Out mag issue 35

AFRICA

MAGAZ I N E Issue 35, WINTER 2018

THE REMARKABLE DR BARRY

SUPPORTING THE PRIDE SHELTER!

SPECTACULAR VIC FALLS

TALKING TO

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NAKHANE

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE FEATURES

1 EDITORS COMMENT: 3 SUPPORTING THE PRIDE SHELTER TRUST 4 TRAVEL: Spectacular Victoria Falls 7 MARY AT PRIDE 2018 8 INTERVIEW: John Trengove talks about Inxeba - The Wound 12 ICON: Dr James Barry 15 DINE WITH PRIDE 20 INTERVIEW: Nakhane - LGBTI trailblazer 20 PRIDE CALENDAR OF EVENTS 26 SOUTH AFRICA WELCOMES THE BOSTON GAY MENS CHORUS 28 UN FAILS UGANDAN LGBTI REFUGEES 32 THE LAST GAY PREJUDICE 34 HEALTH: Getting Hard 37 BULLYING & HOMOPHOBIA: The Queer Reality

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8

12

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FASHION 16 - 19 Latest trends on the catwalks of Africa

SCENE OUT

22, 23, 24 Who’s been spotted out and about on the party scene...

CAPE TOWN PRIDE 2018

REVIEWS 38 OUT ON FILM: With Daniel Dercksen 39 OUT ON DVD: With Daniel Dercksen 40 ON STAGE: With Daniel Dercksen

36 Mag 1

FROM THE EDITOR

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inter it seems has finally arrived - as we go to press Cape Town is enjoying a much needed spell of wet, cool weather, the Highveld is starting to feel very cool especially at night, whilst KZN basks in that wonderful warm weather without the oppressive humidity.

In this issue we feature that remarkably talented singer and actor, Nakhane, who played the lead in the controversial gaythemed movie, Inxeba (The Wound) and an interview with the director of the film John Trengove.

I recently stumbled upon a fascinating story about what must surely be South Africa’s first transgender person - one Dr James Barry who lived in the Cape in the 1800’s. This amazing woman lived her whole life as a man - her gender was only discovered when her body was being laid out for burial. Quite remarkable - would make a fantstic movie!

We feature four pages devoted to the awsome Pride 2018 celebrations - check them out - perhaps you are in print!

The Pride Shelter in Cape Town is in desperate need of funding. We appeal to readers to help this worthy cause - it’s the only shelter for LGBTI+ people in South Africa. Go to page 15 and host a dinner for the Shelter. Or if that’s not your cup-of-tea make out a monthly debit order - every bit helps.

Thailand is a great destination for South African travellers - the rand goes a little further and the hotels, shopping and vibe are great. Why not take up the OUT Africa Magazine travel offer featured on the inside cover!

Enjoy the read

MANAGING EDITOR: Tommy Patterson 082 562 3358 ISSN 2304-859X

Tommy Patterson - Editor

Cover : Nakhane

Published by: PATTERSON PUBLICATIONS P.O. Box 397, Sea Point 8060 Tel/Fax: 021 555 1279 E-mail: outmagazine@mweb.co.za outmagafrica@telkomsa.net outlet@telkomsa.net ADVERTISING SALES: Tommy Patterson 082 562 3358

CONTRIBUTORS: Daniel Dercksen Peter Tatchell Foundation Riaan Norval ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: SDR Photography 2 Bears Studio

Printed by ABC Press, Cape Town

Copyright: All articles, stories, interviews and other materials in OUT Africa Magazine are the copyright of the publication or are reproduced with permission from other copyright owners.

All rights are reserved. No materials may be copied, modified, published or otherwise distributed without the prior written permission of OUT Africa Magazine.

The views, opinions, positions or strategies expressed by those providing comments in this publication are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of OUT Africa Magazine or any employee thereof. OUT Africa Magazine and Patterson Publications cc., will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in any information contained in the publication.

The Dark Side of the Full Moon by Jimmy Bird

is a biographical novel providing an intimate and sympathetic glimpse into the furtive world of interracial homosexuality in post-Apartheid South Africa. It explores the unbearable stresses imposed on such relationships by the prevailing social and moral prejudices surrounding race and sexual orientation.

It is available from Amazon as an e-book @ $5,00 and in print form @ $13,00 plus VAT in South Africa.

ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY! Mag 2

SUPPORTING THE PRIDE SHELTER TRUST

SCHMIDHAUSER ELECTRICAL AND PLUMBING IS PROUD TO BE A PART OF THE PRIDE SHELTER TRUST

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he Pride Shelter at No1 Molteno Road, Oranjezicht is a registered Non Profit Organisation and helps abused LGBTI people find their way in today’s society.

The house electrics and plumbing was in a very bad state and when approached, Schmidhauser Electrical & Plumbing were pleased to assist in servicing and revamping of the Shelter’s facilities.

Daniel Schmidhauser commented, “It’s a great cause and we so glad we got involved.”

Over its 6-year history, The Pride Shelter has aided and accommodated over 700 LGBTI+ individuals facing a crisis/trauma period in their lives. Rooted in a human-rights-based approach, our grass-roots organisation strives to promote dignity, self-respect and a sense of personal empowerment within all individuals across the LGBTI+ spectrum.

The Shelter provides assistance to South African citizens, as well as legally affirmed refugees or asylum-seekers, and acknowledges the importance of their role as the only short-term residential facility providing psycho-social support for LGBTI+ persons on the African continent. The Pride Shelter Trust progressively strives toward expanding the organisational capacity, securing funds for sustainability, establishing strong referral pathways with other relevant organisations/NGO’s and improving their services based on client feedback.

As the first and only shelter catering specifically to the LGBTI community in Africa, the Shelter is constantly in need of assistance from the community in order to remain open and viable so we give a huge shout out to all companies and individuals who help this wonderful cause.

If you wish to help in any way, you can reach also reach them on their website at www.pridesheltertrust.com or visit the Facebook page: /PrideShelterTrust Twitter: @prideshelter All donations, be it financial, food or services are gratefully accepted and sorely needed to keep the shelter going...

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#pride A proud supporter the LGBTQ Community

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Mag 3

TRAVEL

The elegant colonial Victoria Falls Hotel

SPECTACULAR VICTORIA FALLS Mag 4

A rainbow arches over the spectacular Mosi-oa-tunya

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hey say the best time to visit the spectacular Victoria Falls is from February to June, after the region’s summer rains which begin in November. It takes time for the water that has fallen in the Angolan Highlands to wend its way down to the series of massive gorges that make the Falls. This is when the world’s largest sheet of falling water crashes into the gorge at its greatest volume, up to some 700 000 cubic meters of water a minute. But whenever you go, the Victoria Falls are sure to be a sensory overload: the noise, heat and moisture come to together in an unforgettable natural show-stopper that will leave you gasping at their magnificence.

two-seat fixed wing aircraft). The views are spectacular - to put it mildly - and they may well include thundering herds of elephants or other wildlife. You’ll feel like you have a “ring-side” seat for one of Earth’s greatest spectacles.

Travellers can access the Falls through either Livingstone in Zambia or Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. The legendary Zambezi River, which originates in northern Zambia, serves as the Fall’s water source. The area around the Falls is a flat plateau, there are no mountains typical of areas where waterfalls are located but for miles you can see the spray which rises up to a kilometre in to the sky and the thundering noise of the water as it plunges into the gorge can be heard long before you see it.

In late summer, there’s an even bigger thrill. The water levels are low enough to jump into the Devil’s Pool on Livingstone Island, at the top of the falls. Devil’s Pool is an incredible natural phenomenon, a place where roaring currents flash by on either side of a natural pool at the lip of the falls. Because the currents are going around the pool, and not through it, you can swim (if you dare!) to the very edge without being swept over. From there, you have a bird’s-eye view of the largest curtain of falling water in the world. In fact, during this time of year, water levels are so low that some intrepid souls actually walk across the Falls. And some simply relax at the water’s edge - literally - only a foot or two from the edge of a 110 metre drop!

The first white explorer to see them was David Livingstone on 16 November 1855, he had been told of their existence by the indigenous people as he travelled along the Zambezi. They called

The second viewing option is by accessing the various trails alongside the falls, which will give you a face-to-face look. As you enter the park and turn the corner, you’ll be presented with a panorama you’ll remember the rest of your life. And as you get closer, walking through the mist, you’ll quickly understand why it’s called “Smoke That Thunders.”

White water rafting with Shearwater

it Mosi-o-atunya, the smoke that thunders. Livingstone named his “discovery” in honour of Queen Victoria who at the time was empress of Great Britain and its vast empire. He famously wrote of the falls, “No one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England. It had never been seen before by European eyes; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight.”

It’s the largest waterfall in the world based on height (110m) and width (more than a mile), roughly twice the height of Niagara Falls they are rivalled only by Argentina and Brazil’s Iguazu Falls and after visiting Iguazu I can personally vouch that the Victoria Falls are way more spectacular.

In addition to by boat, there are two ways to see the falls. The first is by air, in either a helicopter or microlite (a one- or

For other extreme sporting and adventure activities one can test the edge of fear by bungee jumping off the 110 metre high Victoria Falls Bridge into the gorge below. With the Victoria Falls themselves as the backdrop, and the mighty Zambezi River flowing beneath you, this is surely the greatest bungee jump in the World. Once on the bridge, an ankle and body harnesses will be attached. Then the jump master will give you calm and encouraging instructions followed by a countdown: “5 - 4 - 3 2- 1 - B-U-N-G-E-E!!!!!!” You will then experience 4 seconds of mind blowing free fall. Before you know it, a recovery operator will have you hooked up and winched back to the catwalk below the bridge. I simply couldn’t do it!

There is also white water rafting, an exhilarating, adrenalin rushing, exhausting, sometimes terrifying experience as you ride a seemingly endless succession some of the finest Grade 5 high Mag 5

Fish Eagle volume rapids on the planet. The rapids names like Stairway to Heaven, The Terminator, The Washing Machine, Judgement Day, Devils Toilet Bowl and Oblivion, give you a small insight of what to expect. Low water rafting from August to December is more terrifying - As water levels drop, rocks get closer to the surface and the white water starts to really boil and crash through the gorge. I experienced high water rafting, and lived to talk about it! – this when most of the big, dramatic rapids, for which the Zambezi is famous, have either been washed out or are considered too dangerous for commercial rafting purposes.

