people, they don’t deserve to sing and do all that. So for them coming and seeing [BGMC], I think it’ll bring a change and people realize that we are equal regardless of who we are.”