ABSTRACT

Joburg Pride 2012 was disrupted mid-parade by the One in Nine Campaign “calling for one minute of silence for black queer victims of violence,” and it was “met by animosity and additional violence from the predominantly white attendees” (Hengeveld and Tallie 2012). Animosity and violence that suggested that there was no place for honouring and mourning the black queer lives lost to hate crimes. In addition to the call for one minute of silence, the One in Nine Campaign argued that Joburg Pride had become depoliticised as a result of its increased commercialisation (One in Nine Campaign 2012). This article, in unpacking the moment of the 2012 disruption, through reviewing media articles throughout the research period of 1990 to 2012, and through oral history interviews, interrogates the commercial interests of Joburg Pride organisers, specifically how in projecting a particular image of the LGBTIAQ community to sponsors, they came to exclude black queer experiences, in particular experiences of hate crimes from Joburg Pride. The work is positioned within critical theory and queer theory.