The Zambezi River is fast flowing but the rapids are quite gentle compared to other times of the year. After rapid 19 you then have to walk out the gorge which is a very steep climb of about 250m and should not be underestimated if you have any fitness issues – I don’t and it nearly killed me! If you are rafting from the Zambian side there is a cable lift which takes you out. The high water run is not nearly as exciting as the low water run, so please be aware of that if rafting is your main focus plan on visiting the Falls between August and late December.

The Falls is not all about adrenalin and death defying activities. There are the equally enjoyable sunset cruises on the river, game viewing in the National Parks, a visit to the crocodile farm and snake park (for those that like that sort of thing!), elephantback safaris and sundowners at the exquisite colonial-style Victoria Falls Hotel whilst a marimba band serenades you as you gaze at the falls, the bridge over the gorge - delightful (and sooo civilised!)

The area around the Falls, Livingstone and the town of Victoria Falls have been declared World Heritage Sites and in this day of eco-tourism every effort is being made to keep the area’s natural beauty and wildlife intact. On both sides of the river are safari parks and conservation areas where one can see and enjoy the site of herds of elephant, buffalo, lions, impala and other antelope as well as an incredible variety of birdlife. The haunting cry of the fish eagle will never be forgotten and adds to the collection of unique memories one will store from visiting this unique part of the world.

There is a variety of accommodation on offer both on the Zimbabwean and Zambian sides of the river from luxury 5-star accommodation to back-packer facilities.

Victoria Falls and Livingstone can be accessed by direct flight from OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg.

Victoria Falls, with its furious collage of sound and colour and earth-shaking movement, is deservedly one of the seven natural wonders of the world – it is a unique experience and one that you should put high on that bucket list of things to see and do before you die. – Definitely!

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Getting soaked in the rain forest by the spray from the Falls Sunset on the mighty Zambezi River

Elephant safaris are an unusual way of getting close to other game

MARY AT PRIDE 2018 Mary, who featured on the cover of our last issue was at Cape Town Pride 2018

With Pride organiser Tommy Patterson (rt) & Health4Men’s Evan Tsouroulis (left) With Mr & Miss Cape Town Pride 2018 -

With Linsey Jarzin and Pride volunteer, Tash

With former Mr Gay Pride

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Writer-director JOHN TRENGOVE talks about INXEBA (The Wound)

By Daniel Dercksen Mag 8

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he Wound Boldly explores tradition and sexuality and is set amid the Xhosa rites of passage into manhood.

“The Wound was born out of a desire to push back against clichéd stereotypes of black masculinity perpetuated inside and outside of African cinema,” says writer-director John Trengove, whose critically acclaimed drama explores tradition and sexuality and is set amid the Xhosa rites of passage into manhood.

John Trengove is a Johannesburg based writer/director with an MFA in film from New York University. One of the Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans, his career spans theatre, television, documentary, commercials and short film. A Loerie and SAFTA recipient, John is best known for his acclaimed miniseries Hopeville, which received the Rose d’Or for best drama and was nominated for an International Emmy. His short film ‘The Goat’ premiered at the Berlinale and Toronto in 2014 and went on to play at more than 20 international festivals. John directs fringe theatre in his spare time (Including the cult hit ‘The Epicene Butcher’) and heads up the development wing of Urucu Media.

“As a white man, representing marginalised black realities that are not my own, the situation is of course complicated. Even highly problematic.

It was important to me that the story mirrors this problem. The character of Kwanda is an outsider to the traditional world; he expresses many of my own ideas about human rights and individual freedom. He’s also the problem. His preconceptions create jeopardy and crisis for others who have much more to lose than him. This was my way of saying, ‘‘I don’t have the answers and my own values don’t necessarily apply here’’.

A film such as this cannot hope to provide solutions for the crisis faced by millions of queer people on the African continent and around the world. What it can do, however, is present the crisis for what it is – a deep and ever widening chasm.

In writing ‘The Wound’, inspiration came, unexpectedly, from Robert Mugabe. Statements that he and other African leaders have made since the early 90s imply that homosexuality is a symptom of Western decadence that threatens ‘‘traditional’’ culture. And so, we thought ok, let’s use that idea. Let’s imagine ‘‘gayness’’ as a kind of virus that penetrates and threatens a patriarchal organism, and let’s see how that organism responds to being penetrated.”

Directed by John Trengove, from a screenplay by Trengrove, Thando Mgqolozana and Malusi Bengu, The Wound, made its debut at 2017’s Sundance film festival, before opening the Berlin film festival’s Panorama section, and is a ripe-for-controversy exploration of sexuality — more specifically, same-sex desire — within the context of initiation schools.

Xolani, a lonely factory worker, joins the men of his community in the mountains of the Eastern Cape to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood. When a defiant initiate from the city discovers his best kept secret, Xolani’s entire existence begins to unravel.

Since its world premiere at Sundance, Inxeba has collected more than 18 international awards and has found a home in over 30 territories worldwide. Most recently, it was awarded

Best Foreign Language Film of 2017 by the African American Film Critics Association.

The Wound made it to the Oscar® shortlist after it was submitted in the category of Best Foreign Language Film, and was nominated for an award in the category of Outstanding Film – Limited Release, by the GLAAD Media Awards, which recognizes fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community and the issues that affect their lives. This is the first time that a foreign language film has received a nomination.

What drew you to the subject matter?

I was interested in what happens when groups of men come together and organise themselves outside of society and the codes of their everyday lives. I wanted to show the intense emotional and physical exchanges that are possible in these spaces and how repressing strong feelings leads to a kind of toxicity and violence. As an outsider to this culture, it was important that I approach this story from the perspective of characters who are themselves outsiders, who struggle to conform to the status quo that they are a part of.

What was the process of writing ‘The Wound’?

We started with a lot of research. Spent time in the Eastern Cape which is where the ritual is mostly practiced. We listened to many testimonials and conversations with Xhosa men who had been through the ritual. Gay men, straight men, some urbanised and affluent, others from remote rural areas. These stories sparked our earliest ideas about the narrative. Researching the ritual brought up conflicting feelings in me. You hear stories about how it can be a breeding ground for homophobic and hyper-masculine behaviour. At the same time, I got to see first-hand the transformative effect it had on some men who went through it. In a world that is under-fathered, there is something profound about a ritual that shows a young boy his place in the world of men.

How do you navigate the politics of being a white filmmaker depicting marginal characters with realities different than your own?

As much as possible I tried to disrupt my own preconceptions.

Like most middle-class audiences who watch the film, it would be easy for me to look at Xolani and say, here is a gay character who is repressed and deserves to be emancipated from his oppressive community and express himself as an individual. I resisted those kinds of resolutions for his character and tried instead to present his problem for what it is, which is big and difficult, without clear answers. The character of Kwanda comes closest to expressing those values, but he’s also the problem. His preconceptions create jeopardy and crisis for others who have much more to lose than him. This was my way of saying, ‘I don’t have the answers and my own values don’t necessarily apply here.’

Given the controversy of the ritual in South Africa, how do you think it will be received?

Ukwaluka is a taboo ritual and representing it in the way we have is contentious. We knew from the start that we’d spark strong reactions from traditionalists. But there was also a lot of encouragement from a younger Xhosa generation who seems Mag 9

eager to break the silence around the initiation which is seen to perpetuate some of the dangers associated with it. It’s a vast and very nuanced practice and there remains a lot to be said about the ritual that is not my place to talk about. Things that need to be said from within the culture. Hopefully ‘The Wound’ could spark some of that. Maybe a gay Xhosa kid will look at it one day and go, ‘actually, that wasn’t my experience at all’, and be inspired to write his own story.

How did you come to work with Thando Mgqolozana?

I approached Thando when I read his first novel ‘A Man Who Is Not a Man’, which deals with the initiation. Meeting him was a turning point because he clearly got what I was trying to do. I don’t think he was necessarily interested in working on a project about the initiation again, but he responded strongly to the idea of depicting alternative African masculinities. Thando wrote his own version of the treatment, filtering my ideas through his own experiences and opening up narrative possibilities within the frame of the ritual. We also collaborated on a short film, The Goat, based on a chapter from his novel.

Can you describe your process on set?

We had a few rules that were there to help us stay connected to the truth. All the roles including speaking extras had to be first language Xhosa men who had their own first-hand experience of the ritual. The only exception to this was Niza Jay Ncoyini who plays Kwanda, which made sense because his character challenges and defies the ritual. The larger community of Xhosa men and elders in the film are all non-actors. We asked them to perform the different aspects of the ritual as they would do it, and to react to the rehearsed scenarios in any way they felt was right. If they didn’t approve of a character’s behaviour, they would say so during takes. Sometimes we wouldn’t call cut and scenes would just carry on and we’d be rolling as these men were offering up the most incredible material, completely unscripted. Bongile Mantsai who played Vija is a very experienced theatre actor, was particularly good at encouraging this free flow interaction with the group. It was very exciting to watch and it really kept us on our toes. We shot the group scenes chronologically, in the order that they would happen in the ritual.

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On working with Nakhane The more established Xhosa actors and celebrities were very cautious of this project, certainly, there was a lot of interest, but a lot of resistance and fear of potential backlash from their fan base. So we took a lot of time looked at a lot of people and non-professional actors to cast this film properly. Nakhane I met because someone heard his music and introduced it to me because they thought Nakhane would be a good choice to score the film. I ended up not using music in the film at all but at that first meeting I had this distinct feeling he would be amazing on camera, there is something enigmatic about him. At the time I’d been writing the script and wrestling with this character who is so full of tension and contradictions, I needed a very special kind of performer who could convey that. Nakhane could. From that point onwards I started writing for him and that’s how he got the role. Even though he didn’t have any professional acting experience I had a feeling that he would be hypnotic on camera.

Nakhane is a fearless and multifaceted artist in his own right and understands intrinsically that you have to put yourself outside your comfort zone to do interesting work. He does this instinctively without blocking or resisting and allows himself to be very vulnerable and honest in front of the camera. It’s very rare to work with an actor like that.

What was the biggest reward and biggest challenge of the work?

