En français / 22 June 2012 / FSGL supports project to bring South African lesbian football team to Paris tournament

We are delighted to learn that FGG member organization FSGL has made a substantial financial contribution to Foot for Love, a project to bring a team of South African women football players to this week's "b.yourself" tournament. 

Beyond the tournament this Saturday, each day until the following weekend's Pride Parade will feature a special activity: workshops, exhibitions, film night.

We are confident that the initiative will be repeated so that the organizers, Les Dégommeuses, will be able to bring these women to Cleveland for Gay Games 9.


Via Yagg.com:

La Fédération sportive gaie et lesbienne (FSGL) vient d'annoncer qu'elle soutenait le projet Foot For Love, lancé par Les Dégommeuses avec les LOCs et en partenariat avec Paris Foot Gay et Yagg.


Le soutien de la FSGL est principalement financier – c'est le nerf de la guerre –, puisqu'elle apporte 1500 euros à Foot For Love, qui fait venir à Paris dès le 22 juin et pour une semaine une délégation de footballeuses lesbiennes sud-africaines pour, à travers le sport, mobiliser contre les discriminations et les viols correctifs dont les lesbiennes sont victimes en Afrique du Sud.

Contactée par Yagg, Cécile Chartrain, des Dégommeuses, est ravie: «Autour de ce projet, nous avons réussi à obtenir le soutien de très nombreux partenaires et le soutien de la FSGL s'ajoute à une multitude d'autres, qui vont nous permettre d'accueillir la délégation sud-africaine dans de bonnes conditions.» Pour tout savoir sur ce projet, suivez le blog Foot For Love sur Yagg.

Temps fort de la semaine de mobilisation contre les discriminations lesbophobes, le match des Princesses entre Les Dégommeuses et le club sud-africain Thokozani FC, a lieu dimanche 24 juin, vers 16 heures (entrée libre), dans le cadre du Tournoi b. yourself coordonné par Paris Foot Gay.

Retrouvez tout le programme de la semaine Foot For Love (expo, concert, film, débats) sur le dossier de presse en PDF à télécharger.

Foot for Love seeks donations to bring a South African women's football team to Paris tournament

The Federation of Gay Games supports this initiative, and hopes it will lead to the participation of the Thokozani Football Club in Gay Games 9 in Cleveland+Akron in August 2014:

Join the team “Foot For Love” by making a donation on the fundraising site Kisskissbankbank ! Help us to welcome in Paris a south-African female football team, so that they can participate to an exhibition match against discriminations on 24 June. This event will be followed by a whole week of actions against discriminations, including sport, culture, activism and festive moments.

Info HERE

Foot for Love

"Foot For Love" is an initiative to promote the fight against violence and discrimination targeting lesbians, particularly through sport. To do so, we invite to Paris a delegation of the Thokozani Football Club during a week punctuated by sport, cultural and activist events. The name of this club, located in a township in Durban celebrates Thokozani Qwabe, a lesbian soccer player murdered in 2007 because of her sexual orientation. Since then, many hate crimes (murders, “corrective rapes” ...) have been committed against lesbians or transgenders, in South Africa.

The Thokozani Football Club (TFC) was created in response to these violences by Zanele Muholi , photographer and activist working for the rights of women and homosexuals s in South Africa. On their website, they describe their aims as follows: “ As an all black lesbian-women soccer team, we at Thokozani believe that through sport and soccer, we can make a difference in the lives of other young and queer women struggling against homophobia and violence. We play for peace. We want to educate each other and our families, friends and communities that we exist, that we contribute to building a physically, socially, and emotionally healthy and democratic South African society, and that we deserve a life free of discrimination and violence due to homophobia. We have the right as athletes to play and compete in a safe and supportive environment no matter what our gender, race, class, or sexual orientation.”

The Thokozani Football Club

The club is affiliated to the South African Football Association (SAFA women's section) and plays in a league official (ABSA League). It currently has twenty lesbians players, aged from 18 to 41 years. The province of Kwa-Zulu Natal (Durban) is generally characterized by high levels of poverty, a very high HIV prevalence (which does not spare lesbians) and very high exposure of women and homosexuals to violence.

Les Dégommeuses at the Paris Football Arc en ciel football tournament at the TIP Paris International Tournament.

More on KZN LGBT Recreation picnic

We are pleased to share this follow-up from participants at the picnic we reported on yesterday:

It was important to ensure that the police were aware of our presence and that they would be ready to protect us in case of any trouble. We had our permit, and we checked with Lieutenant Naidoo to make sure all would be OK.

What was most interesting in so far as I am concerned was to have as our special guest a parent of a gay child. Anna is a 40 year mother of 2 – a daughter (Nomfundo age 24, and a son age 17). She posed some very important and relevant questions. She said her main aim of attending our event was to establish a better relationship with her lesbian daughter because even though she already tries to be non-judgmental towards her, she wanted to go an extra mile to bring about mutual understanding between each other. She also wanted to find a safe environment for Nomfundo because in the township where they reside, homophobia is very rife. She noticed on several occasion her daughter escape what hate crimes. As a parent, she too receives abuse from the community and her extended family due to Nomfundo’s sexual orientation. The positive outcome out of this we planned a Mothers' Day gathering on 8th May where Anna will be addressing other mothers in a similar situation.

We were happy to have people from KZN LGBT Recreation present, and they lead us in a session of indigenous sports, followed by brain-teaser exercises. That put us in the right condition for the main point of our picnic, to talk about our situation and future actions to improve it.

