Continue to advocate for LGBTI+ rights this Pride Month, says Queerwell
Queerwell is a South African-based and focused NPO that aims to provide free mental health care and support to the LGBTIQ+ community.
Cape Town Pride Parade posted on Twitter by City of Cape Town @CityofCT
JOHANNESBURG – June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month, a time when these communities come together to celebrate the freedom to be themselves.
Queerwell said the community should not lose focus on the continuous need to advocate for the rights of LGBTQ+ in all spaces.
“The purpose of the LGBTIAQ+ Pride Month commemoration is to highlight and recognise the impact and continuous advocacy and advancement of Queer Rights and SOGIESC. Highlighting particularly the violence and infringement of rights of the LGBTIAQ+ issues,” said Queerwell to Eyewitness News.
Queerwell is a South African-based and focused NPO that aims to provide free mental health care and support to the LGBTIQ+ community. It was formed in 2019 at Vaal Pride.
Pride Month celebrations have their roots in the struggle of minority groups who have, for decades, been fighting and advocating to be accepted without prejudice in a society that has, at times, violently rejected them for having sexual preferences different from the rest of the majority of the population.
“Noting that the LGBTIAQ+ community exists in societies that are not socially, economically and politically inclusive of their human rights. Enforcing our existence by just existing is pride, resilience and resistance are pride. We celebrate pride, the uprising set a precedent for us, it meant fighting back against marginalisation, discrimination, hate, power and the violence experienced by the queer community. We are here, we exist in every community in our societies.”
Dedicating June to the LGBTQ+ community is a way to recognise the efforts of a group of people who on 28 June 1969 organised the Stonewall uprising in New York, an event that - although generated riots, ultimately triggered the gay rights movement.
South Africa had its first Africa's first Lesbian and Gay Pride march held in Johannesburg on 13 October 1990.
It was the first pride march on the continent and acted as both a gay pride event and an anti-apartheid march.
The NPO points out that even though parades are an important part of Pride Month, where people can feel safe to be completely themselves, pride is also about remembering the sacrifices that brought us here. And recognising that we still have a long way to go.
“We remember and pay tribute to Eudy Simelane, Beverly Ditse, Kwezilomso Mbandazayo, Vanessa Ludwig, Triangle Project, Iranti-org, Phumi Mtetwa, Jabu Periera, Simon Nkoli, Bonang Gaelae, Spokgoane Mbele, Lerato Tambai Moloi, Duduzile Zozo, Virginia Magwaza, Forum for the Empowerment of Women, Zanele Muholi, One in Nine Campaign and many more,” said Queerwell.
They point out that close to their hearts is the mental health of the community and assuring that LGBTI+ individuals have access to mental healthcare in safe spaces without experiencing stigma and discrimination.
“As a queer mental health services organisation, we aim to provide and create a direct, inclusive and interactive mental health support and care as well as a safe space for mental wellness. Pride for us means that we will continue doing the work of healing,” said Queerwell.