The burden and struggle of working with an Xhosa speaking cast in a language that I’m not familiar with, I had to defer a lot of decisions to them in terms of what we should show and how we show it. Difficult to do as a director when you are trying to steer the project to a certain end goal, but it was a necessary part of the process. If I tried to funnel the story through only what I could understand then it would show my own limitations.

Which brings me to the bigger reward, unlike anything else I’ve done I can watch this film and still be amazed at things I see. Because what is in there is bigger than my own imagination. By far the hardest thing I have ever done. It was about going on a journey of discovery and self-discovery that I’m very grateful for.

Thanks everyone in Cape Town who supported Pride 2018 making it such a huge success CAPE TOWN PRIDE GAVE R35000 TO THE PRIDE SHELTER TRUST

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DR JAMES BARRY Mag 12

THE MYSTERIOUS, ASTONISHING AND REMARKABLE LIFE OF ONE OF SOUTH AFRICA’S EARLIEST DOCUMENTED TRANSGENDER PEOPLE. DR. JAMES BARRY, WHOSE DEATH REVEALED THE ACCOMPLISHED SURGEON’S SECRET IN AN AGE WHERE WOMEN WERE BARRED FROM UNIVERSITIES, THE MEDICAL PROFESSION AND THE ARMY.

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hilst lunching at the Round House in Camps Bay, Cape Town I was told about one of the many historical characters who frequented the establishment in the days when it most famously was Lord Charles Somerset’s hunting lodge. I was so fascinated by the story that I decided to find out a little more about this enigmatic person.

Dr. James Miranda Stuart Barry (November 9, 1795 – 25 July 1865) was born Margaret Ann Bulkley - she was a military surgeon in the British Army, when it would have been impossible for a woman to train in and practice medicine. In order to be accepted as a university student and pursue a career as a surgeon, Barry masqueraded as a man, the truth only becoming known to the public and to military colleagues after her death. Now that must have piqued your interest ... it did mine!

She was the second child born to Jeremiah and Mary-Ann Bulkley, in Cork, Ireland in 1795. Her mother was the sister of the celebrated Irish artist and professor of painting at London’s Royal Academy, James Barry. It is believed that the third child in the family, Juliana, was in fact Margaret’s daughter as a result of a sexual assault at an early age, as the charwoman who discovered Barry’s sex when laying out the body stated that pregnancy stretch marks were visible.

At adolescence Barry and his/her mother Mary realised she was “different.” Based on her Edinburgh thesis on femoral hernias (hernias of the thigh), author Rachel Holmes (Scanty Particulars) conjectures that Margaret suffered what seemed like a hernia, but upon medical examination was revealed to be testes.

However, there is no conclusive evidence that she was intersex and the more readily accepted theory is that she was transgender.

The young Margaret was keen on medicine, but that field was of study was closed to women ... a conspiracy appears to have developed between Mary-Ann Bulkley and some of the late James Barry’s influential, liberal-minded friends. They chose the University of Edinburgh Medical School as her alma mater and so, Margaret Anne Bulkley changed her name, her identity and her skirts for breeches and transformed into James Barry, nephew of the late James Barry RA - the Irish romantic painter and was to live his/her life as such for the next 56 years.

Because of his youthful looks, the University Senate initially attempted to block his application for the final examinations.

However, the Earl of Buchan, an influential friend of Barry’s late namesake, persuaded the Senate to relent and in 1812, Barry qualified Medicinae Doctor (MD). Barry then moved to London, signing up for the Autumn Course 1812/1813 as a pupil of the United Hospitals of Guy’s and St Thomas’ and on 2 July 1813, he successfully passed the examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Always wanting to be a military man from an early age, having once chastised her spendthrift brother with the words: “Were I not a girl, I would be a soldier!”, the young doctor joined the British army as an assistant surgeon. Barry was posted to Cape

Town, South Africa in 1816. Before his retirement, he had risen to the rank of Inspector General (equivalent to Brigadier General) in charge of military hospitals, the second highest medical office in the British Army.

On his arrival in the Cape, Barry, with a letter of introduction to the colony’s Governor, Lieutenant General Lord Charles Henry Somerset and following the successful treatment of Lord Somerset’s sick daughter, was welcomed into the family. Throughout his sojourn in Cape Town, Barry maintained a close friendship with the Governor, even becoming his personal physician and as some would believe - more than that. In 1822 Somerset appointed Barry as Colonial Medical Inspector a huge leap in rank.

It has been suggested that Lord Charles discovered Dr Barry’s secret and that their relationship was more than friendship. Their closeness led to rumours and ultimately an accusation on 1 June 1824 when he became the subject of a scandalous libel written in large block capitals in a disguised hand and nailed to a post on one of the bridges over the canal at Heerengracht in Cape Town.

“A person, living at Newlands, takes this method of making it known to the public authorities of this Colony that on the 5th instant he detected Lord Charles buggering Dr Barry. Lady Charles had her suspicions, or saw something that led her to suspicion, which had caused a general quarrel….The person is ready to come and make oaths to the above.”

The libel caused uproar and rocked the establishment to the core; the alleged buggerer was Lord Charles Somerset, 20 years Barry’s senior, the son of the Duke of Beaufort, Governor of Cape Colony and member of the Privy Council. Everyone knew the two men were on exceedingly good terms with each other, they just hadn’t realised quite how warm relations between the two were. The scandal did not confine itself to Cape Colony, the news reached England and questions were asked about it on more than one occasion in both the House of Commons and the Lords.

Lord Charles was eventually recalled to explain himself, which he evidently did to everyone’s satisfaction as no charges were ever proffered against either him or Barry. However, despite these allegations, if Somerset was aware of Barry’s duplicity, he did not reveal it. Authors of Dr James Barry: A Woman Ahead Of Her Time Michael du Preez and Jeremy Dronfield, suspect the pair may indeed have had an affair. Barry later described Somerset as “my more than father – my almost only friend” During his tenure in South Africa, Dr. Barry not only improved conditions for wounded soldiers, but also the conditions of the native inhabitants. His greatest medical achievement was performing the first successful caesarean section in British medicine, the criteria by which success was judged being the survival of both mother and child..

He led a globe-trotting crusade of a career which included postings in Mauritius, Jamaica and then the island of Saint Helena in 1836. At St Helena, one clash with a fellow army surgeon resulted in Barry being arrested and court-martialed on a charge

of “conduct unbecoming of the character of an Officer and a Gentleman”. The doctor was found not guilty, and honourably acquitted. In 1840 Barry was posted to the Leeward Islands and Windward Islands of the West Indies. After a bout of yellow fever he was posted to Malta in 1846. In 1851 he was sent to Corfu and then in 1857 Barry was posted to Canada. Wherever he found himself the intrepid doctor pushed constantly for the interests of the poor, women, children, lepers, common soldiers, prisoners, the insane—in short, all the neglected classes and did much to improve their lot.

He had a healthy dose of self-importance and was not always liked, in fact he made dangerous enemies. Perhaps overcompensating for his feminine appearance – or to keep over-friendly admirers at bay – he was frequently bad-tempered, coarse and even violent. At the Cape, Barry was renowned for shouting at patients, arguing with superiors and throwing medicine bottles at the wall.

A portrait of the young James Barry intersex: born with male and female characteristics, saying she was brought up female then opted to live as a man. Others argue Barry’s decision to live as a man was “motivated more by ambition than identity”.

Barry had a reputation for being tactless, impatient, argumentative and opinionated. So much so that his temper and bravado led to a famous pistol duel with Captain Josias Cloete of the 21st Light Dragoons. Barry’s bullet struck Cloete’s military cap removing its peak, which dissipated its force. During the Crimean War (1854–1856), Barry famously admonished Florence Nightingale for only wearing a cap in the hot sun. After Barry’s death Nightingale wrote that: “I never had such a blackguard rating in all my life – I who have had more than any woman – than from this Barry sitting on his horse, while I was crossing the Hospital Square with only my cap on in the sun. “He” kept me standing in the midst of quite a crowd of soldiers, Commissariat, servants, camp followers, etc., etc., every one of whom behaved like a gentleman during the scolding I received while “he” behaved like a brute . . . After “he” was dead, I was told that (Barry) was a woman . . . I should say that (Barry) was the most hardened creature I ever met.”

When he died, at the age of seventy, he was laid out for burial by a maidservant who later claimed that the corpse in question was a female who had born a child, owing to the presence of stretch marks. The discovery led to much controversy, however, the doctor who signed Barry’s death certificate said “... whether Dr Barry was a male, female, or hermaphrodite I do not know, nor had I any purpose in making the discovery” – and perhaps he was right. The truth remains buried in a grave in Kensal Green cemetery, north-west London.

But given his enormous bravery in a time far less enlightened when it came to sexuality Dr James Barry deserves his place in LGBTI history - a huge personality with a temper to match and yet a tenderness for his patients, a champion of the poor and outcasts of society, and one of the earliest recorded transgender people in this country. One researcher, David Bingham said, “Her autobiography would be fascinating but colossal deceptions require absolute dedication to never breaking cover and no word regarding the truth of her sex or how she felt about her secret life ever escaped her lips.”

Dr. Barry would never allow anyone into the room while undressing, and repeated a standing instruction that “in the event of his death, strict precautions should be adopted to prevent any examination of his person” and that the body should be “buried in [the] bed sheets without further inspection”, indicating a desire to conceal physical sex both in life and in death.

There is some debate as to whether Barry was intersex or transsexual. We Are Family, an LGBT magazine, argues that there is strong evidence of Barry’s purported identity as a transgender man, given that “his wish was to die and be remembered as a man.” Rachel Holmes made a plausible case for Barry being Mag 14

Dr Barry with his valet and dog Psyche - taken in Jamaica

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FOR

FASHION

AUGUSTINE

SA FASHION WEEK Mag 16

Photographer / SDR Photo.

AUTUMN ALC MAN

Photographer / SDR Photo.

WINTER 2018

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HOUSE OF ST LUKE Photographer / SDR Photo.

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LEAGUE OF REBELS

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INTERVIEW

THE LGBTI+ TRAILBLAZER WITH THE HEAVENLY VOICE SEEMS SET FOR STARDOM.

