Abstract
The article reports on the findings of a qualitative sociologicalstudy conducted between June and December 2012 with 17 self-identified gay male academics on their experiences in South African tertiary education. Adopting a queer theoretical critique of the process of self-reflexivity, the research focused on how the participants experience homophobia and its influence on their choice to remain in the closet or to disclose their homosexuality. Based on the views of the 15 in-depth interviews and two self-administered questionnaires, three themes associated with gay male academic reflexivity emerged: assimilation, segregation and dualistic transgression. Assimilation assumes the subordination of homosexuality in relation to heterosexuality, segregation the distinction between hetero- and homosexuality, whereas dualistic transgression underlines the reciprocal interplay between the first two themes.
Highlights
The current International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association’s (ILGA) State-Sponsored Homophobia report, which chronicles the legislative protection of sexual minorities worldwide, gives a troubling picture on those who identify other than heterosexual, in many African countries. Meerkotter (2015: 101) notes that “...legal developments in parts of Africa took a turn for the worse in 2014, with the enactment of laws which increased penalties for same-sex sexual acts, but broadened the scope of criminalisation” in countries including Botswana, Malawi, Gambia and Tanzania, among others
Colin attempts at keeping his gay identity hidden from his students, his colleagues are aware of his sexual orientation
Rick shared this perspective by separating his gay identity from his lecturing role, since he argues that the main impetus should be placed on the “...excellence” of his work and not his sexual orientation; the latter should not have any bearing on his professional work
Summary
The current International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association’s (ILGA) State-Sponsored Homophobia report, which chronicles the legislative protection of sexual minorities worldwide, gives a troubling picture on those who identify other than heterosexual, in many African countries. Meerkotter (2015: 101) notes that “...legal developments in parts of Africa took a turn for the worse in 2014, with the enactment of laws which increased penalties for same-sex sexual acts, but broadened the scope of criminalisation” in countries including Botswana, Malawi, Gambia and Tanzania, among others. Anti-gay rhetoric has resulted in arrests and imprisonment of, as well as imposing the death penalty on, those who engage in same-sex sexual acts (Meerkotter 2015) Many of these discriminatory tendencies may be associated with beliefs that homosexuality, as a so-called Western import, contradicts and defies traditional African culture (Dlamini 2006). In the years immediately preceding the legal acknowledgment and pro tection of sexual minorities as part of the South African Constitution, an organised mobilisation for the rights of sexual dissidents facilitated an attempt by various organisations across South Africa to form the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality (NCGLE) in 1994 One of their objectives included highlighting the importance of retaining an explicit reference to sexual orientation in the Equality Clause of the final Constitution (Sections 9(3) and (4)), in order to campaign for a decriminalisation of homosexuality and to challenge discrimination (NCGLE 2005). These included: abolishing the crime of sodomy in 1998 and affording same-sex couples equal rights pertaining to immigration regulations (1999), pension benefits (2002), recovering funeral expenses (2003), adoption (2002) and marriage (2006), whether billed as civil union or marital union (Reddy 2010)
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