SOWETO PRIDE 2014 GALLERY

Hundreds turned out to march for LGBT equality in Soweto on Saturday in the face of ongoing hate crime attacks against the community. They also celebrated the historic tenth anniversary of the annual Soweto Pride March.

According to Thuli Ncube from FEW, the march’s organisers, this was the biggest in the event’s history.

“It was big, there more people. We had to divide the march in two. It’s growing bigger every year,” she told Mambaonline.

Ncube admitted that Pride marches didn’t seem to be having an effect in reducing the number of anti-LGBT hate crimes across the country, but she insisted that their impact will take time.

“It’s getting people to know that that lesbians and gays are here. People think it’s a fashion but when they see the number of people in the street they acknowledge us. People in the taxis were talking about how they didn’t know that there were so many people that are lesbian and gay,” she explained.

After the march, the number of participants swelled at Credo Mutwa Park, where they were presented with speeches, performances, poetry and a “battle of the DJs.”

Cobus Benade took these pictures of the March.