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akhane was born in Alice a small town in the Eastern Cape, Nakhane was raised by his aunt and uncle in Port Elizabeth. He relocated (was exiled he said recently), to Johannesburg to further his career as a musician and song-writer and is now based in London, UK. Growing up in Presbyterian church community in Port Elizabeth, Nakhane was forced to hide his homosexuality until in his early 20’s he came out, embracing his sexuality but it resulted in him being excommunicated in 2014.

In an interview with David McAlmont of Queerty when asked: For many gay and lesbian people coming out can be a traumatic experience, how did you family react?

I guess in the typical fashion: tears, phone calls from aunts and uncles, supportive cousins and friends in the same generation, slight mental breakdown from me. But then over time they thawed. You know, it’s easy to throw stones when the person is so far away, but when it’s personal, when it’s your own child, you look at things differently and you realise that maybe some things that you believed about a certain group of people are not necessarily true. At least that’s what my mother says to me now. All is well now.

What was the attitude towards being gay growing up in the Eastern Cape?

Traditional masculinity and sexuality is not only expected but preached incessantly. But on the other hand my family has always been open to different ideas. Even if they don’t agree with me I’ve always been given a place to voice my opinion. My uncle and I have had many discussions about sexuality, gender and the “role” of a man that have been hilariously heated. That’s my family. Other families may not be as openminded. It can be a really oppressive environment, which is why I think many LGBT people in the Eastern Cape have remained closeted. In some instances, it can get life-threatening.

Your debut album Brave Confusion seems to reflect your personal experience as a gay man, is it important to you to have your music as an extension of who you are?

My work is an extension of who I am. No censorship allowed. So basically that means my entire being, whether it’s flattering or not — and most of the time it is not — is put into my work. My sexuality is a facet of who I am, so naturally it plays a part.

NAKHANE Mag 20

Nakhane headlined in the controversial film Inxeba (The Wound). The film has simultaneously been hailed as a ground-breaking artistic achievement and also become the subject of protests, death threats and censorship. It was released then reclassified as akin to pornog-

raphy and then after representations to the powers that be the film was reclassified again. With the taboo elements – the initiation process that young Xhosa boys must endure on their path to manhood, and then adding fuel to the fire, the gay relationship the film centres on was a recipe for the controversy to follow. After the films first reclassification Nakhane made an emotional statement, detailing how he has been treated.

the latest album You Will Not Die ...

“We are vile. We are perverse. A virus that they will do anything to get rid of. I sat in my apartment ready the verdict, close to tears, shaking. I saw myself as a child, mocked for being effeminate. Afraid for my life as a teenager as I walked past straight men as I had no idea what they were capable of. I always had something to hide. They hated me.”

Despite the hurt, he said he refused to be shamed saying, “I’m allowed to be emotional. This is my life. These are our lives.

And I fucking refuse to live in shame for your patriarchy to keep living. I’m an umXhosa and I don’t know what to do with what I love but doesn’t love me.”

His talent is finally being recognised internationally especially after his successful appearance at the TransMusicales festival in Rennes, France. Recently that Elton John featured the song Clairvoyant on his Rocket Hour Show. How did he feel about that?

The Wound Inxeba, was criticised by AmaXhosa king Mpendulo Zwelonke Sigcawu and Contralesa’s youth wing in the Eastern Cape. “The movie made everything public – even the very sensitive and secret things. It is insulting to the tradition because it stripped the tradition of its secrecy and sacredness. This will provoke the wrath of ancestors. Attacking and insulting this custom is an attack to our ancestors,” said Sigcawu.

He has received several death threats for his part in the film.

“Guys, Nakhane and others in that movie must be killed,” reads one of the messages.

“Please boy come and sing here in cape town...we will organise you a stadium with two car tyres and petrol and also matches... or should we come for you...? (sic)” reads another. Just two of over 1 000 violent threats Nakhane received, but Nakhane, who himself was initiated and supports the cultural practice of Ulwaluko if it is done properly, was defiant: “Inxeba is an important film to many people. And I don’t regret a single moment of being a part of it.”

“People suddenly felt I was proud of something I should be ashamed of ... People were sharing [a] photo, saying here’s what he looks like, if you see him, call me, let’s get him together. Even the people defending me were attacked – especially women and non-Xhosa men.

Others have come out in favour of the film, Veteran actor Florence Masebe said though she was all for art pushing boundaries, even though her “traditional self is conflicted on subject matter”.

Did he fear for his life?

“Yes. I was supposed to go shoot a film, a documentary on my life, in the Eastern Cape this week but I cancelled because I can’t go there or to Cape Town. ” The talented young artist who won best alternative album at the SA Music Awards says he has not replied to the threats “because I refuse to give them power”. Adding, “These men are nowhere to be seen when Xhosa initiates are sexually assaulted during initiation. Instead, they hide behind their secrecy.

Where is your anger when women are raped and murdered?”

Despite the films controversial subject matter, it has been lauded all over the world, garnering a number of nominations and awards, as has his acting.

His love and passion is making music. What has he to say about

“This entire album is about power, no longer about the insecurities that I felt in Brave Confusion. This is me claiming my queerness and saying that I don’t need to apologise to anyone anymore about being gay or anything else. And that’s not arrogance. It’s claiming my humanity.

“So surreal. How do things like that even happen? I allow the excitement to settle in. Then I look down and get back to work.”

How long has he been working on You Will Not Die? “As soon as I walked out the studio sessions of Brave Confusion.

I was proud of those songs. But I was already starting to dislike how I was being positioned and with whom I was being positioned. This included “black boy, playing ‘white music’’, or, “Folk musician”. So as soon as I finished recording that album, I knew I needed to do something to burn off some of the negative energy that was linked with the notion of who I was and what I was making. I started writing.

This was in 2013. The songs from that first year didn’t make the cut for the album, but it was the kind of extreme reactionary behaviour I needed [to] see myself differently. And to be excited again.

With the official launch of the album behind you and you are embarking on a tour – why the title You Will Not Die? He told Liam Karabo Joyce of IOL in an interview …

“I had the title for about 8-9 years. It came to me while I was at a Bible study. It’s Proverbs 23:13: “Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.” I really liked how that looked and sounded. I took it, re-contextualised it and then I personalised it. If life beats you, you will not die, Nakhane. I kept in my mind for years, ignoring it. But good ideas don’t let you go. One day I was in the bath and the first two lines of the song You Will Not Die came to me. I jumped out of the bath and went to write the song. It was one of the few songs that were written that easily.”

We salute Nakhane for his bravery in taking on the challenging and controversial role in Inxeba and wish him every success with his musical career in the future.

SCENE OUT

CAPE TOWN PRIDE 2018

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Pride 2018 photos courtesy 2 Bears Studio Mag 23

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SOUTH AFRICA

THE BOSTON GAY

I

n June 2018 the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus will be travelling to South Africa. During their visit, they will have 5 concerts, in Soweto, Johannesburg, George, Langa and Parow. Their aim with these concerts are to empower and encourage the LGBT community in South Africa - extending to the rest of the continent. It is also their hope that these concerts will serve as a fund-raising opportunity, to aid needy LGBTI organisations in any way possible Who is the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus?

The Boston Gay Men’s Chorus is one of New England’s largest and most successful community-based choruses. Founded in 1982, the 175-voice ensemble is celebrated for its outstanding musicianship, creative programming, and ground-breaking community outreach. Under the dynamic leadership of Music Director Reuben M. Reynolds III, the BGMC sings a wide spectrum of classical and popular music and creates social change by providing a positive, affirming image of the gay and lesbian community. The Chorus is heard live by more than 10,000 people each season and thousands more through recording, television and internet broadcasts. In November 2013 CBS-WBZ named the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus one of the “top 5” choruses in the city of Boston. In June 2015 BGMC became the first LGBT chorus to tour the Middle East.

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Purpose: To inspire Mission: The Boston Gay Men’s Chorus creates musical experiences to inspire change, build community and celebrate difference.

Core Values • We’re a family with a tradition of excellence • We provide a safe and welcoming community to be ourselves • We make music that makes us and our audiences proud • We operate with integrity • We genuinely care for each other; bringing out the best of each other – we are at our best as a group • We change hearts and minds through our presence and our music • We are from diverse backgrounds but have a shared passion for music • We choose to give our time and talents – giving back more than we get • We have fun!

What will BGMC be doing in South Africa?

The choir will be in South Africa a total of 12 nights. During this time, they will visit Johannesburg, Soweto, Pilanesberg, and the Western Cape.

Upon arriving in Johannesburg, they will get their first taste of

WELCOMES

MEN’S CHORUS what South Africa has to offer: our diverse cultures, food, music, people, and heritage. Their first concert experience will be in Soweto, where they will truly encounter the heart of Gauteng and its people.

In the Pilanesberg Nature Reserve they will meet mother nature up-close and personal, and see the breath-taking beauty that is the South African Highveld.

The Western Cape will serve as the backdrop for their final encounter with our unique country. The finale of their tour will start on Thursday Evening the 21st of June 2018 in Langa. The day will be one of collaboration and sharing of ideas, stories and resources and will end in a free concert for the surrounding communities.

On Friday evening the 22nd the choir will take their final bow in South Africa at the Hugo Lambrecht’s Music Centre in Parow.

MZANZI GAY CHOIR TO SING WITH BOSTON GAY MENS CHORUS

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or those readers who didn’t know, South Africa’s first, and only full gay choral ensemble, was formed in 2016 by Feather Awards founder Thami Kotlolo and mentored and trained by Brenda Mtambo.

The Mzansi Choir has over twenty members and aims to showcase the vocal skills of members of the gay community, with the message of promoting affirmation and self-acceptance as well as celebrating diversity among gay men.

The Boston Gay Mens’Chorus will share the stage with the Mzansi Choir at the Soweto Theatre in Johannesburg on June 15

To date the Mzansi Gay Choir has entertained a number of captivated audiences, with performances for the Feather Awards, The Gauteng Department of Health World AIDS Day campaign, the Ntirisano campaign and the national Women’s Day celebration.

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UN FAILS UGANDAN LGBTI REFUGEES ABUSED IN KENYA WHERE THEY EXPERIENCE HOMOPHOBIC UN STAFF AND BEATINGS BY POLICE & OTHER REFUGEES Ugandan LGBTIs have fled attempts to arrest and kill them. They have sought safety in Kenya but instead suffer arrest, beatings, hunger, insanitary conditions and sexual exploitation. The UN refugee agency that is meant to help them is staffed by homophobic officials, fails to protect them from police and mob violence and takes years to process their resettlement applications. We commend this excellent expose by Richard de Luchi.�

Peter Tatchell, Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation.

