Being a fan of the opposite sex, I can only imagine the courage that it takes to come out as homosexual in a society that remains so full of hate.

Dirty sideways glances, snide remarks whispered under the breath, these are lived realities for many (if not most) gay and lesbian South Africans.

But what about actual physical harm – surely we’re not stuck in some kind of time warp, where people think it’s OK to be physically violent towards someone based solely on their sexuality?

Sadly, according to the latest Gauteng City-Region Observatory Quality of Life Survey, we well and truly are. Check this from MambaOnline:

…an astonishing 14% of the province’s citizens say it is acceptable to be violent to gay and lesbian people…[which] equates to around 1.26 million people…

The 2015 results, released on Tuesday, also found that only 56% agreed that gay and lesbian people deserve equal rights with all South Africans.

Think about that for a second – imagine living in a province where over a million people wouldn’t bat an eyelid if someone physically harmed you, and just over half believe you deserved the same basic rights as everyone else.

The results appear to indicate a complete failure of government and civil society efforts to reduce homophobia and change attitudes in South Africa’s richest and most populous province.

Senior researcher Dr Sally Peberdy told Mambaonline that while those who said that violence against gay people was acceptable “won’t necessarily go out and be violent, it does mean that there is an environment in which it is increasingly possible.”

She was surprised as to the extent to which violence against gay people was seen as much more acceptable compared to xenophobic violence against foreigners (3% agreed) or for a man to hit or beat his partner (2% agreed).

“If you look at a comparison between the other two it really is shocking and disturbing,” Peberdy said.

A graph which illustrates that last point:

It’s easy to take cheap shots at Gauteng based on this data, but a similar study has never been conducted in any other province.

Sadly you’ve have to guess those numbers would be similar, all of which points to a society that should take a hard look at itself.

Do better South Africa, this is just not OK.

[source:mambaonline]