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Andrew Tucker lectures at the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge. He earned his PhD from the department and has also held an Economic and Social Research Council of the UK Postdoctoral Research Fellowship there. He has spent several extended periods of time in South Africa for research.

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Queer Visibilities explores the gap between liberal South African law and the more dangerous reality for groups of queer men living in Cape Town. By examining the lives of queer men among the three major ‘race’ groups in Cape Town – whites, coloureds and black Africans – this illuminating new study shows how changes in South African law remain marginal to vast numbers of the city’s queers. The text also explores the inextricable links between the regulation and expression of queer sexualities and the histories of racial classification in the country. It argues that Western notions of ‘the closet’ fail to account for important distinctions between men who at times inhabit vastly different social worlds. Such distinctions, however, must be uncovered if the needs and wishes of diverse communities are to be understood. Queer Visibilities combines the most up-to-date theoretical arguments with extensive new field research to shed light on some important failures of the New South Africa – including the many hardships faced by black African queer men in the Cape Town townships and a ‘forgotten HIV epidemic’ caused by lingering homophobia and ignorance.

This important new book contributes valuable insights into the study of human sexuality and reveals how sexual discrimination remains a challenge that must be overcome for the true spirit of reconciliation to be realised in South African society.

Aus dem Klappentext

Queer Visibilities explores the gap between liberal South African law and the more dangerous reality for groups of queer men living in Cape Town. By examining the lives of queer men among the three major ‘race’ groups in Cape Town – whites, coloureds and black Africans – this illuminating new study shows how changes in South African law remain marginal to vast numbers of the city’s queers. The text also explores the inextricable links between the regulation and expression of queer sexualities and the histories of racial classification in the country. It argues that Western notions of ‘the closet’ fail to account for important distinctions between men who at times inhabit vastly different social worlds. Such distinctions, however, must be uncovered if the needs and wishes of diverse communities are to be understood. Queer Visibilities combines the most up-to-date theoretical arguments with extensive new field research to shed light on some important failures of the New South Africa – including the many hardships faced by black African queer men in the Cape Town townships and a ‘forgotten HIV epidemic’ caused by lingering homophobia and ignorance.

This important new book contributes valuable insights into the study of human sexuality and reveals how sexual discrimination remains a challenge that must be overcome for the true spirit of reconciliation to be realised in South African society.

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Queer Visibilities

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

Introduction

At the end of 2006 South Africa joined a very small, yet very special club. Indeed, this club was so special that, since its creation at the beginning of the new millennium, it had lead to incessant discussion among many other nations. While very few other countries seemed particularly enthusiastic about joining its membership, several spent a remarkably large amount of time explaining why those who had joined were mistaken in doing so. Commentators in nations stretching from the Middle East to Eastern Europe to Africa all appeared to believe that membership must never be sanctioned and, if possible, should be actively legislated against. The President of the United States even went so far as to suggest subscribing to the club's ideas might imperil the 'most fundamental institution of civilisation'. This was therefore, in some ways, not only a special, but also apparently a rather dangerous club.

South Africa had decided to grant same-sex couples the right to marry. It joined the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Canada. The legalisation of same-sex marriage has helped position South Africa as the most progressive country on the entire continent. Nationally, same-sex marriage has been held up as one of the strongest examples of the country's move away from an intolerant past - a past now more associated with the opponents of same-sex marriage than with the current South African government. Some might fairly argue that such achievements have been well worth the hyperbole from 'less progressive' countries.

And indeed, the achievement of South Africa in this regard should not be underestimated. In just one and a half decades the country has gone from persecuting and arresting individuals with same-sex desire, to allowing them to adopt children and marry. No other country has so radically changed its position towards queer individuals or the world's perception of itself in such a short period of time.

Yet while such achievements have indeed been admirable, the legal rights attained do not necessarily equate to daily improvements in the lives of many queer South Africans. While, de jure, queer citizens in South Africa now have the ability to marry, de facto, many still cannot. And while cities such as Cape Town are able to boast about their liberal and accepting stance towards queer individuals, the reality on the ground for many, even in Cape Town, may be considerably different. This book explores this gap between liberal law and the more dangerous reality for groups of queer men in Cape Town.

To understand this gap requires first an acknowledgement of the diversity of queer experiences in the country and, as this book will show, the diversity across urban space in one particular city. As researchers in other locations have shown, the variety of community experiences that make up queer existence across the globe is truly staggering (Cruz-Malav and Manalansan 2002; Hayes 2000; Jackson and Sullivan 1999; Parker 1999; Patton and Snchez-Eppler 2000; Reid-Pharr 2002). An attempt to understand any local queer community therefore requires a detailed exploration of the many issues that have affected, and continue to affect, it. Yet in a country such as South Africa, queer experiences are further complicated by the extraordinary way in which communities have historically been spatially regulated by the state. The use of 'race' as the basis of a system of discrimination has left the country with deep social, economic and political scars. Queer communities today have therefore also remained strongly influenced by the way colonial and later apartheid mechanisms compartmentalised, regulated and manipulated groups.

Indeed, while the regulation of difference based on 'race' has been well documented in South Africa, the direct effect it had on different queer communities has yet to be systematically explored. In large part this stems from barriers in gaining access to different communities. The legacy of apartheid makes it difficult to gain entrance and acceptance within communities historically segregated in the urban environment. Yet the lack of detailed cross-community research also perhaps signifies a greater problem, namely that of being able to explore the numerous nuanced ways different communities dealt with ideas of same-sex desire. By taking a geographical approach, this book will show how individuals from the three main historically and racially defined population groups in the city of Cape Town have come to understand and represent queer sexuality in remarkably different yet also related ways. It will be shown that in large part this is due to the different ways the apartheid state attempted to categorise and spatially contain them.

Only once this is achieved will it be possible to begin to understand why changes in South African law, while clearly laudable, remain marginal to the vast majority of queer individuals in the country. As many commentators have noted, the ending of apartheid in South Africa has not meant an ending to inequality or discrimination (Bollens 1998a; Lodge 2002; Saff 1994; Turok 2001). To truly begin to explore different queer communities in South Africa today is therefore also to set out on a journey that examines the social and political interactions of these groups. So much of South Africa's past is based on different communities' perceptions of themselves in relation to other, often neighbouring communities. The same is true for queer communities.

This is therefore a book that will examine the way different, specifically male, queer communities have been able to lead open and free lives, the problems and possibilities of cross-community interaction and the way these subjects and events have been shaped by the unique history of the country. The remainder of this chapter reviews a number of studies of queer groups and argues that a different approach is needed for Cape Town queer communities if their lives are ever to be adequately understood.

A Question of Visibility

The approach used by this book can be summed up by the notion of queer visibility. At its core, this is a geographical concept that examines how queer groups are able to overcome the heteronormativity of particular urban spaces; the options that are available for them to do so; the perception of the decision to undertake certain visibilities by different members of their own community and those of others; and the problems and possibilities of groups interacting based in large part on these very divergent visibilities. It is therefore more than simply an exploration of queer public performances. Neither is it a study which presupposes that visibility by itself is a positive outcome. Rather, it is a study of how groups perceive themselves and each other in relation to their own community structures, the structures of others and the problems of social and political exchange.

In a city such as Cape Town, such visibilities will also be directly tied to the way communities were defined by artificial and arbitrary classifications of 'race'. As will be explored below, apartheid was at its core a spatial strategy, and as such, resulted in different 'racially-defined' communities being located at different points within the urban environment. If heteronormativity is viewed not as a monolithic entity, but as a type of regulative power dependent...