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Richard de Luchi writes: In early 2014, Uganda passed the Anti-Homosexuality Act in an atmosphere of toxic, belligerent homophobia. It was overturned later, on a technicality, but the damage had been done - and is still being done.

The hateful, often violent, “kill the gays” rhetoric has encouraged much of the population to turn on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people. Many LGBTIs had no option but to flee to neighbouring countries - notably Kenya - as their families, friends, neighbours, employers, landlords and society at large, hunted them down. They faced discrimination, mob violence and the threat of arrest under a British-imposed colonial-era law that carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for same-sex acts.

Now, Ugandan MPs are agitating to re-introduce the anti-homosexuality law, and they have the support of Rebecca Kadaga, the aggressively homophobic Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament. This is prompting more LGBTIs to flee across the border into Kenya. They fear jail – and worse.

Until recently, the time required to screen, process and resettle a Ugandan LGBTI refugee who sought asylum in Kenya was around 18 months, if they were one of the lucky minority to get resettled. But now it extends to three years or more as the number of LGBTI asylum seekers has dramatically increased, in parallel with homophobic prejudice, discrimination and violence in both Uganda and Kenya – and alleged obstruction by anti-LGBTI refugee agency officials.

According to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) news sheet, Refugee Resettlement Facts, published in January 2018, less than 1% of refugees are ever resettled.

Nowadays, new LGBTI asylum seekers are not accepted by the UNHCR in Nairobi. They are sent direct to Kakuma refugee camp in the north of Kenya.

The Government of Kenya, GoK, does not recognise LGBTI people as refugees. It considers them as illegal sexual criminals under a law dating back to British rule in 1897 and has taken over the resettlement process from the UNHCR. The UNHCR appears to be powerless to challenge the GoK’s determination to invalidate the requests for safe haven made by LGBTI asylum seekers from Uganda.

The UNHCR has ceased granting monthly stipends of some 4,000kes, roughly US$40, to all but a few of the several hundred men and women who remain in Nairobi, and who struggle to survive there, often alone and isolated.

While the official line of the UNHCR is that all is calm, and that harmony reigns in both Nairobi and Kakuma, the situation described by many LGBTI refugees is very different.

Kenyan law makes it very difficult to get the required Aliens card in order to work. The Kenyan police are a particularly brutal force and frequently round up LGBTIs, especially Ugandans, and cart them off to jail – often beating them up and humiliating them sexually in the process. They usually only get released on the payment of bribes. UNHCR appears to be powerless to stop this arrant abuse of human rights.

The general Kenyan population is frequently hostile. They are responsible for much of the violence towards LGBTI people; being deeply suspicious of the Ugandan refugees renting houses in their neighbourhoods.

The profile of LGBTI women and men in Nairobi follows a pattern. On arrival in the city, having often fled families who threatened them with murderous intent, refugees try to go undercover, hiding behind a pseudonym on social media, and, if lucky, lodge with people they’ve befriended or other refugees while trying to get accepted as an official asylum seeker.

The appointments for asylum interviews take place at six monthly intervals, and even then there is no guarantee that an agreed appointment will take place. Innumerable times refugees turn up at the UNHCR offices with the necessary authorisation to enter the building, only to be turned away with no reason given and told to wait another six months.

This was the experience of Callum,* a young TV presenter and dancer, who fled Uganda in March 2015 after being told that his father and one his brothers were organising a contract killing, as they decided he had brought shame on the family name by being gay. He was considered a curse and possessed by demons, deserving of death.

For three weeks he slept rough and was then sent to Kakuma refugee camp. He experienced a brutal, violent time there; frequently beaten by police, camp guards and homophobic, mainly Somali, residents. After a terrifying few months, Callum managed to get back to Nairobi. Joining a cultural dance troupe brought some income from performing at weddings, but there were times of no money, no food and days of starvation.

Callum managed to avoid selling his body, but many others see no alternative. They run the risk of HIV/AIDS transmitted by Kenyan punters who exploit vulnerable Ugandans, who they see as inferior.

Through sheer determination to survive, against seemingly insuperable odds, Callum was able to keep going until his resettlement authorisation eventually came through. Even so, he was picked up at random by the police some ten days before leaving the country, driven round for hours in a police van, roughed up, humiliated and pressured to perform oral sex on the police officers holding him. He was only released on payment of a bribe of some 6,000kes collected by LGBTI friends.

Callum was lucky. After having suffered three years of abuse, insecurity and fear, he is now finally resettled in a safe country where LGBTIs are treated as full human beings. But even today, as he talks about the mindless brutality he was subjected to, and his fear that it would never end, he bursts into tears; evidence of the extreme trauma he, and other LGBTIs, have suffered.

Callum’s experiences are echoed by Justin* who, like so many LGBTIs from Uganda who made it to Nairobi, narrowly escaped murder at the hands of his family. Lonely in the big city, he was introduced to some men by a fellow LGBTI, who he took to be a friend. These men pulled a gun on him and forced him into sexual slavery. This lasted for some two years until one day he was driven out of Nairobi, dumped near Lake Naivasha and told to walk ahead and not look back unless he wanted to be shot.

The horrors of those two years have left a permanent psychological scar on Justin.

This is another example of the many cases recounted by LGBTI refugees who have had similar traumatic experiences. Coming to terms with the betrayal and abuse by their family, community, church and even friends is a process that many do not know how to handle and cannot cope with, as support systems are few and far between, and the sensitivity that is required to help them move on is lacking.

Ugandan LGBTI refugees complain that the UNHCR is precisely the opposite of what they seek and need: a safe haven. It Mag 29

is staffed by many homophobic Kenyans who do their utmost to humiliate persons of concern, as refugees are termed, often interrogating them in a hostile manner. They question their genuineness; telling them to go back to Uganda and to pray to God to make them stop their sinful ways.

The homophobia freely expressed by assessment officers at UNHCR is in direct contradiction to the User Guide published by the UN, which clearly states that “personal, religious and cultural barriers of staff members (both UNHCR and partners) must not stand in the way of responding to the protection and needs of LGBTI refugees on a non-discriminatory basis.”

As related by so many LGBTIs, this policy is not adhered to, and individual officers sometimes pursue personal vengeance on particular LGBTI refugees. They threaten them, try to pressure them out of the asylum process and seem to maliciously delay their resettlement process. Some officers have been known to harass LGBTIs on Facebook, get them evicted from lodgings and do deals with other LGBTI refugees - employing them as spies on fellow asylum seekers and in return promising to speed up their resettlement (which rarely happens).

What motivates these UNHCR officers, other than pure homophobia, is unclear. They rarely answer emails and are prickly about requests for information concerning the cases and plights of individual LGBTIs. Far from being the helping agency that its remit demands, UNHCR is seen by many LGBTI refugees as a hindrance; lamentably failing to live up to its much-vaunted pledges and reputation.

Women asylum seekers face the same difficulties as men, with the added dimension of being women in societies that are mostly patriarchal. While many Kenyans may feel that a certain amount of physical affection is acceptable between women in public, this nevertheless has not prevented LGBTI women being outed, threatened and forced to run for their lives.

Salma* is a case in point: raped by her Ugandan uncle, this twenty year old woman now has a baby and is struggling to survive in Nairobi, along with a younger sister who fled with her. She has contemplated suicide but is aware that her baby and sister depend on her. Like so many Ugandan LGBTIs, Salma has a moral strength despite the staggering degree of hardship she faces. She hopes that “someday the rain will stop and the sun will shine.”

Her experiences are mirrored by other lesbian refugees who are kicked out of lodgings when denounced by homophobic neighbours and then denied help by the UNHCR. One LGBTI woman, Mary*, was kidnapped by a family member, taken back to Uganda, and badly beaten before managing to escape to Kenya again.

Religion, whether Christianity or Islam, plays a major role in the reasons many families abuse and threaten their LGBTI members, particularly women. Very few religious people show kindness or concern for the plight of LGBTI refugees in Kenya.

Indeed, faith is often cited to justify their homophobic abuse.

Nairobi may be grim, but Kakuma refugee camp in Turkana county, northern Kenya, is even worse by many accounts. This UNHCR camp is overcrowded, insanitary and subject to diseaseridden flooding from frequent heavy rains. Refugees there describe their life as hell - a word frequently used to convey the measure of despair felt by the LGBTIs inhabitants. They are at daily risk of violence, disease and malnutrition.

The World Food Programme reduced the monthly rations to camp inmates by 30% in October 2017. This has been particularly dangerous for LGBTI refugees diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, for whom adequate food and good nutrition is important. The Mag 30

Ugandan women protest outside the Uganda High Commission in London

lack of proper washing and toilet facilities also puts them at risk of potentially life-threatening infections.

Meetings with some UNHCR officers have resulted in promises of increased food, protection against violence and improved housing and sanitary conditions, but so far nothing has been done.

LGBTI refugee leaders have even met the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, who visited in January. All was smiles and promised remedies. But the LGBTIs there, a large number of whom are transgender, still await action to render their lives tolerable.

At the moment, there seems to be some doubt as to whether the UNHCR will continue its resettlement of Ugandan LGBTI refugees. A recent meeting with UNHCR’s focal person, the officer for mediating between the agency and asylum seekers, gave an uncertain, unclear response. The UNHCR, in an email to me, maintains that Ugandan LGBTIs have not been singled out for cessation of resettlement. The refugees are not convinced and have been debating whether to demonstrate outside the UNHCR offices in Nairobi – a sign of their grave desperation.

African LGBTI refugees are the forgotten ones; being black, African and LGBTI is enough to be ignored. Attempts to enlist the sympathy and practical support of international organisations, even LGBTI ones, are often met with silence. The media occasionally publish coverage, but then the issue fades away.

What will it take to win justice and safety for Ugandan LGBTI refugees in Kenya? This is a question they are asking - and we should be asking too.

