Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in South Africa have the same legal rights as non-LGBTQ people, the only country in Africa where this is the case. South Africa has a complex and diverse history regarding the human rights of LGBTQ people. Rights have strengthened over the years, as has acceptance of the community.
Contributing factors include traditional South African morals amongst some citizens, colonialism, the lingering effects of apartheid, the human rights movement that contributed to its abolition, a strong legal system of protections for marginalised communities, and a generally progressive political landscape and younger generation.
The country hosts numerous LGBTQ+ events throughout the year, and major cities celebrate Pride. South Africa is generally considered the safest and most welcoming country in Africa for the LGBTQ+ community, and as of 2025, the country ranks highly on a global scale for LGBTQ+ rights, protections, and travel.
South Africa's post-apartheid Constitution was the first in the world to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation, and in 2006, South Africa became the fifth country in the world and the first and only nation in Africa to legalise same-sex marriage. Same-sex couples can also adopt children jointly, and also arrange IVF and surrogacy treatments. LGBTQ people have constitutional and statutory protections from discrimination in employment and society, the provision of goods and services and many other areas.
LGBT history in South Africa
Homosexuality and same-sex relations have been documented among various modern-day South African groups. In the 18th century, the Khoikhoi people recognised the terms , which refers to a man who is sexually receptive to another man, and , which refers to same-sex masturbation usually among friends. Anal intercourse and sexual relations between women also occurred, though more rarely. The Khoi youth Klaas Blank was the first to be executed for sodomy in the Dutch Cape Colony in 1735 after having sexual relations with a man.
The Bantu peoples, most notably the Zulu, Basotho, Mpondo and Tsonga people, had a tradition of young men ( in Zulu, in Sesotho,Marc Epprecht, Hungochani, Second Edition: The History of a Dissident Sexuality (2003, ) page 3 tinkonkana in Mpondo, and in Tsonga, also known as "boy-wives" in English) who typically dressed as women (even wearing fake breasts), performed chores associated with women, such as cooking and fetching water and firewood, and had intercrural sex with their older husbands (numa in Ndebele and Sesotho, and nima in Mpondo and Tsonga).Amara Das Wilhelm, Tritiya-Prakriti: People of the Third Sex (2004, ), page 230
In addition, they were not allowed to grow beards, and sometimes they were not allowed to ejaculate. Upon reaching manhood, the relationship would be dissolved, and the boy-wife could take an inkotshane of his own if he so desired. These relationships, also known as "mine marriages" as they were common among miners, continued well into the 1950s. They are usually discussed as homosexual relationships, though sometimes the boy-wives are discussed in the context of transgender experiences.Chantal Zabus, David Coad, Transgender Experience: Place, Ethnicity, and Visibility (2013, ), page 163G. G. Bolich, Transgender History & Geography: Crossdressing in Context (2007, ), page 250
Other Bantu peoples, including the Tswana people,Botswana chiefs: 'Homosexuality has always been here'. Erasing 76 Crimes, 26 July 2013 and the Ndebele people, had traditions of acceptance or indifference towards same-sex sexual acts. In these societies, homosexuality was not viewed as an antithesis to heterosexuality. There was widespread liberty to engage in sexual activity with both men and women.Scott Long, A. Widney Brown, Gail Cooper. More Than a Name: State-sponsored Homophobia and Its Consequences in Southern Africa, Human Rights Watch, 2003
In IsiNgqumo, the term refers to effeminate gay men who have sexual relations with men, or transgender women, although the two are not the same at all. The term refers to masculine gay men.
Sexual intercourse between men was historically prohibited in South Africa as the common law crime of "sodomy" and "unnatural sexual offence", inherited from the Roman-Dutch law. A 1969 amendment to the Immorality Act prohibited men from engaging in any erotic conduct when there were more than two people present. In the 1970s and the 1980s, LGBT activism was among the many human rights movements in the nation, with some groups only dealing with LGBT rights and others advocating for a broader human rights campaign.
In 1994, male same-sex conduct was legalised, female same-sex conduct never having been illegal (as with other former British colonies). At the time of legalisation, the age of consent was set at 19 for all same-sex sexual conduct, regardless of gender. In May 1996, South Africa became the first jurisdiction in the world to provide constitutional protection to LGBTQ people, via section 9(3) of the South African Constitution, which disallows discrimination on race, gender, sexual orientation and other grounds. Since 16 December 2007, all discriminatory provisions have been formally repealed. This included introducing an equalised age of consent at 16 regardless of sexual orientation, and all sexual offences defined in gender-neutral terms.
