The majority of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation was enacted during apartheid, and focuses on homosexuality in the public sphere. The most prominent example, is the Immorality Act of 1957 which outlawed homosexuality. In response to this, majority-white gay activist groups fought for equality with some small victories. However, their lack of willingness to include people of color or acknowledge the intersectionality with apartheid issues contributed to a growing divide between black and white queer folks in South Africa. In 1996, post-apartheid South Africa’s new constitution made it illegal to discriminate based on gender or sexual orientation. Later on, the Employment Equity Act 55 1998 extended these protections explicitly to the workplace. By 2006, 9 years before the U.S., South Africa legalized same-sex marriage under the Union Bill. Currently, although there are many vehemently opposing comprehensive sex-education in schools, there is no significant anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in these first few months of 2023.

Due to the lack of mandatory comprehensive sex-education curriculum in state schools, there is little to no discussion of queer and trans topics in the classroom. For example, the Life Orientation textbook sections on sexual health rarely included non-heterosexual identities and practices, and when they did, 80% of the time they were portrayed negatively. When you consider that between 1.5% and 10% of South Africa’s youth identify as queer, this lack of a thorough education is even more concerning. Unfortunately, more than just a mandate for more inclusive curriculums will be needed to truly ensure the well-being of such students. Often, teacher’s own beliefs, whether they be based in religion or harmful stereotypes, enforce homophobia and heteronormativity in the classroom. For example, a study of five trans students attending both state and private schools found that teachers lecturing about sexuality education adhered to a binary understanding of gender, and reinforced heteronormativity in their lessons. Both misinformation be teachers and school routines which rely on the gender binary can enforce heteronormativity to the point of instilling internalized homophobia/transphobia within children. This means that even if they come to terms with their own queerness/transness, the negativity expressed by others might stay with them, and prohibit them from feeling valid themselves.

While again having its roots in the lack of a comprehensive sexual education curriculum, this lack of information is at the point of erasure due to inaction. While Life Orientation textbooks very rarely incorporated non-heterosexual identities and practices, the same study as above finds that “representation of transgender identities is ‘absent completely’, ‘almost non-existent’ or ‘erased’.” Additionally, issues of gender and sexuality are limited primarily to the Life Orientation class taken in secondary school, and so broader explanations of these concepts (outside of reproductive health) are almost nonexistent. Teachers often rely on a binary understanding of gender, and rarely understand the difference between sex and gender. Even those who would be open to teaching on such topics often have a lack of understanding of the matters, and if they do attempt to teach them anyway, could promote harmful stereotypes that erase the diversity of queer and trans identities. Worse than all of this is that it is not uncommon for teachers to blatantly invalidate students’ identities, often in front of the entire class. According to Sam, a grade 12 trans boy at a private school, his teacher “insists on calling me by my dead name . . . will misgender me and then laugh. He will say loudly in front of the other learners when referring to me – ‘tell him, her or whatever’.” At least 4 out of the 5 students interviewed for the above study experienced similar things. Not only do teachers participate in the erasure of queer and trans identities from education, but they also attempt to erase these identities from their classrooms by invalidating their own students.

In August of 2022, Tiro Moalusi, a 15-year-old student from Soweto took his own life after being humiliated by a student teacher because of his sexuality. The same month, 14-year-old Lukhanyo Jongqo committed suicide after being bullied. The same thing happened only two months before to a 14-year-old named Mpho Falithenjwa in Orange Farm. Without mandatory inclusion of topics like gender and sexuality in school curriculums, there is no consistent support for queer and trans folks in South African schools. Schools, especially those which were formerly Christian schools, have even been known to punish students who act outside of the bounds of heteronormativity. For diverse and well-off cities like Western Cape and Gauteng, youth have access to well-established support groups in the local area. However, those outside of these locations have to rely on school clubs and support groups which are even more few and far between. The lack of legislation requiring support of queer and trans students in South African schools leaves the possibility of resources for these students largely up to chance, something that cannot continue unless schools want to lose more of their students.