East London- The Buffalo City Pride festival hosted a Pride march on 28 October 2023 in East London. The event aimed at raising awareness about the ongoing challenges faced by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA+) community in South Africa, despite the existence of laws against battle discrimination.
The event aimed to educate the public about the challenges faced by the community, promote acceptance and understanding and to be inclusive and diverse, encouraging participation from everyone.
“We had some prides march before in the Buffalo City and what I wanted to do was to bring everyone together under one banner,” Pride march organizer Sikhander Coopoo.
The Eastern Cape Office of the SA Human Rights Commission has received numerous complaints related to sexual orientation discrimination, highlighting the need for events like Buffalo City Pride. The LGBTQIA+ community continues to face discrimination, violence, and hate crimes, and the goal of the festival is to create safe spaces and promote societal change.
“One of the purposes is to create safe spaces, as a survivor of homophobic violence I know how it is like to not have a safe space. This is to create that safe space especially for the young people,” Coopoo added.
Buffalo City Pride organizer emphasize the importance of creating a platform for the LGBTQIA+ community to voice their concerns and advocate for their rights.
The success of Buffalo City Pride relied on the participation of everyone, and the partnerships organizations such as, Access Charter 2, Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality’s Special Projects Unit, Bumb’Ingomso to name a few.
Coopoo added when interviewed that, “With the atrocities happening in Palestine it is important that we must show each other kindness, care and compassion.”
The event served as a powerful statement against battle discrimination, deadly violence, hate crimes and a celebrated love and acceptance.
