Advancing Transgender Human Rights
PRESS RELEASES
6th Biennial Regional Trans Health, Advocacy and Research Conference
With excitement, Gender Dynamix announces our hosting of the 6th Biennial Regional Trans Health, Advocacy and Research Conference, which is scheduled to take place from November 29 to December 1, 2023, in Cape Town, South Africa, in collaboration with the Africa Trans Network (ATN), Southern Africa Trans Forum (SATF), Community of Practice (CoP) and the South African National Gender Diversity Coalition (NGDC).
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For media enquiries, please contact: Lindsay Louis, National Programmes Manager:
programmes@genderdynamix.org.za or 071 935 9528
It is not too late for EFF and UCT to deny anti-LGBTQI+ speaker Lumumba a Platform
The National Gender Diversity Coalition is deeply disappointed and troubled by the invitation that the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has extended to Prof. Patrick Lumumba, an anti-LGBTQI+ Kenyan Academic who is in support of the Ugandan anti-homosexuality law, which in certain instances impose life imprisonment and the death penalty on people for being who they are.
Gender DynamiX statement in response to the enactment of Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act by President Yuweri Museveni.
Gender DynamiX joins human rights organisations as well as progressive governments from around the world in expressing our condemnation of the accession of the odious and tragic Anti-Homosexuality Act in the Republic of Uganda.
Statement in response to the Supreme Court of Namibia Ruling
Gender Dynamix welcomes the ruling by the Supreme Court of Namibia on Tuesday 16th May 2023 in which the Court ruled that their government must recognise the unions of same-sex couples who married in countries where it is legal for them to do so. The couples concerned are Namibians who have married foreign nationals from countries where it is legal to marry your same-sex partner. Same-sex marriage, however, remains illegal in Namibia itself.
LHR GDX Joint Press Statement: #BreakingBorders&Binaries
LHR and GDX have partnered to raise awareness and bring to the forefront the various levels of discrimination suffered by transgender and gender non-conforming migrants (stateless people, asylum seekers, refugees, documented and undocumented) residing in South Africa.
#BreakingBorders&Binaries is a campaign that raises awareness on the rights as enshrined in South Africa’s Constitution and policy frameworks that offer protection and inclusion to migrants, which include documented and undocumented refugees and asylum seekers.
Guidelines to International Partners on how to offer support after the recent passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill by the Ugandan Parliament
We express our gratitude for your steadfast allyship accorded to the Conveners for Equality (CFE) in the fight against the Anti-Homosexuality Bill (the Bill). We particularly value your assistance since the bill's introduction through its passage by Parliament on March 22, 2022. Based on past occurrences, such as in 2014, when the president initially stated he would not sign but ultimately did, it is probable that he will sign the bill into law.
SUBMISSION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Support for the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill, 2022
GDX thanks the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (the Department) for this opportunity to comment on the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amend-ment Bill, 2022 (the Bill).
We make this submission to confirm our full support for the repeal of the Sexual Offences Act, 1957; and the amendment of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007 to the extent needed to fully decriminalise adult sex work in South Africa.
Transgender Women Statement Responding to Ntsiki Mazwai
On the 16th of January 2023, Ntsiki Mazwai published a problematic and hurtful tweet asserting the harmful and ungrounded view that women’s rights are threatened by trans rights. She wrote a post sharing her pervasive and proble-matic views about women of trans experience. We, as organisations who exist to ensure that the human rights of all members of the LGBTIQ community are respected and upheld collectively call on Mazwai to remove this dangerous post and apologise to the trans community.
MISS SA Pageant Semi-Finalist from the Trans and Gender Diverse Community
TRANSition and Transformation within the 27 years of democracy has finally produced a Miss SA pageant semi-finalist from the trans and gender diverse community.
Lehlogonolo Machaba, a 24-year-old woman from the Lethlabile in the Northwest, has elegantly graced our media platforms with her beauty and politic. As a proud dark-skinned transgender woman, she is hoping to advocate and inspire change as the first transgender woman to make it to the Top 30.
The Miss SA pageant semifinalist firmly believes that the diversity of all women should be represented in the Miss SA platform. She hopes to further raise awareness to the issues currently faced by the LGBTIQ+ community.
