“We Are Claiming Space, We Are Visible!”: The Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand as a Space of Solidarity, 1980s–1990s

Abstract

This article seeks to reintegrate the history of the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand (GLOW) into southern African queer historiography, which has inadvertently sidelined the role of the organisation, ignoring the plight of GLOW’s activists, as well as many others, mostly black gays and lesbians. Through the use of archival material and interviews with former GLOW members, this article examines GLOW’s role in connecting the gay liberation struggle to the anti-apartheid struggle. The article interrogates GLOW’s role in South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle, which helped align gay and lesbian rights with the broader idea of rights for all citizens at a time in South African history when being against rights for any group of people was deemed unacceptable. This article further examines the various schisms within GLOW that facilitated its eventual decline, but which also made the organisation multi-layered. These multiple aspects of GLOW were crucial in creating solidarity between gays and lesbians who were able to successfully fight for a Constitution that would protect the rights of non-heteronormative society.