| Summary: | Research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in
Political Studies.
March 2015 === This paper examines race and class schisms among South African LGBTI persons using the lens of hate
crimes legislation. While much praise is given to South Africa’s constitutional framework which provides
for non-discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, LGBTI persons still face unacceptably high
levels of violence and victimisation. An ongoing trend of violent murders of black lesbian women in
particular has mobilised advocacy by LGBTI organisations and other civil society actors to call for hate
crimes legislation. This paper takes a critical look at hate crimes legislation and the potential problems of
its application in a society with gross inequality and power discrepancies. This critique has as its
foundation an acknowledgement that action needs to be taken to address the scourge of violence, while at
the same time understanding the intersectionality of oppression and the uneven results achieved by liberal
legal reform.
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