Jacqui Benson reflects on the deep challenges still faced by the LGBTQIA+ community in South Africa, and calls on Jewish South Africans to better understand what it means to be 'allies' to the LGBTQIA+ community. 

17 May marks International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. On that day this year I stood on Monwabisi Beach in Khayelitsha with approximately 40 others at a memorial organized by Triangle Project. We were there to honour and commemorate ten of our fellow ‘siblings’ of the LGBTQIA+ ‘family’, who, since 12 February 2021, had been violently murdered simply because of their sexual orientation, gender expression, or gender identity. 

Since the 17 May the number of victims, ranging in age from 22 to 48, now stands at 14.

Of the 40 people present, and amongst a handful of other white people, I was one of two Jews.

Why is this relevant?

Ann Harris reflects on the work of the Chief Rabbi CK Harris Memorial Foundation, and considers what the winding down of the Foundation might mean for the South African Jewish community.