Why the DA is the only party for LGBTI South Africans

As many of you know, I wear two hats – one as a Democratic Alliance public representative and one as Mr Gay South Africa, which carries with it expectations of being an ambassador for the South African LGBTI community. Some people have criticised my political affiliation, which I believe is more of a testament to their inability to look at political parties in an unbiased manner.

Hon Ian Ollis, MP at Joburg Pride. Photo: Mamba Online

Being gay is only one aspect of me and does not define who I am. I am still a person in a community that wants to lead a normal life like 49 million other South Africans. Whether gay or straight, black or white, rich or poor and regardless of religion or race we all want a government that works for us. I chose the DA because I believe in its vision of an open opportunity society in which every person is free, secure and equal, where everyone has the opportunity to improve the quality of their life and pursue their dreams.

The term “Open Opportunity Society for All” brings together three key concepts: Individual freedom under the rule of law – an open society; Opportunity with responsibility – an opportunity society; and full equality for all. Imagine a society in which even a child born into the most desperate poverty can become a brain surgeon, a concert pianist or a sports hero - I know it’s a distant dream, but one South Africa should be aspiring to. This is in direct contrast to the ANC's approach to governance, which she has led to a "closed, crony society for some.” I don’t believe that any other party comes close in its vision, and it has been proved that where the DA governs they govern better than others that governed previously. I believe that their policy platform (view on da.org.za) will turn South Africa into the country it should be.

Cllr Lance Weyer at the Port Elizabeth the Gay Pride Parade

When it comes to my sexual orientation, I have for years been watching the progress the DA has made. I came to realise that the DA is the only party that has proved that it is fully behind the LGBTI community.

• In the 1994 elections the then Democratic Party was the only party to field an openly gay candidate for parliament.
• Currently the Democratic Alliance has the highest number of gay parliamentary candidates of any party in the country.
• The DA was the only party that when the Civil Union Bill was debated in parliament said that having the word "union" instead of "marriage" for same-sex couples was a form of discrimination.
• In 2010 the DA criticized South Africa’s United Nations delegation who voted to remove reference to sexual orientation from a UN resolution on extrajudicial killings. They went on to say that the vote was a setback for advancement of LGBT rights.
• Openly gay DA Member of Parliament Ian Ollis, is a representative of the Gay Flag of South Africa and played a role in the adoption of the historic 2011 resolution condemning violence and discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation at the United Nations.
• Kenneth Mubu, then Democratic Alliance Shadow Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, called on the Zuma administration to withdraw Jon Qwelane, a notorious homophobe,  as South Africa's ambassador to Uganda.
• The party has shown its support for the South African LGBT but participating in various pride marches. DA Members of Parliament Ian Ollis and Dion George led the Joburg Pride march last year.
• In 2011, then Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, Annette Lovemore and myself played an important uncovering homophobia in the Department of Home Affairs where officials were refusing to conduct gay marriages. The new Shadow Minister, Manny De Freitas, has continued to root out LGBTI discrimination by fighting discrimination against trans-gender citizens by Home Affairs officials.
• The party’s Shadow Minister of International Relation, Ian Davidson, has called on the South African government to lobby for gays and lesbians to be protected by the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, following the revival of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
• In November 2011 the City of Johannesburg Council passed a motion proposed by DA Councillor Gordon Mackay condemning corrective rape and committing itself to fighting these attacks against lesbian women. This is the first motion by the City to address issues directly affecting the LGBT community.
• The DA Student Organisation released a poster depicting two lesbian ladies that read "In our future they would be free to love without fear."
• The party officially rejected proposed the Traditional Courts Bill, which could lead to increased discrimination against women and LGBT people in rural areas.
• DA Member of Parliament Watty Watson called for the suspension of ANC MP Patekile Holomisa, chairman of Parliament’s constitutional review committee and president of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA, following his claim that the vast majority of citizens do not wish to promote the constitutional rights of gays and lesbians. Watson said Holomisa’s proposal of doing away with protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was “deeply prejudiced” and this his views “undermine the values of equality, dignity and freedom on which our democracy is based and for which so many fought so hard”.
• The DA leadership welcomed the participation of one of their Councillors (myself) in the Mr Gay South Africa and Mr Gay World contests. Even though there was some conservative push back, the party stuck to its liberal morals and endorsed my activism on LGTBI issues.
• The party's leader, Helen Zille, has stated that she fully endorses the Constitution’s Bill of Rights and its commitment to the right of all to determine their sexual orientation, going on to say that everyone has the right to be themselves and live a life they value.

These are just some of the verifiable media-reported reasons I can think of offhand, but what really makes the difference is the attitude of most DA members and public representatives when they deal with me. I don’t feel like a second class citizen, and I’m taken seriously as a person. Without the assistance of DA MP’s I would not be able to assist many LGBTI South Africans – they have helped me sort out everything from homophobic Home Affairs officials to abusive police and workplace discrimination.

The DA is the party I choose to support because I believe it’s the only party that represents me both as a gay man and as citizen of South Africa who wants to see his country prosper and be the place it should be – one that has full equality and is free from hate.