NPR
Rainbow Girls
10 Years Of Protection & Prejudice
Vee, photographed at the Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town, SA, 2022. “During these 10 years, I grew up, you see. This Vee, the youngest Vee and the innocent Vee and shy Vee, who did not want to stand up for what was happening around me and around my friends, is different now because I was shy before this. I was reluctant to talk, but I had to learn to change that in 10 years.”
From left: Nozuko, Thozama, Nana, Zintle, Hlomela and Tsidi (in front) pose for a photo backstage during the Miss Lesbian beauty pageant in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, SA, 2012.
Siya, photographed at the Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town, SA, 2022. “Something that helped me is to help other people. That child who is crying in me, she was crying for safety. I changed to be that person I wanted in my life. I became that thing I wanted in my life. I was that shoulder I wanted in my life. I became something that I wanted from other people.”
A lineup at the Miss Lesbian beauty pageant in Cape Town’s Khayelitsha township in 2012.
Hlomela, photographed at the Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town, SA, 2022. “If somebody is mistreating or abusing you because you are gay or whatever, speak up. … Go out there and seek help. Do not stay in that situation. When you know you are not happy, when there is someone that’s taking advantage of you, speak up.”
Hlomela poses for a photo backstage during the Miss Lesbian beauty pageant in Cape Town’s Khayelitsha township in 2012.
Terra, photographed at the Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town, SA, 2022. “I encourage the LGBTQ community to drive themselves to live a meaningful life. … I would like to say to our parents, allow LGBTQ community members and to allow their children to be what they want to become. You gave birth to them not to live your life, so let them live their lives.”
Terra poses for a photo on Cape Town’s Long Street in 2012. “My name is Terra and I got kicked out of the house when I was 16 years old because I’m a lesbian.”
Contestants getting ready backstage, Miss Lesbian Beauty Pageant, Khayelitsha, 2012.
Contestant Sino, Miss Lesbian Beauty Pageant, Khayelitsha, 2012.
Sino, Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town, 2022. “I have been trying, going to the community, street by street, carrying our flags. But, people do not want to listen. … They always say a girl is a girl. A man is a man. A woman must have a relationship with a man.”
written by Nick Schönfeld
In the autumn of 2012, photographer Julia Gunther was working in South Africa, researching a documentary project about activism within LGBTQ communities in and around Cape Town.
Gunther was particularly interested in making portraits of individuals advocating in the challenging environments of the city's many townships.
By chance, during a meeting with Professor Zethu Matebeni, at the time a senior researcher at the Institute for Humanities in Africa (HUMA) at the University of Cape Town, a fax arrived inviting Matebeni to judge a lesbian beauty pageant in the township of Khayelitsha a few days later. She suggested that Gunther attend, as it would be a good opportunity to meet other LGBTQ advocates.
The documentary
Despite recent legal protections, South Africa’s LGBTQ communities still face a gap between progressive legislation and their lived realities. In this film, a group of black lesbian women reflect on what has — and hasn't — changed in their lives in South Africa in the past ten years. They discuss the persistence of violence, discrimination, and the fragile guarantee of safety and acceptance over a decade that, on paper, promised big gains for LGBTQ rights. The groundwork for this film was laid back in 2012, when I attended the Miss Lesbian beauty pageant in the Khayelitsha township of Cape Town, South Africa. I made a series of portraits for my independent documentary project, Rainbow Girls. Ten years later, I reconnected with filmmaker and former Miss Lesbian contestant Velisa ‘Vee’ Jara. Together, we decided to organize a photographic reunion. Over the course of two days, we invited nine women featured in my original series to the Castle of Good Hope. This time, I not only made new portraits but also filmed the women’s conversations with Jara. We wondered if, by placing the portraits from 2012 and 2022 side by side, one could see the impact of a decade of advocacy and struggle.