​Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer(LGBTQ) must fend off discrimination daily. As the country marks 16 Days of No Violence against Women and Children, the issue of violence against LGBTQ community has come under the spotlight.
Gender based violence (GBV) includes a broad spectrum of abuse and discrimination against people based on their gender. People who are queer (also known as Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer) are considered to also face GBV as they are discriminated against because of their sexualities.

Last Friday the Department with the community of Sicelo, held a 16 Days of Activism Awareness Campaign in partnership with the Badumetse Batho Badumeste Batho is an organization that serves members of the LGBTQI community. It provides services such as education, community dialogues, victim empowerment programmes and social workers that target LGBTQI issues specifically. The organization also offers opportunities to educate parents who have children who are queer by helping them understand their children better and providing them with a support system for their children.

Speaking at event on behalf of the organization, Lebohang and Emza, shared the hardships that queer people face in their families and communities. Some of these hardships include rejection from their families, bullying and violence from strangers, and discrimination from the police.

Emza, who was once a victim of an assault and an attempted rape because of her sexuality, explained “we have tried to report these incidents to the police several times but none of these cases have gone far”. She further added that she spends most of her time indoors as she fears for her safety outside of the house.

When engaged on how Social Development helped queer people who have been victimized and have been failed by the police, Social Development GBV unit’s Sanele Mthembu said the department offers counselling for the victims and helps to escalate their case to the police on their behalf.

Furthermore, Social Worker Alettah Maloka admitted that the Department is still working on sensitizing its staff on LGBTQI issues “as some of the people who are supposed to help still do not understand what it is to be LGBTQI and therefore cannot help them properly”.

Community members expressed their wish to learn more about LGBQTI and called on the department to continue providing them with support.

“The LGBTQI community are our family members, and we need to accept and support them”, said a community member.