Members of the Western Cape End Hate Alliance will gather at the Blue Downs Magistrate Court in the Western Cape on May 29, 2009, to follow the proceedings and demonstrate outside the court in the hearing of a rape of an openly gay man.

Luanda was allegedly raped and left in the ditch in his eMfuleni home township on April 26 last year. Three men were initially arrested and later released on bail following their appearance in court on March 11, 2009, at the Blue Downs Magistrate Court.

This is the first case of rape of a black gay man from the townships that has reached trial in the province that has reached trial and it is expected to ensure justice for Luanda and all the other Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered and Intersexed people whose cases never reached a court room. The latest hearing is part of a broader campaign to pressure the South African Criminal Justice System to strengthen its human-rights protections of LGBTI individuals.

The hearing comes on the heels of the Western Cape End Hate Alliance demands that the Criminal Justice System must:

• Uphold victim’s rights as set out in the Victim’s Charter and the Minimum Standards on Services for Victims of Crime.
• We want the court’s commitment to ensuring that victims are not subjected to further discrimination on account of their sexual orientation or gender presentation during the trial.  
• We want the prosecutors and magistrates to give full consideration to the role of homophobia in the perpetration of these crimes.
• We demand that the court consider all evidence before it and render sentences that reflect the court’s condemnation of all hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
• We want the prosecutors and magistrates to oppose all efforts to blame the victims as is so common in rape trials.  
• We want the court to oppose unnecessary postponements and ensure swift progress in the trials.