Taking a Stand the powerful address on homophobia and the churches in Africa by renowned anti-apartheid leader, theologian, and author, Prof. Allan Boesak at our convening, Breaking through the Backlash: Transformative Encounters Between LGBTI People and Churches in Africa,  is now available to download.

An illustrious panel of theologians and scholars unpacked the hot button topic of homosexuality and religion, when the Other Foundation, University of KwaZulu-Natal, the Diakonia Council of Churches, and the Durban Lesbian and Gay Centre held the discussion Breaking the backlash at its source: Redesigning theological education for inclusion and dignity of LGBTI people, held in partnership with the Commonwealth Secretariat.

The third Gerald Kraak anthology, Heart of the Matter, is out. Congratulations to OluTimehin Adegbeye, whose essay, ‘Mothers and Men’, made her this year’s worthy winner. Submissions for the next Gerald Kraak anthology and prize are open all year. 

We are thrilled to announce that ‘As You Like It’, the second edition of our Gerald Kraak Anthology of African perspectives on gender, social justice, and sexuality, has won the 2019 Lambda Literary Award for an anthology.

15 peer reviewers selected from across southern Africa have made recommendations to our board about which of the grant applications we received should receive funding. With backgrounds in religion, business, human rights, the arts, and community organizing, this class of 2019 will ensure that our grantmaking continues to be informed, smart and impactful.

Thank you for your active involvement in our community this year. With your support, we have cast a wider and deeper net to help build a movement of activism across southern Africa – from Luanda in Angola to Port Louis in Mauritius, and from Mzuzu in Malawi to Cape Town in South Africa.

Many are calling kopano – Accelerating Change, the best LGBTI convening of all time. Couldn’t attend? No sweat! We captured on video all the plenaries, key outcomes and all around magic for you to watch.

Estimating the value of the pink Rand is critical in building the case for more advances in getting the private sector to move faster in opening space for the LGBTI community, and creating safe spaces in cities and workspaces.

A public debate is raging about how churches can spread homophobic hatred, or promote respect and inclusion based on the equal dignity of every person. Our new report, Silent no longer!, examines the types of engagement churches have with homosexual men and women, and transgender and intersex people in southern Africa. 

Homophobia has become a site of painful struggle in the churches, in much the same way as slavery, racism and sexism was in the past. When faith does violence, a new reflection paper by African Christian scholars, reflects on how churches can become liberating rather than oppressive, redemptive rather than violent towards homosexual women and men, and transgender and intersex people in Africa.

All ten country reports in our Canaries In The Coal Mines studies are now available. What is the state of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex organizing and social inclusion, in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe?

There is a general belief that African people are deeply homophobic and unaccepting of gender diversities. But what does the African public really think? The truth is that we don’t really know because hardly any work has been done to gather and analyze the views of the public in a structured way in Africa. Until now.