The first Pride March in South Africa was on October 13, 1990 in Johannesburg, and I was there, aged 24 years old.
I did not wear a paper bag over my head like many others who had no option because they would be fired from work or get beaten up if they openly expressed who they were.
Every year after then, the struggle was clear to see as we got insulted, had objects thrown at us and some got physically assaulted. But we never blinked, and instead stood together, united in the fight for our freedom, to be who we are, and to love who we choose.
Today, that fight is still on because we are still not free. As a nation, we’ve come a very long way, but still have very far to go.
Some who choose to hate came out to the sidelines of our celebration today.
Some who choose to hate want to paint over the rainbow crossing in the road that we walked across earlier today.
To them I say, you just make the fight for equality stronger!
And you remind us that we must never ever take the freedom we have won for granted.
In South Africa, today, people are raped and killed because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and that is not freedom, but is tyranny.
The South African police are responding to this specific type of violence, but not doing enough and much more needs to be done.
The first casualty of the new US government was PEPFAR (The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS relief). Our community has survived two pandemics in my lifetime – AIDS and COVID. AIDS took a lot longer to grip the attention of the world and for medication to be developed, because it was associated with people like us and nobody cared enough until it was not just us.
The DA-run Western Cape Government Department of Health and Wellness has ensured that the purchase of antiretroviral treatment and clinical staff are mainly funded through the Province’s own budget.
Anyone who accessed this care in the Western Cape from non-profit organisations that are now closed, can access medication and care from the nearest primary health care facility, and specific clinical needs can be referred within the Western Cape health care system.
The South African Constitution guarantees our protection, but in practice the governments at all three spheres must make sure that what is protected is our lived reality.
I am very proudly the first openly gay Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment in South African history.
Today I introduced to Cape Town Pride my husband, Craig. Craig is the only same sex husband in the National Cabinet and the first in South African history.
Celebrate today this truth: We are proudly everywhere!