• Names have been changed to protect the individuals from reprisals. Richard de Luchi’s report is based on his contact with Ugandan refugees and his experiences with the UNHCR. • You can donate to help LGBT+ refugees via the Ugandan refugees own GoFundMe page: https://tinyurl.com/nairobirel or via the African Human Rights Coalition’s relief fund: https://tinyurl.com/lgbtrel7 • More info: This is the Facebook page for Refugee Flag Kakuma, the LGBTI group inside Kakuma refugee camp: https://www.facebook.com/RefugeeFlagKakuma

COME FEEL THE HEAT

JUNE diary Friday 1st Leather Night - Free entrance with leather gear · Friday 8th Long Schlong Night - Free entrance for 20cm + · Friday 15th Fetish Night - Indulge your fantasies · Saturday 16th Youth Day Party: Half Price for Under 21 · Friday 22nd Public Pigz Night Be a pig on the bar counter for an entrance refund · Thursday 28th Full Moon – Celebrate hedonism with free libation wine · Friday 29th Fire Crotch Night – Free Entrance with Red Pubes

JULY diary Friday 6th Leather Night Free entrance with leather gear · Friday 13th Long Schlong Night Free entrance for 20cm+ · Friday 20th Public Pigz Night Be a pig on the bar counter for an entrance refund · Friday 27th Full Moon – Celebrate hedonism with free libation wine AUGUST diary Friday 3rd Leather Night Free entrance with leather gear · Wednesday 8th Women’s Day Party Cum take it like a man · Friday 10th Long Schlong Night Free entrance for 20cm + · Friday 17th Fetish Night – Indulge your fantasies · Friday 24th Public Pigz Night Be a pig on the bar counter for an entrance refund · Sunday 26th Full Moon – Celebrate hedonism with free libation wine · Friday 31st Fire Crotch Night – Free Entrance with Red Pubes

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Also, Mondays: Daddies & Toy Boys – R50 entrance between 6 & 9 for under 20s and over 50s Thursdays: Student Night. R50 entrance with student card.

EXPOSING THE LAST GAY PREJUDICE AGEISM --- Yes, old Queens exist!

Alfred Molina & John Lithgow in “Love Is Strange”

W

e live in a youth-obsessed culture, this is the case whether you are gay, lesbian, straight, black, white, marketing and advertising, our TV programming, the internet and smart phones, apps like Instagram all seem directed at and for young people, so from an early age we unwittingly internalise the message that youth is the most important thing in life. And this is especially true within the gay male community, where youth—and the sexual attractiveness that supposedly comes with it—is a valuable currency. Obviously straight folks prize smooth skin and nubile bodies as well, but there’s a certain way in which the youth cult gets hyper-concentrated among gay guys. And as a new study shows, that this youth emphasis has a disturbingly negative impact on us as we inevitably age.

The baby-boomers generation are now in their 60’s and more – they’re the ones who were born after the 2nd World war up to 1964 … they’ve lived through constant wars and upheavals, the AIDS crisis, led the way for gay liberation, invented the internet, smart phones and all the technologies being claimed by young people as theirs. These ageing gay men and women lived through an age when it wasn’t legal to marry, adopt or have children and so unlike their heterosexual counterparts are ostracised by their own community and it seems very little is being done to assist or even include them.

A study, published in the journal Social Science & Medicine, looked at a sample of 312 gay men with an average age of 61; a team of researchers asked the men the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with statements like “aging is especially hard for me because I am a gay man,” and “as I get older, I feel more invisible when I am with other gay men.” The researchers’ goal was to test their hypothesis that “the particular overlap between internalised ageism and internalised homophobia among mid-life and older gay men generates ‘internalised gay ageism.” In other words, in gay men, the wider overvaluing of Mag 32

youth in our culture mixes with standard homophobia to create a brand-new internalised “sexual minority stress.”

Unsurprisingly they found that “Internalised gay ageism” is a real thing. While the paper warns that these results, which focused on an urban cohort, should be tested on a larger scale before being taken as 100% conclusive, it is enough to suggest that Internalised Gay Ageism is a very real problem for our older generation.

John French wrote in an article in OUT Africa Magazine (Issue 11 – The Pink Prejudice) that ageism is “the quietly-accepted gay prejudice” and “undoubtedly the greatest prejudice in our gay world.” He went on to say, “It is strangely ironic that the gay community which collectively has been so persecuted for centuries, is in turn so very prejudiced and unaccepting of itself.”

Getting older is a challenge for most people from a health and wellbeing aspect especially but as with all people as one grows older there’s a gradual loss of looks and as youth occupies only a third of our lives it seems strange that there is such an emphasis on it.

It seems though that in heterosexual environments, there are activities, centres for the aged, old-people’s homes, retirement villages, family support groups and so on … but not in the gay community, a group who are far more vulnerable to loneliness, feelings of being left out, social stress and abandonment.

Often older gay people become objects of ridicule and not from the heterosexual community by their own and it is embarrassing and uncomfortable to witness. Just recently a friend who, I think, is a young 62, was at a club venue in Cape Town where a young woman suggested to him that he ought to be in bed and that it was a young-person’s venue. Conveniently forgetting that the venue is owned by an almost as old friend, that the music belting out of the speakers was none other than

a 59-year-old Madonna and that the huge tip her barman boyfriend might have gotten is because he is financially secure and the boyfriend is not! Needless to say a few strings were pulled, and she was escorted out…

Alleviating age-related social stress could come from a variety of sources, but one that immediately comes to mind is for young gay people to make a point of spending time and developing friendships with older gay men and women. There’s something of a taboo on this within the community—partially due to the (sometimes true) idea that older gay men are only after sex and partially because younger gay men can be incurious and historically ignorant—but it’s one we have to overcome.

Encouraging cross-generational conversations as a way of transmitting and preserving our unique history, so perhaps workshops and support groups would be a starting point. I also feel that as a high-income community it is important that we try and develop a home to accommodate ageing gay men & women with a community meeting place. To this end the Cape Town Gay Pride has approached the City of Cape Town and hopefully can get something on the go during this year.

However it is actor Rupert Everett that put it best: “Being gay is a young man’s game,” he said, “Gay men become invisible after the age of 42. Who wants a gay 50 year old? No-one let me tell you. I could set myself on fire in a gay bar, and people would just light their cigarettes from me …”

To their credit, the study referred to earlier, recognized the injustice inherent in having our elderly think they don’t matter because they are no longer idealised young studs: “These men have traversed unparalleled, personally relevant historical changes across their adult lives and have paved the way for younger generations of sexual minorities to live in a time of less institutionalised discrimination,” they write in the conclusion. “Still, they are subject to feeling socially invisible and depreciated in their later years, especially within the gay male community.” This is shameful—the very place they should feel at home and cared for should not be a source of stress. We can and must do better!!!

“We’ve made so many advances in other areas – civil rights, gay rights – but ageism is still an area that’s taboo and not talked about and dealt with.”

— Madonna

Mag 33

HEALTH

GETTING HARD If you are one of those men looking for ways to improve what happens between the sheets, or one of those older men who still want to work their magic, then there are drugs on the market which can help in over-coming impotence and erectile dysfunction issues.

Mag 34

E

rectile dysfunction is a recognised medical condition which will affect almost all men at some time in their lives. There are a number of reasons for ED both physiological and psychological. Stress and ageing for example are common factors as is lifestyle - drinking and smoking are well-known performance inhibitors when it comes to sexual health. It is therefore a prerequisite that you consult your doctor before self-medicating any of the pills and gels on the market.

Most are only available on prescription so you will need to get your GP to give you a script.

When Stendra (avanafil) was introduced to the field of erectile dysfunction (ED) drugs in 2012, it was the first ED medication to hit the market in more than a decade. Kamagra Gel also came on to the market, and there are no doubt more out there, a fact that has triggered more and more men to wonder, which ED drug is best?

The answer is, it depends. According to Dr. Laurence Levine, a professor in the Department of Urology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, “There is no drug that is the best.”

Each man’s individual body chemistry “may make one drug better than another. There are certain advantages and disadvantages to all of these drugs.” The drug options, in addition to Stendra, include sildenafil (Viagra), tadalafil (Cialis), and vardenafil (Levitra, Staxyn–the fast-dissolving form).

WHAT ARE ORAL ED DRUGS? The current oral ED drugs all belong to the same drug class; that is, phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors, or PDE-5. Generally they work by blocking one or more of the five different types of the enzyme phosphodiesterase, which in turn prevents the inactivation of certain chemical messengers. This inhibiting action then improves blood supply to the penis. When ED drugs are used along with sexual stimulation, they can produce an erection that is sufficient to initiate and complete sexual intercourse.

Research has shown that these PDE-5 inhibitors are similar when it comes to efficacy and safety, but there are some differences regarding time to action, the impact of diet on how well they are absorbed, how long they last, and some minor side effects.

These factors play a significant role in helping men decide which ED drug is best for their needs and lifestyle. Men also may take into consideration their and their partners’ preferences, such as how spontaneous they are when it comes to sexual activity, and cost.

For example, in 2011 a meta-analysis compared use of three ED drugs–sildenafil, tadalafil, and vardenafil—among more than 7,700 men. The investigators found that men consistently preferred tadalafil (Cialis) (52-65%) over the other two (12-20% for vardenafil; 8-30% for sildenafil). Although all three drugs were shown to be safe and effective, tadalafil offered men a 36-hour window of opportunity for getting an erection, while the other two provided a much shorter time period.

HOW DO THE ED DRUGS COMPARE? Men who suffer with erectile dysfunction can compare the general characteristics of each of the five available ED drugs. These facts, along with their personal preferences and lifestyle habits, can help when choosing which ED drug is best for them.

Stendra Begins to work within as little as 15 minutes of ingestion, although it may take longer for some men.

Can be taken with or without food with no impact on response.

Men can achieve successful erections for more than six hours after taking the pill.

Most common side effects are flushing, headache, nasal congestion, and runny nose. Symptoms such as back pain, diarrhoea,

dizziness, hypertension, influenza, muscle aches, and upper respiratory infections are less common.

Cialis Begins to work within 30 to 45 minutes after ingestion, although there have been reports that it can be effective within 15 minutes Men can achieve successful erections for up to 36 hours after taking the pill.

It can be taken with or without food with no impact on response Most common side effects are headache and indigestion. Less often men experience back pain, dizziness, facial flushing, muscle aches, and nasal congestion.

Levitra and Staxyn Begins to work within 25 minutes, but it may take longer if you take it with a fatty meal.

