Legal wins for the LGBTQ community 'won’t fix public prejudice'

On Tuesday, the Goethe-Institut in Windhoek hosted 'Spectrum of Love' to celebrate international pride month, which is commemorated worldwide in June.

This follows last Friday's ruling by three Supreme Court judges, who declared Namibia's sodomy law unconstitutional and unenforceable. The conclusion of the case, brought by activist Friedel Dausab, marked a historic victory for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community.

'Spectrum of Love' kicked off with a drag performance by Starr Has Arrived from Drag Night Namibia, followed by the screening of three short films: 'Mukumo', 'My Story/Don't Kill Me' and 'The Drag Academy'. These films served as precursors to a discussion on the queer community's legal and social landscape in the country by panellists Florence /Khaxas, Yolande Engelbrecht and Linda Baumann.

The focus of the panel was on safe spaces for the queer community. Safe spaces do not come from legal victories, but rather by changing the opinion of the general public on queer people, the panellists said.

Baumann noted that changing the law doesn't stop discrimination. “A bittersweet moment in court is priceless, but will it change the prejudice? That is the real burden".

/Khaxas echoed this sentiment, adding: “Changing a law is an important milestone, but as soon as that is done, the real work starts".

The solution, according to Engelbrecht, is to focus on “the masses - those are the most powerful people in Namibia”.

The trio said it is the youth’s responsibility to be supportive of the queer community so that the general public's opinion can be swayed. As soon as people get to know members of the LGBTQ community, they can put a face to the movement, which makes it more difficult to hate, they said.

This doesn’t mean that legal fights aren’t important - especially with the recent push in parliament to redefine the term 'spouse' in marriage as only between a man and a woman. Baumann summed this anti-gay push up as “everything that says spouse must now be redefined - and that is just not sexy”. This includes immigration, marriage, divorce and abuse protection laws, she noted.

The panellists highlighted that this effort to exclude same-sex marriages from the law is in direct opposition to the rights of the LGBTQ community. Activists and lawyers from places such as the Legal Assistance Centre are fighting for queer rights in courts, while it falls to the general public, especially the youth, to change the opinion of the communities by starting with their families, they said.