The Boston Gay Men's Chorus in Langa
The time is flying by! I have not posted in a while because so much has been going on within the office. Much of that I will detail in a subsequent post. However, this post is dedicated to an overview of the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus (“BGMC”) performance a couple of weeks ago at Langa Civic Hall.
In order to prepare for the BGMC performance, we were told that everything had been taken care of except for marketing. We were given large posters and flyers to pass out around the community in order to make sure that there was a strong attendance. There was a very real concern that the BGMC could outnumber our audience since they brought about one hundred members to South Africa on their tour.
Each stop of the BGMC tour was meant as a fundraiser for a particular organization. While some locations were within the city center and the tickets cost R220, which is about $20, our performance was in the township of Langa. We decided to have free admittance based on the fact that many Langa residents could not afford tickets and we wanted as many people to be exposed to the LGBTI+ performance as possible. As an intern doing both legal and LGBTI+ advocacy work, I do a variety of different tasks, including passing out flyers in Langa for a fundraising show. Before we went to Langa to pass out the flyers (a mission which had been delayed several days due to lots of rain), several people approached us with concerns about our safety. All townships have a reputation for being dangerous, but Langa also has a reputation for being very conservative and strict about events needing to be approved by community leaders. With the event only a week away, we became concerned that the company that created the tour had not considered the effect of bypassing consultation with Langa leaders. We later noticed the day before the event that the posters we had put up around Langa had been taken down.
The day of the event, I was anxious to see a good turnout and hoped the show would go smoothly. The event was scheduled for 8 PM, which was another challenge for us, as many people within Langa do not feel safe walking around the township after dark. As one man told us while we were passing out flyers, “Not even the gangsters come out at that time.” All of this being said, the event went off without a hitch. The BGMC first listened to the stories of five refugees associated with our organization and later asked us questions about how they could help. I heard stories about the rest of their tour, which included starting a Pride march that resulted in the mayor of the town being fired for homophobic resistance to their march and about how they got a welcome from South African President Ramaphosa himself. The BGMC are kind, exuberant, have amazing voices, and incredible dance moves. I definitely got emotional during the performance thinking about the LGBTI+ movement over the years and realizing how far we have come and yet aware of how far we have to go. We are so grateful for BGMC’s willingness to bring their performance to the communities where LGBTI+ refugees face the most violence and discrimination in Cape Town.