Men can achieve successful erections for 4 to 5 hours after taking the pill.

Most common side effects are headache and facial flushing.

Less common side effects include blue-tinged vision, dizziness, indigestion, nasal congestion, and nausea.

Viagra and Kamagra Viagra and Kamagra have the same generic name which is Sildenafil Citrate. Kamagra is the generic one while Viagra is the branded one. Viagra comes in pill / tablet form, and Kamagra comes in gel form. They both have the same active ingredient, but since Kamagra is as mentioned in gel form, the effects get to show faster because the components are ingested easier.

It begins to work within 30 to 45 minutes of ingestion.

Taking Viagra with food can delay response time.

Men can achieve successful erections for 2 to 3 hours, although the effects may last up to 5 hours at a higher dose (e.g., 100 mg vs 25 or 50 mg).

Most common side effects are abnormal vision (blue-tinged vision, blurriness), back pain, dizziness, flushing, headache, muscle pain, nausea, rash, stuffy or runny nose, and upset stomach.

Rare effects include irregular heartbeat and stroke.

So what ever your preference, there is help out there for what many men find an embarrassing emasculating condition. Keep in mind that ED need not be a life sentence there are treatments but to find out which is best you need to establish the underlying cause your doctor will be able to help you.

Mag 35

THE BUZZ THE HOTTEST BROMANCE

T

he cast of Avengers: Infinity War are clearly getting very close. In fact, superhero hunks Looking like the perfect gay couple on a recent shoot for USA Today Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pratt held hands and cuddled up for the pics, and what a really, really cute couple they make.

Mag 18 Mag 36

IT TAKES TWO

EYE CANDY

J

amie Dornan, remember the hottie in 50 Shades of Grey?

To celebrate the Irish actor’s birthday, which was on 1st May, we’re reliving his sexiest photoshoots, his most revealing sex scenes and his history of underwear modeling...

Photo: Joffrey Hyman

B

ritish model Zander Hodgson recently came out to the world ... within weeks of the revelation he posted pics of him and his equally scrumptious boyfriend, Troy. He posted the pics on Instagram of the two hunks enjoying downtime together - feast your eyes!!!

BULLYING AND HOMOPHOBIA: THE QUEER REALITY

T

here’s a difference between a ‘phobia’ and ‘prejudice’, says Riaan Norval, Campaign Manager for Young Heroes - a campaign being run by Anova Health Institute and funded by the Elton John Aids Foundation aimed at empowering adolescent LGBTI youth, specifically young men who identify as gay or bisexual, or who are questioning their sexuality. “A phobia is a strong, uncontrollable, unpleasant often irrational emotion caused by an actual or perceived danger or threat, like spiders or a fear of clowns. Prejudice, on the other hand, is an adverse judgment or opinion formed without knowledge of the facts. What people call homo- and transphobia is actually prejudice. You don’t go seeking out something you fear, whereas with homo- and transphobia, people seek to harm others with insults, discrimination, extreme levels of intimidation and even violence.”

With a report by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) revealing that 8 out of 10 LGBTI students are being harassed at school each year simply because of who they are”, says Norval. South Africa has the fourth highest rate of cyberbullying in the world, with 24% of teens experiencing it in some form, in comparison to the global average of 18%*. What’s more, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth experience nearly three times as much bullying and harassment online as non-LGBT youth**. “ “Homophobia and bullying can very subtle too – a feeling that you’re being ignored or treated with less respect than your peers, or seemingly innocuous statements like the good old, ‘I’m not prejudiced, I even have a gay friend’ or ‘that’s so gay’. The sad truth is that if you’re gay, you will probably encounter homophobia at some point. While being picked on for your sexuality can be upsetting and embarrassing, always remember that you are not the problem, they are. The majority of homophobes act out of ignorance and fear. Often it’s a question of immaturity. Like bullies, homophobes get satisfaction and power from putting others down.”

“In a global cyberbullying study, teens around the world said cyberbullying made them feel depressed or helpless and some even experienced suicidal thoughts. With LGBT youth being more than twice as likely to experiment with drugs and alcohol to cope with stress, two and a half times more likely to harm themselves and three times more likely to attempt suicide than other teenagers, according to Mental Health America, the potential impacts of cyberbullying on young LGBT people are severe,” says Riaan Norval, Project Manager for Young Heroes - a campaign being run by Anova Health Institute and funded by the Elton John Aids Foundation. The campaign aims to empower adolescent youth specifically young men who identify as gay or bisexual, or who are questioning their sexuality - by equipping them with information, safe spaces, resources and a supportive community through its social media, website and mobile platforms. It also ensures that they have access to healthcare services, including mental health support, should they need it.

sexual orientation, sending inappropriate messages or pictures and threatening to share sexts.

To protect themselves from cyberbullying, Norval advises that young people avoid sharing their passwords, private photos, or personal data such as their address or phone number online. He also suggests that they never reveal anything publically that they would not be comfortable with others knowing. “Remember, when you share something online, it can be shared with anyone, including your parents and teachers.”

He continues: “If you are being cyberbullied on social media sites, report harassing comments, fake profiles, or inappropriate photos. You have a right to feel safe in these spaces. You should also tell your parents or another trusted adult. In addition, you can contact Young Heroes on info@youngheroes.co.za.

You don’t have to do this alone.”

Norval urges those who witness cyberbullying not to ‘like’ or share posts that are bullying someone. “Although you may feel pressure to join in if a lot of other people are, you can decide to not contribute to the situation. You could also report the post as abusive. Social media administrators will likely place restrictions on, or even ban anyone who is operating in violation of their anti-abuse policies and standards.”

Gender and sexuality-motivated hate crimes are increasingly common in South Africa, but such incidents remain underreported and, in most cases, insufficiently investigated. He urges young people who are experiencing homophobia, transphobia or biphobia to utilise the information, safe spaces, resources and supportive community LGBTI people can visit www.lovenothate.org.za if they have been victim of gender- and sexuality-motivated hate crimes. The programme works to educate service providers and the public, while also helping survivors to overcome some of the barriers preventing them from accessing help. This includes assisting LGBTI persons to report incidents of violence and to navigate the justice system.

“Be a hero and help to stand up against homophobia and bullies. cyberbullies,” concludes the Project Manager.

To learn more, visit the website and follow the Young Heroes YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages. * https://mediacentre.vodafone.co.uk/pressrelease/groundbreaking-vodafone-global-survey-reveals-43-of-teens-thinkcyberbullying-a-bigger-problem-than-drug-abuse/ ** https://netsanity.net/cyberbullying-lgbt-youth/

While cyberbullying can take many forms, some of the most common faced by LGBT teens include discrimination, the screenshotting and spreading of private chats mentioning their Mag 37

OUT ON FILM ON THE BIG SCREEN WITH DANIEL DERCKSEN In LIFE OF THE PARTY (18/5) Melissa McCarthy plays a housewife who is dumped by her husband and decides to go back to college, winding up at the same school as her daughter, she plunges headlong into the campus experience — embracing the fun, the freedom and the frat boys

(29/6). Nick Robinson plays Simon Spier, a closeted gay teenage boy in high school who is forced to balance his friends, his family, and the blackmailer threatening to out him to the entire school, while simultaneously attempting to discover the identity of the anonymous classmate with whom he has fallen in love online.

Resolving both issues proves hilarious, terrifying and life-changing.

Through a series of daring escapades, young Han Solo meets his future co-pilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian in SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (25/5)

JULY HIGHLIGHTS Ten years after Mamma Mia! The Movie grossed more than $600 million around the world, you are invited to return to the magical Greek island of Kalokairi in an all-new original musical based on the songs of ABBA. Get ready to sing and dance, laugh and love all over again in MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN (20/7)

On the eve of retirement a middle class, judgmental snob discovers her husband has been having an affair with her best friend and is forced into exile with her bohemian sister who lives on an impoverished inner-city council estate in this romantic comedy starring Imelda Staunton, Joanna Lumley, Timothy Spall, Celia Imrie, David Hayman, John Sessions and Josie Lawrence. FINDING YOUR FEET.(25/5) is just such a gem of a film.

Three siblings reunite at their home in picturesque Burgundy to save the family vineyard in BACK TO BURGANDY (20/7), a tender tale of a new generation finding its own unique blend.

JUNE HIGHLIGHTS The lives of four older women are turned upside down after reading the infamous “50 Shades of Grey,” catapulting them into a series of outrageous life choices in BOOK CLUB (1/6); in the riveting suspense drama CHAPPAQUIDDICK (1/6) the scandal and mysterious events surrounding the tragic drowning of a 28-year-old campaign strategist who worked for Kennedy, as Ted Kennedy drove his car off the infamous bridge, are revealed; Eva Green and Emmanuelle Seigner are lovers in Roman Polanski’s new drama BASED ON A TRUE STORY (8/6) that tells of a writer who becomes involved with an obsessive admirer; Writer-director Ari Aster unleashes a nightmare vision of a domestic breakdown in HEREDITARY (15/6) transforming a familial tragedy into something ominous and deeply disquieting, and pushing the horror movie into chilling new terrain with its shattering portrait of heritage; and ON CHESIL BEACH (22/6) centers on a young couple of drastically different backgrounds in the summer of 1962 and explores sex and the societal pressure that can accompany physical intimacy, leading to an awkward and fateful wedding night.

