(First published in Heinrich Boll Stiftung Prespective, Issue 1.09 on Migration and Human Rights)

Introduction

On 27 April 1994 South Africa's political landscape changed drastically and permanently with the first democratic elections which ended more than three hundred years of colonial domination and by extension apartheid. After its formation in 1994, the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality (NCGLE) lobbied successfully for the retention of sexual orientation as one of the grounds of non-discrimination in the final constitution. The enactment of the 1996 constitution, with an equality clause expressly prohibiting unfair discrimination on the basis of inter alia sexual orientation was a cause for celebration for lesbian and gay people across the African continent: for the first time in history, a country was guaranteeing equality for sexual minorities in its highest law and for the first time in Africa, a country recognised the right to be free from all forms of violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation as a fundamental human...

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