Apartheid era Under South Africa's ruling National Party from 1948 to 1994, homosexuality was a crime punishable by up to seven years in prison; this law was used to harass and outlaw South African gay community events and political activists. In January 1966, the Forest Town raid on a large party in Forest Town, Gauteng led to further restrictions on gay and lesbian South Africans.
Despite state opposition, several South African gay rights organisations formed in the late 1970s. However, until the late 1980s gay organisations were often divided along racial lines and the larger political question of apartheid. The Gay Association of South Africa (GASA), based in the Hillbrow district in central Johannesburg, was a predominantly white organisation that initially avoided taking an official position on apartheid, while the Rand Gay Organisation was multi-racial and founded in opposition to apartheid. Lesbians in Love and Compromising Situations (LILACS) was founded in 1983 as the first South African lesbian-only society, by a group including Julia Nicol and Sheila Lapinsky. LILACS disbanded in 1985 due to disagreement among members as to whether the group should be involved in political campaigns rather than focus on social activities.
Hubert du Plessis, one of the most prominent South African composers of the 20th century, was proudly and openly gay yet also a staunch supporter of the National Party and composed many nationalist works. He was outspoken about his sexuality, however, and appeared before Parliament in the late 1960s to protest the tightening of sodomy laws.James May (2011) Obituary – Hubert du Plessis, Journal of the Musical Arts in Africa, 8:1, 115-116, DOI: 10.2989/18121004.2011.652401
In the country's 1987 general election, GASA and the gay magazine Exit endorsed the National Party candidate for Hillbrow, Leon de Beer. The campaign brought to a head the tensions between LGBT activists who overtly opposed apartheid and those that did not. De Beer was the National Party's first candidate to address gay rights, and advertised for his campaign in Exit. It was the general opinion of the gay community of Hillbrow that their vote was the deciding factor in de Beer's ultimate victory.
From the 1960s to the late 1980s, the South African Defence Force forced white gay and lesbian soldiers to undergo various medical "cures" for their sexual orientation, including sex reassignment surgery. The treatment of gay and lesbian soldiers in the South African military was explored in a 2003 documentary film, titled Property of the State.
South Africa's first ever Lesbian and Gay Pride march was held on 13 October 1990 in Johannesburg, organized by the Gay and Lesbian Organization of Witwatersrand. It was attended by around 800 people, and speakers included Beverley Ditsie, Simon Nkoli and Edwin Cameron.
Organisations such as the Organisation of Lesbian and Gay Activists (OLGA) worked with the African National Congress to include protections for LGBT people in the new Constitution of South Africa.
Post-apartheid era
In 1993, the African National Congress, in the Bill of Rights, endorsed the legal recognition of same-sex marriages, and the interim Constitution prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. These provisions were kept in the new Constitution, approved in 1996, due to the lobbying efforts of LGBT South Africans. As a result, South Africa became the first nation in the world to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in its constitution. Two years later, the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled in a landmark case that the law prohibiting homosexual conduct between consenting adults in private violated the Constitution.
In 1994, during his inauguration speech as president, Nelson Mandela stated the following:
The gay flag of South Africa, designed by Eugene Brockman, is a hybrid of the LGBT rainbow flag and the South African national flag launched in 1994 after the end of the apartheid era. Brockman said "I truly believe we (the LGBT community) put the dazzle into our rainbow nation and this flag is a symbol of just that". The stated purposes of the flag include celebrating legal same-sex marriage in South Africa and addressing issues such as discrimination, homophobia, corrective rape and hate crimes. The flag is a gay pride symbol that aims to reflect the freedom and diversity of the South African nation and build pride in being an LGBT South African.
In 1998, Parliament passed the Employment Equity Act. The law protects South Africans from labour discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, among other categories. In 2000, similar protections were extended to public accommodations and services, with the commencement of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act.
In December 2005, the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled that it was unconstitutional to prevent people of the same gender from marrying when it was permitted to people of the opposite gender, and gave the South African Parliament one year to pass legislation which would allow same-sex unions. In November 2006, the National Assembly voted 229–41 for a bill allowing same-sex civil marriage, as well as civil partnerships for unmarried opposite-sex and same-sex couples. However, civil servants and clergy can refuse to solemnise same-sex unions.
Not all ANC members supported the new law. Former South African President Jacob Zuma was among its most outspoken opponents, claiming in 2006 that "when I was growing up, an ungqingili (Zulu term describing a homosexual) would not have stood in front of me. I would knock him out." Unlike Zuma, his successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa, is considered an LGBT-friendly politician, and has a positive record regarding LGBT people and their rights.