In a move to identify key areas of intervention “to ensure the achievement of LGBTIQ+ equality in SA”, the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) is calling for the public’s input on the issue. It said it is launching the #LGBTIQ+ equality project in line with its powers to monitor, investigate, research, educate, lobby, advise, and report on issues concerning gender equality, according to a News24 report.
“While acknowledging the progress over the past decades of our democracy: equality in marriage; removal of sodomy laws; equal recognition of spousal benefits and inclusion of same-sex couples in adoption; also means a re-look at the areas where there has been little to no progress and even regression in important areas of transgender inclusion; and forced divorces and intersex genital mutilation,” the CGE explained.
The Chapter Nine body believed that removing explicitly discriminatory legislative provisions from law books has not eradicated “societal prejudices that entrench and encourage discriminatory practices and actions in employment, access to health, criminal justice, and safety and security”. “While the Constitutional Court has recognised and declared unconstitutional various exclusionary provisions, this has had little effect on improving the life chances of the LGBTIQ+ community as a whole,” the CGE added.
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