Queer SONA: LGBTQIA+ Community Calls on President Cyril Ramaphosa to Address Important Issues
- A non-profit organisation called Iranti launched a social media campaign to get President Cyril Ramaphosa to pay attention to the queer community ahead of SONA
- The campaign that has been dubbed #QueerSONA is giving LGBTQI individuals to raise pertinent issues that affect them
- Iranti wants Ramphosa to include queer people in his presidential address to the three arms of state and South Africans
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CAPE TOWN - Iranti, a non-profit organisation, has launched a social media campaign called #QueerSONA in an effort to get President Cyril Ramaphosa to address the pertinent issues that affect the LGBTQ community in South Africa.
Ramaphosa is scheduled to give the most important presidential address on Thursday, 10 February at 7pm. The State of the Nation Address(SONA) will be held at the Cape Town City Hall.
In the build to the President's address, various organisations have taken the opportunity to share their thoughts about what they expect Ramaphosa to speak to at the SONA.
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Some of the issues the President is expected to address include, state security, economic recovery, unemployment, the Basic Income Grant and so many more.
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What is the purpose of #QueerSONA?
Speaking to Briefly News, Communications and Media Manager at Iranti Nolwazi Tunisi, says the #QueerSONA campaign was launched to give people within the queer community an opportunity to advocate for themselves. Queer people are encouraged to share some of the issues they would like to see the President address at the SONA under the hashtag.
What we wanted to do as Iranti was to encourage the LGBTIQ people to actively take up space and use their voices to advocate for themselves by actively engaging the President on his State of Nation Address," said Tunisi.
The organisation is not satisfied with the fact that in the past 10 years, the LGBTQ community has only been mentioned once during the SONA.
Iranti recognises that in previous addresses there have been mentions of issues such as the brutal attacks against the LGBTQ community, there are other issues that the community faces that need intervention from the President's intervention.
"The aim of #QueerSONA is to bring the urgent issues impacting the LGBTIQ community to the President’s attention so that he will publicly commit state officials as well as state resources to doing the crucial work of ensuring an end to the discrimination faced by LGBTIQ persons," says Tunisi.
Tunisi says #QueeSONA aims to ensure that when Ramaphosa addresses all three arms of the state and South Africans at large, the queer community is also included in the most important speech of the year.
Issues the LGBTIQ community faces
Tunisi says the organisation would like for Ramaphosa to support the amendments of Act 49 that will allow all transgender, non-binary and intersex access to identity documents. The amendments to the Act have already been proposed to the Department of Home Affairs.
Secondly, the queer community would like to see intervention in the healthcare sector that will put an end to Intersex Genital Mutilation, where intersex children are forced to undergo 'corrective' surgeries without their consent. Iranti says such surgeries are harmful and unnecessary and there are no health risks related to being intersex.
Tunisi says queer people who have contributed to the #QueerSONA campaign have highlighted issues such as safety, access to healthcare, education and economic opportunities as some of the issues they would like Ramaphosa to address.
She says most people have called on the President to pay attention to the safety of queer people in public spaces, schools and even when it comes to the engagement of queer people and the police.
Queer people are encouraged to keep sending their submissions to the President under the #QueerSONA hashtag. The organisation will keep submissions open even after SONA and throughout the weekend.
"Expect empty promises": South Africans share some of the topics they hope Ramaphosa will address at SONA
Briefly News previously reported that on Thursday, 10 February President Cyril Ramaphosa will be giving one of the most important presidential addresses of the year at the State of the Nation Address (SONA).
This year's much-anticipated event will be attended by 265 Members of Parliament at the Cape Town City Hall, while the rest will be viewing the proceedings virtually.
The SONA is usually an opportunity for the sitting president to lay out the plans for the country in the coming year. The annual event gives the President the opportunity to address the people of South Africa and take stock of the promises made in the previous year as well.
Source: Briefly News