The first LGBTQ film intended for teenagers and released by a major studio, 20th Century Fox, is LOVE, SIMON Mag 38

Based on the true story of survival, a young couple’s chance encounter leads them first to love, and then on the adventure of a lifetime as they face one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in recorded history in ADRIFT (27/7)

AUGUST HIGHLIGHTS

Love Simon

NEW SOUTH AFRICAN FILMS A gripping crime thriller NOMMER 37 (1/6); the film version of the Mbongeni Ngema’s musical ASINAMALI (3/8); STROOMOP (10/8) tells the story of five women being tossed about by life’s rough waters and drowning in their own lives; THE NUMBER (10/8) explores the origins of the fearsome numbers gangs that operate in prisons throughout South Africa; and the death of her alcoholic father leaves a young woman with nothing but debt and the bitter memory of a complicated past in FAREWELL ELLA BELLA (17/8)

While staying in the home of Lord Byron at Lake Geneva, the guests are challenged to write a ghost story, which leads Mary to conceive her novel “Frankenstein” in MARY SHELLEY (3/8); ALPHA (17/8) stars Kodi Smit-McPhee as a prehistoric young man who must befriend a wolf to survive; in CRAZY RICH ASIANS (17/8) a native New Yorker Rachel Chu accompanies her long-time boyfriend to his best friend’s wedding in Singapore and learns that while money can’t buy love, it can definitely complicate things, and Glenn Close plays the faithful wife of a famous New York novelist decides to leave her husband on the eve he’s scheduled to receive a prestigious literary prize in THE WIFE (24/8) For more information on the latest film releases, visit www.writingstudio.co.za or visit us on Facebook – Let’s Go To The Movies

OUT ON DVD LET’S WATCH DVD’S WITH DANIEL DERCKSEN CHECK OUT THESE SUPER-HOT GAY PARODIES OF SUPERHERO FILMS

M

en.com is turning on the heat with super-hot Gay parodies, sending up superhero films. We’ve all see a Tarzan movie but wait till you see what happens in the hardcore version of Tarzan with super-hot Diego Sans showing four young men how the lord of the jungle really swings. You can also see what happens when a Jedi and the Stormtroopers decide to have a gang bang in Star Wars, featuring Luke Adams and Hector De Silva and Paddy O’Brien.

And if this is not enough, there’s Diego Sans, Gabriel Cross, Jimmy Duran in Pirates Of The Caribbean, X-Men with Coly Keller and Landon Mycles, Brenner Bolton, Captain America with Alex Mecum and Jay Ro, Spiderman with Will Braun, Batman Vs Superman featuring Damien Crosse and Topher Di Maggio, Star Trek with Jordan Boss, Micah Brand.

Queer cinema now dominates Movie Culture.

Gay filmmaking no longer has to “go mainstream” because, for the past few years, the best new movies have been gay movies.

Although we get very little gay themed films on the commercial film circuit in South Africa, there’s a plethora of gay films available on DVD or online.

On YouTube you can also watch first rate full feature Gay films, as well as some excellent short films.

The hilarious musical-comedy The Big Gay Musical follows a brief period in the lives of two young actors, one who is openly gay, the other closeted to his parents. The openly gay actor struggles with whether he should be sexually promiscuous or seek a life partner, while the closeted one wonders if he should come out to his conservative, religious parents. They actors headline an Off-Broadway musical titled Adam & Steve: Just the Way God Made ‘Em. Throughout the film, there are a series of musical numbers with tap dancing angels, a retelling of the Genesis story, protests from televangelists, and a deprogramming camp that tries to turn gay kids straight. By the end of the film, the characters realise that life would be better if they just accepted themselves the way they are.

Tarzan stars super-hot Diego Sans 120 BPM (Beats per Minute),[a] (French: 120 battements par minute) is a French drama film directed by Robin Campillo is about homosexuality and the AIDS epidemic, set in France in the 1990s. The story deals with a young man who joins the ACT UP activist group in 1990s Paris. As he attends the weekly meetings, he learns about the clash between moderate and radical politics in the organisation, and he falls in love. It had its world premiere at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, followed by screenings at other festivals. At Cannes it won critical acclaim and four awards, including the Grand Prix. It went on to win six César Awards, including Best Film, and other honours.

A Fantastic Woman is the second feature from Chilean director, Sebastián Lelio and tells a beautiful and brilliant story of a trans woman whose mourning for a lost lover is obstructed at every turn by family and institutional prejudice. It won an Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film this year.

There’s a fraught romance between Chloe Sevigny and Kirsten Stewart in Lizzie, the retelling of the tale of Lizzie Borden (she who took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks). When Bridget (Stewart), a young maid, comes to work for the Borden family, unhappy Lizzie (Sevigny) finds a sympathetic and kindred spirit.

What begins as innocent companionship eventually escalates into attraction, love and bloody vengeance. Killer lesbians, we haven’t had them on our screens for years!

It was good to discover The Man I Love (L’homme Que J’aime), a wonderful love story between a gay man who falls hopelessly in love with a super-sexy diver at the swimming pool.

It’s a heartbreaking and tearful journey where curiosity leads to compassion, and obsession results in happiness. What’s really great about the film is the wonderful chemistry between JeanMichel Portal and Marcial Di Fonzo Bo as the object of desire.

The film leaves one with a positive message to “Live each day of your life as if it were your last.”

The last days of Oscar Wilde—and the ghosts haunting them—are brought to vivid life in Rupert Everett’s written and directorial debut The Happy Prince. His body ailing, Wilde (played by Everett) lives in exile in Paris, depending on his legendary wit to barely eek out a living. On his deathbed, he revisits the glories of his heyday, before being imprisoned for indecency destroyed his life and career. Colin Firth and Emily Watson co-star.

If you saw the second season of the series American Crime, with Connor Jessup as a teenager who is sexually assaulted by his classmates, you must see Closet Monster, with Jessup perfectly cast as a closeted Newfoundland teen named Oscar, who dreams of becoming a special-effects makeup artist, and is terrified of his macho father finding out the truth about his sexuality. When he falls for Wilder (Aliocha Schneider), a handsome, worldly co-worker at the hardware store, he is forced to confront his fears.

Lauren Wolkstein and Christopher Radcliff’s atmospheric thriller The Strange Ones will keep you glued to the screen till the last minute. The film opens with a pair of maybe siblings driving through a rural landscape, potentially on the run, though from what or whom remains a mystery. Their cover is a camping trip, but flashbacks of a house fire hint at darker motivations.

The scruffy and brooding Nick (Alex Pettyfer) is at the wheel, with the younger Sam (James Freedson-Jackson) charging his every close-up with a disquieting vulnerability.

For the latest DVD and Blu-Ray releases, visit www.writingstudio.co.za

Mag 39

ON STAGE

LIVE ENTERTAINMENT AT ITS BEST WITH DANIEL DERCKSEN CAPE TOWN At Gate 69 Brendan van Rhyn, Christopher Dudgeon and Rudi Jansen are still raising the roof with the minimedical musical Snip/ Tucked which runs until July 26, before opening their Three Little Pigs Pantomime on 12 September. Pink is the new black for these girls who promise another hilarious romp from Wednesday to Saturday until 31 Dec. Book your seats by calling 021035 1627 / 071 589 2915 or book online: http://gate69.co.za/ At the Fugard Theatre Jordan Berman is desperately looking for Mr Right… but he is getting it all wrong, in Joshua Harmon’s Broadway hit Significant Other from 30 May. The show follows Jordan and his three closest friends as they navigate love, friendship and New York in their twenty-something years.

From 14 Aug you can see Shakespeare in Love. For info and bookings visit http://www.thefugard.com or call 021 461 4554 At the Baxter’s Golden Arrow Studio Just Men is an exciting multi-lingual docudrama about men taking a stand against men who abuse woman and children and is performed by men and for men, from 13 – 30 June.

Also at the Baxter you can see the acclaimed production of Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking from 3 – 28 July, a moving, harrowing and amusing journey that shows how the power of love gives life meaning. For bookings visit the website http://www. baxter.co.za/ or call 021 680 3989 Make sure to see Karen Zoid setting the stage alight with her energetic guitar solos, emotionally charged lyrics and witty sense of humour at the Artscape Theatre on 19/20 June. Visit the website: http://www.artscape.co.za or call 021 410 9800 From 19 – 23 June you can Immerse yourself in Caliente - Circo De Danza at the Kalk Bay Theatre, a flirtatious magical show inspired by latin flair, and from 14 Aug – 29 Sept Ash Searle and Vanessa Harris can be seen in You Should be Dancing. http://www. kalkbaytheatre.co.za/ 021 788 7257 Picture: The Parlotones, Kahn Morbee performing as KAHN Mag 40

JOHANNESBURG

DURBAN

At the Joburg Theatre the musical The Colour Purple returns in August, and Cirque Infernal offers nonstop captivating entertainment with astonishing and death defying acts from 6 Sept. Visit the website https://www. joburgtheatre.com/ or call 0861 670 670 or 011 877 6855

In celebration of an impressive 35 year legacy, the Linda Vargas Flamenco Dance Company promises to thrill audiences with a special gala season entitled Vida Flamenco (Life of Flamenco) from 11 – 15 July at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. Visit http:// www.sneddontheatre.co.za/ or book at Computicket.

At Theatre on The Square From Koe’siestes To Kneidlach is on from 12 – 23 June; it’s a totally bizarre, completely hilarious, strangely moving and absolutely true story that shows what happens when a brownish girl from the Cape Flats gets involved with a Jewish boy from Joburg’s East Rand. Visit http://www.theatreonthesquare.co.za/ or call 011 883 8606 At Montecasino’s Main Theatre the racy Avenue Q is on until 15 July and teaches real-life lessons and broaching hard-to-discuss adult topics such as racism, pornography and a whole lot more through the use of puppetry and songs, and Jonathan Roxmouth can be seen as Jerry Lee Lewis in Great Balls Of Fire from 18 July – 12 Aug, featuring hits that shaped a generation played by Jonathan at the piano and a flaming hot six piece band. Roxmouth also takes to the magnificent Teatro stage from 17 – 19 Aug to perform all your favourite Broadway hits – accompanied by a full 55-piece orchestra. Booking is at Computicket.

THE SHOWROOM THEATRE PRINCE ALBERT After 19 years of fronting South African Rock/Pop band The Parlotones, Kahn Morbee is performing as KAHN on 23 June, Saxophonist Andrew Young, (Liverpool) and Pianist Rene Piet (Amsterdam) perform their own unique brand of easy listening/ smooth jazz on 27 June, Mel Botes celebrates poets and their songs on 30 June, Chris Chameleon and Daniella Deysel are Kat & Wolf on 7 July, Mike Mccully And The Harmonix pay Tribute To Abba on 12 July, and music lovers are in for a real treat with Blacksmith Band and Jenny & the Jameses on 18 Aug. For booking and info visit www.showroomtheatre.co.za Experience Theatre Live and visit www.writingstudio.co.za, featuring listing of theatres in South Africa and internationally.

#Braveis insisting on a condom even when he’s hot Find out where to get free condoms and lube as well as information about HIV, PrEP, STIs and More Visit WWW.WETHEBRAVE.CO.ZA

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