Gay and Zulu, We Speak Isingqumo': Ethnolinguistic Identity Constructions (Report‪)‬

Introduction In 1996, South Africa was one of the first countries in the world to include a sexual orientation clause in its Bill of Rights (Constitution of South Africa 1996) and only ten years later became the first African country to legalise same-sex marriage. The South African Constitution vigorously seeks to compensate for past atrocities and has at its aim a modern society that embraces different cultural, linguistic and religious groups and provides respect for all citizens, including those whose sexual orientation is different than that of the 'norm' (Constitution of South Africa 1996). (1) While it is a valid argument that the gay liberation movement in South Africa contributed to the deepening of the country's democratisation (Croucher 2002), one also has to admit that there have been numerous instances when South Africa's constitutional commitment to the non-discrimination of gay people was severely at odds with the hostile violence of homophobic attacks. (2) The label 'gay' is often used and referred to in terms of its application as a form of anachronistic identification and is problematic in its usage when it comes to colonial and apartheid politics (Tucker 2009: 33). In this paper, the term 'gay' is simply employed as a sexual identity label and in reference to individuals who identify themselves as such.