GLAAD withdraws support for COPE

The South African Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (SA GLAAD) herewith announces the withdrawal of it’s support for COPE as a party for which gay and trans citizens should vote in the 2009 elections. SA GLAAD’s reasons for this withdrawal are as follows:

COPE’s choice of Presidential Candidate – The appointment of religious figures in positions of political power and influence as a direct threat to secular democracy;
The appointment of a Presidential Candidate associated with a religious group which has in the past unequivocally demonstrated its opposition to GLBT rights and equality;
COPE’s apparent decision to change into a religious political entity and the threat this poses to equality for all in SA, particularly with reference to GLBT rights.
By appointing a religious figure in such a high office, COPE is taking on the mantle of a religious party - and we anticipate a threat that as such COPE could later form alliances with other religious-cum-political parties which are very, very far from gay friendly and anti-equality. It is no secret that some religious political parties in SA have been trying to reverse every single human rights gain GLBT have made in the last 15 years.

SA GLAAD views a secular democracy as the only safe way forward where ALL people in SA of all faiths, races, cultures and diversities can enjoy freedom and equality together. A President who is also an ordained religious minister and who had filled high offices in religious bodies – would simply by that fact alone ensure that SA would no longer be run by a secular government, but a theocracy – a country whose government is run by a church or religion.

While COPE is portraying Bishop Mvume Dandala as a moderate campaigner for human rights and an esteemed cleric with no agenda against equal rights for GLBT, a major point of concern for gay and transgender people with regard to COPE’s choice of presidential candidate is the discovery that Bishop Dandala is listed as a past Co-Chairperson of a group called SACLA (South African Christian Leadership Assembly).

Many will remember the role SACLA played at the time of the court battles surrounding the passing of legislation which legalized same gender marriage in South Africa. On its website SACLA describes this defeat in 2006 and the move to ‘restore marriage’ quite aggressively and emphatically as a quote “war” unquote. SACLA’s involvement in the fight against same gender marriage reveals this organizations (and ergo it’s leadership’s) narrow views on GLBT rights and equality. When Dr Dandala left this position is unclear, but nevertheless his association with this group is clear.

During his later tenure as head of the AACC (All Africa Conference of Churches) in Kenya, we have found no evidence that he has ever spoken out against or addressed the vicious church and state sponsored persecution of GLBT in African countries such as Uganda. Bearing Dr Dandala's association with a homophobic group like SACLA in mind, it raises questions about the likelihood of his impartiality in the matter of gay rights, specifically pertaining to his aspirations of acting as the country’s next president. Can gay and trans South Africans really expect fair and just treatment with full equal rights under a government led by this man?

Until this turn of events SA GLAAD endorsed both DA and COPE as the only two viable choices for GLBT citizens to vote for in the April elections – but now we no longer see any reason for gay and trans people to vote for COPE, nor to promote it any further.

Christina Engela
South African Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (SA GLAAD)