An interesting point came when Nosipho and Snenhlanhla Mbambo, a lesbian couple, spoke of their relationship. Nosipho’s children are not approve of her partner merely because she is a woman, and call her derogatory names. There have been serious fights, with the police having to be called. Nosipho's son was kicking and threatening Snenhlanhla with a knife. Nosipho is in the middle of this fight because she loves her kids and she loves her partner. They currently live apart for the sake of the kids, but are still very much in love. This is very traumatizing for them, especially for Nosipho, whose entire family is opposed to this relationship, with the exception of her mother. This story is important, and we hope to use it in a documentary to share with others the pressures on gay couples.

KZN LGBT Recreation reports on Human Rights Day picnic

We thank Hlengiwe Buthelezi for this report on a recent activity of our friends at KwaZulu Natal LGBT Recreation, a picnic held in Durban, South Africa on Human Rights Day in conjunction with "Shadows in the Rainbow":


"Shadows in the Rainbow" Gay and Lesbian Project is of the view that human rights violations in South Africa and throughout Africa result from the continent's economic oppression and poverty, together with a traditional patriarchal culture. The vulnerability of women, children, and people of sexual minorities makes them susceptible to the ventilation of stress from the straight male black majority who face poverty and an inferiority complex.

Thus to address the problem of human rights violations regarding freedom of self expression and sexual orientation, gay activists must not neglect the economic oppression, patriarchy, and traditions of African cultures, from which we believe the problem emanates: this must be our point of departure.

Our Vision:

"Shadows in the Rainbow" Gay and Lesbian Project wants to be at the forefront of African gay struggles. As South African gay activists, "Shadows in the Rainbow" wants to eradicate homophobia and heterosexism through interventions and projects, primarily in areas where there is poor LGBTQ representation. "Shadows in the Rainbow" wants to unite the African LGBTQ community of all races, reducing the tensions found within the community. We want to locate gay activism in the context of the larger African people’s struggle, without excluding the agency and input of the overall LGBTQ community.

The Picnic:
The picnic was the first event of the joint venture between KZN LGBT Recreation and "Shadows In the Rainbow". It could not have come at a better time, when Africa is seeing the worst ever homophobic attacks, of which many remain unaware. This picnic saw the coming together of parents of gay children, friends, lovers, and activists to find our place as gay people within Africa. Grassroot problems of coming-out, right through to cultural issues were discussed in depth, and from these discussions future actions were identified, including documentaries and films to educate the general public about gay culture, and group coming- out campaigns. It was a memorable event indeed and milestone into creating dialogue amongst LGBTQI people.

ESPN report on "corrective rape" of lesbian athletes in South Africa

As delegates to the 2008 FGG Annual Meeting in Cape Town heard from our South African friends, "corrective rape" of lesbians is common. This report from ESPN highlights the particular vulnerability of lesbian athletes as targets for rape.

Live From Cologne: Smooth as fine German engineering

Live from Cologne report from Kevin Boyer, Chicago.

Gay Games registration is running very, very smoothly. There are plenty of volunteers and today, at least, the lines were very short or nonexistent. It took me just 1 minute to get my pre-printed credential on the lower level, and that was my stopping to thank the volunteers for their hard work.. Even later when there were more people, it was one volunteer or more to every participant (see pic). Good job, guys.

Upstairs at the Koelnmesse building (where registration is taking place), all of the sports coordinators are giving out schedules, maps and generally helping people orient themselves. Up there I ran into Hlengiwe Buthelezi, a runner from South Africa who has helped represent LGBT athletes from that country to the Federation of Gay Games. She was up there with a couple of friends (see pic). Later downstairs the Chosen Few lesbian soccer team from South Africa came into the registration area singing as they often do to cheers from the many volunteers.

Photos by Kevin Boyer

Help the Chosen Few help themselves

SOUTH AFRICA -- 23 March 2010: In a bid to raise funds for the Gay Games World Tournament in Cologne, Germany, The Chosen Few, a lesbian soccer team, owned by the Forum for Empowerment of Women (FEW) will be hosting a car wash and picnic at Zoolake on Saturday 27 March and are appealing to the community at large for support.

Having received a scholarship* from the Gay Games committee which covers travel expenses and accommodation the team is still in need of a proper gear, assistance with local travelling expenses to and from training and funding for a pre tournament camp.

"Without donations there is no Chosen Few, we need support from the LGBTI community which will further motivate us to perform at our best", said Matshidiso Mofokeng, player of the Chosen Few Team.

Continue reading HERE.

*Generously financed by Dick Uyvari and the late Joe LaPat

LEXIT becomes KZN LGBT Recreation

Hlengiwe Buthelezi, Federation of Gay Games delegate from member TOGS, 2009 FGG Volunteer of the Year, writes about a recent event in the Durban area.

We presented an aerobics marathon at the Virgin Active gym. Weather conditions changed our initial plans: we had originally planned to offer an aerobics marathon, a fashion show, music and Pansula dance, and a soccer fun match. But due to heavy rain, Petros Duma, chair of the event, negotiated with Virgin Active, where he works as an aerobics instructor, so that our event could proceed despite the rainfall.

The event went perfectly well, although cutting back on the programme decreased the number of participants. Those who came were all very excited. I was even more excited about the reception of Gay Games news from those attending, as I had absolutely no negative response from the straight people present. Instead, they all had very relevant questions for me. I have always had the impression that the general public in South Africa was rather homophobic, so this was a most pleasant surprise.

Everyone, including straight people, was interested to learn more about the Gay Games and they all took pamphlets to utilize the information. Even long after the event I still get enquiries from people who did not even attend the event.