(Re)considering the Rainbow

Abstract

This article seeks to interrogate the Rainbow Nation Project and its ties to the LGBTIAQ movement in post-1994 South Africa. In particular, the paper looks at Joburg Pride between 1990 and 2013, and explores the fragmentation of Pride, and how this was tied up with the Rainbow Nation project. Joburg Pride is South Africa’s longest running Pride event, and is unique in that it was the first LGBTIAQ Pride march in South Africa at a time when there were no legal protections for lesbian and gay South Africans The paper proposes that the LGBTIAQ community in South Africa were strategically granted rights in order to further the Rainbow Nation project, and through this came to participate in the erasure of the pain and violence experienced by South Africans under apartheid rule. This research was conducted through a critical discourse analysis of Exit articles, Exit is South Africa’s longest running gay newspaper. In addition, interviews were conducted with people involved in the organizing of Joburg Pride and Johannesburg People’s Pride.