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January to March 1990 - The lesbian and gay rights charter campaign

At a workshop entitled ‘Lesbian and Gay Rights are Human Rights’ at the University of the Witwatersrand, activist and lawyer Edwin Cameron gave the keynote address which assisted community members and organisation members in understanding how the ANC constitution could be utilised to support their claim to lesbian and gay rights as human rights.

OLGA (Sheila Lapinsky and Ivan Toms) welcomes Nelson Mandela upon his release from prison, Cape Town, 1990.
Julia Nicol Collection, GALA Queer Archives

OLGA (Sheila Lapinsky and Ivan Toms) welcomes Nelson Mandela upon his release from prison, Cape Town, 1990.
Julia Nicol Collection, GALA Queer Archives

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Documents

Read the State of the Nation Address, 24 May 1994

Audio Visual

President Mandela gives his State of the Nation address in Parliament. Mandela ends his address with the words, “Let us all get down to work”.

“We must construct that people-centred society of freedom in such a manner that it guarantees the political and the human rights of all our citizens.”– President Mandela, extract from State of the Nation Address, 24 May 1994

President Nelson Mandela announces his cabinet. It includes members of the African National Congress, National Party and Inkatha Freedom Party.

“There was pride in serving in the first democratic government in South Africa, and then the additional pride of serving under the iconic leadership of Nelson Mandela … [He] represented the hopes of not just our country, but of oppressed, marginalised and the poor in the world.”– Jay Naidoo, then Minister of RDP housing
Members of South Africa's LGBTQ community take part in the annual Gay Pride Parade in Durban.
asdasd
The outside of Parliament.
Protesters demonstrating against the social grants controversy.
“We place our vision of a new constitutional order for South Africa on the table not as conquerors, prescribing to the conquered. We speak as fellow citizens to heal the wounds of the past with the intent of constructing a new order based on justice for all.”– President Nelson Mandela, 10 May 1994
Members of South Africa's LGBTQ community take part in the annual Gay Pride Parade in Durban.
asdasd
The outside of Parliament.
Protesters demonstrating against the social grants controversy.