If you are interested in showing your support to Lehlogonolo in the making of history, you can log on to www.misssa.co.za to find out how to cast your vote. Voting closes on 21 July 2021.
“You don’t have to agree with me, but just respect me”
“Come As You Are™ speaks volumes for acceptance, for us to be who we want to be and to be accepted. You don’t have to agree with me, but just respect me. If we all offered respect to one another, the world would be a better place” - Manila Von Teez
Gender DynamiX Responds to the Miss South Africa Announcement on Transgender Participation
As an organisation advocating for the rights of transgender and gender diverse persons, Gender Dynamix recognises that the Miss South Africa pageant has a significant LGBTQI+ following. The inclusion of transgender women in Miss South Africa has recently been in the spotlight. We applaud the openly transgender women whose activism has led to greater inclusion in spaces such as Miss South Africa, as well as the contestants who are participating in the pageant in the spirit of further advancing the inclusion, recognition and understanding of transgender persons in public spaces.
Joint Media Statement of Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi and the Trans Activist Coalition
21 September 2020
Gender Dynamix, together with a coalition of civil society organisations, met with Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister of the Department of Home Affairs, to discuss the ongoing issues and struggles faced by trans and gender diverse persons.
The meeting was incredibly valuable, with the Minister and his team committing to improving the essential services provided to trans and gender diverse persons, including resolving the issues around amendments of particulars, the development of policies and operating procedures, and the training of Home Affairs staff when dealing with matters pertaining to trans and gender diverse persons.
We remain committed to constructively engaging with the department on these matters, as well as working toward legislative reform around the Alteration of Sex Description and Sex Status Act 49 of 2003.
Gender Dynamix would like to thank the Minister and his team for their time in engaging these issues and for their commitment to working with us. We would also like to extend our thanks to the partner organisations who have contributed to and made this engagement possible.
The full media statement as published by the Department of Home Affairs is attached to the right.
Yours in solidarity!
Gender Dynamix
SUPPORTING TRANS AND GENDER DIVERSE REFUGEES: SOUTH AFRICA
A Collaborative Project
As Gender Dynamix and Lawyers for Human Rights, we are embarking on a project that seeks to dismantle the rampant discrimination against transgender and gender diverse migrants in the asylum seeker system in South Africa. Lawyers for Human Rights published a critical study that assessed the forced migration system from a trans and gender diverse perspective. Our collaborative endeavour will seek to legally represent trans and gender diverse migrants, and we hope to be able to engage in robust sensitivity training in collaboration with the Department of Home Affairs and the South African Police Service, as frontline staff.
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JOINT STATEMENT
Trans Day of Remembrance 2020:
Fighting for our futures
On Trans Day of Remembrance (TDoR), 20 November, we remember and honour trans and gender-diverse people whose lives were taken away from us.
Day after day, trans people around the world fight for our human rights and social justice. Year after year, we demand that trans people are protected from violence. We demand that our human rights are respected. We demand our right to live.
Qwelane Hate Speech Case to be heard tomorrow
(22 September 2020) in the Constitutional Court
Tomorrow, 22 September 2020, at 10am the Constitutional Court will hear the matter of Qwelane versus SAHRC & Another / 7 Amicus Curiae (Case Number 13/20). The Hate Crimes Working Group (HCWG) welcomes the hearing, which will assist in setting a precedent not only in the resolution of this particular matter and the precedent it will set, but because of the significance that the ruling will have in terms of determining of other cases relating to hate speech – whether it is hate speech on the basis of one’s sexual orientation or gender identity, religion, race, or any other such ground. Many of these other cases have been on hold as a result of the delays in the finalisation of the Qwelane matter.
Human Rights Organisations Urge the President to Sign Civil Union Amendment Bill into Law
Leading Human Rights organisations have urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to sign off on the Civil Union Amendment Bill that affords same-sex or same-gender couples the right to be married by any state-employed marriage officer and magistrate they so choose.
Iranti, Gender DynamiX and TREAT, as members of SATF and in partnership with Frontline AIDS, have published a desktop survey into the experiences of Southern African trans-led advocacy groups during the 2020 COVID-19 viral pandemic, assessing challenges to programmes and advocacy work across the region.
