SOUTH AFRICA - Activists lash out against rapes targeting lesbians
Published:Wednesday | March 16, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Cape Town (AP):
Rights activists are speaking out against rapes targeting lesbians in South Africa.
About 25 demonstrators rallied outside parliament on Monday while their leaders met with government representatives.
Luleki Sizwe, which means "guide a nation," a small group of lesbian activists in the townships of Cape Town, also circulated an online petition calling on Justice Minister Jeff Radebe "to address 'corrective rape,' the increasingly common hate crime in which men rape lesbian women to 'turn' them straight or 'cure' them of their sexual orientation."
In three months, the organisation gathered more than 170,000 signatures around the world. The online campaign also led thousands to send emails to Radebe.
Luleki Sizwe founder Ndumie Funda said: "We have shown that we can mobilise tens of thousands of people in South Africa and around the world, and the ministry now knows that they can no longer ignore our long fight against corrective rape. The question now is what they will actually do about it. The ball is in their court."