A new cause is needed by the LGBTI community to fight for

Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

A new cause is needed by the LGBTI community to fight for

Over a week ago the social media was aflutter with claims that Parliament wanted to amend our constitution to remove the sexual orientation clause.  I was puzzled at the time considering that I have the privilege of being a member of the national Assembly.  This was the first that I’d heard about this.

Over the weekend someone tried to convince me that the proposals by the Middle Age Style house of Traditional Leaders was completely formal.  He simply wouldn’t accept my more luke-warm attitude to these ludicrous amendments.  Even if the proposals by traditional kings (and queens) were taken up, there are enough voices of reason in all parties to oppose them.

It was easy before the birth of our democracy.  Just like apartheid - you were either for or against - you either believed in LGTBI rights or not.  That fight is now over.  Pride parades are no longer opportunities for protest and the demanding equal rights for all.

For a while in the 1990’s the new HIV/AIDS pandemic appeared to replace the gay rights fight of old.  That fizzled away as medical advances ensured that infected people can live a pretty normal life.

Perhaps it is time that the LGBTI community find something worth fighting for.  Allow me to provide a suggestion.

Very few people; irrespective of which side of the tiara your stand on, have even asked why kings and chiefs of the various royal houses have a problem with gays and their rights?  Why are some people who are perfectly logical in all matters excepting for when it comes to matters of homosexuality?

I dare say it is because of a lack of education – this is not formal education I am referring to. I refer to the lack of understanding of what homosexuality is.  Why homosexuals exist.  That they pose no danger to society or children.  No, children do not “learn to become gay” or “suddenly decide” to become gay.

It is everyone’s duty, irrespective of one’s sexual orientation to explain and educate those that we refer to as bigots.  Often all it takes is a detailed discussion to start the process of getting a person to change their perception and to get them to start thinking logically

This is our duty – a campaign and concrete action that you and I can do today and in the future.

Sincerely,

Manny de Freitas MP

Member of Parliament

Shadow Minister of Home Affairs

Member of Parliament for Johannesburg South

Democratic Alliance