We thank the participants in this study who have helped us shine a light on the severe challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to trans-led and trans-focused organisations in our region – LGBTI+ individuals and communities already dispropo-tionately struggle with access to healthcare, secure income, food security, safety in the home environment and many other metrics by which one might judge the equality and security of members of a society. This pandemic has only exacerbated these issues, our study has found.
SATF launches results from Survey into the impact of COVID-19 on Trans and Gender-Diverse organisations in the Region
Dear Minister Motsoaledi,
Our coalition has received your letter and we would like to extend our sincere thanks to you and your staff for taking the time to respond to our concerns. By allowing once more for citizens to apply for the amendment of personal particulars, we understand that transgender and gender-diverse persons across the country will be able to move forward in accessing vital services and documents which we believe will mitigate some of the discrimination and exclusion they face.
Transgender and Gender-Diverse Persons and Essential Services at the Department Of Home Affairs during Lockdown
​Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya
Gender Dynamix applauds the government of Gabon particularly the parliamentarians for recognising and acknowledging the existence of the LGBTI. This was reflected when 48 parliamentarians in the lower Senate house voted for decriminalising. We can only hope that the precedence set by the lower house will be similar to that that will be set by the upper house.
However, it becomes challenging for us to celebrate some of the victories while on the other hand, our refugee siblings are going through the most currently in Kenya. Kakuma is one of the world’s largest refugee camps and is home to a significant LGBTIQ community.
GDX Statements on Jade September
WATCH | Transgender prisoner case: Jade Sep-tember's treatment slammed as 'unlawful'
The Department of Correctional Services received a tongue lashing for the way it has treated transgender prisoner Jade September in a Western Cape High Court ruling giving her the right to be called a woman in the men's prison she is being held in. 'Unlawful' treatment of transgender prisoner slammed in court judgment.
Court rules trans inmate Jade September be allowed to express her gender - ewn.co.za
Court rules trans inmate Jade September be allowed to express her gender. Judge Chantal Fortuin found September's case amounted to unfair discrimination and ordered sensitisation training for all ...
Transgender inmate wins right to express her gender in male prison | IOL News
Pretoria - In a huge victory for equality, trans-gender prisoner Jade September won the right to be express herself as a woman, although she is at present in a male prison. The Equality Court ...
Lesotho accepts
SOGIESC recommendations
This has been a momentous moment not only for an individual but for an entire community and region. Gender Dynamix would like to congratulate Rikki Nathanson on the massive victory achieved for trans and gender diverse persons against the Zimbabwean government.
Violation of LGBTI rights
in Uganda and Liberia
In as much as there has been good developments and happenings in South Africa, we cannot ignore the contradictory scene happening in other African Countries. GDX is aware of the LGBTI persecution(s) taking place in Uganda and Liberia. As an organisation GDX is and continues to be aware of the LGBTI arrests taking place in Uganda, and the possible return of the Anti Homosexual Act, which will introduce the death penalty for LGBTI identify persons. The Ugandan government has announ-ced that it plans to sentence to death persons participating in consensual same-sex relationships. Furthermore, there have also been attacks on LGBTI persons in Liberia which happened on the 10th of November 2019.
Disappointing Ruling on Decriminalising Homosexuality in Kenya
The ruling of Kenya’s High Court on the decriminalisation of homosexuality on sections 162 and 165 of the country’s colonial-era Penal Code was much awaited by LGBT persons in Kenya, East Africa and the global community at large. However, the ruling has been, much to the dismay of LGBTQ communities in Kenya and elsewhere.
Human Rights Council Renews the mandate of UN'S Independent Expert against violence and discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Gender DynamiX welcomes the Renewal mandate of the United Nations Independent Expert against violence and discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity for the next three years by the Human Rights Council. GDX would like to acknowledge and thank each state which voted for the mandate to be renewed and most importantly voting against 10 hostile amendments to the mandate. The mandate of the Independent Xxpert on the Protection Against Violence and Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity was established by the Human Rights Council resolution 32/2, adopted in 2016.