The trial has begun of three South African men charged with the rape and murder of the lesbian former star of that country's national female soccer squad. Eudy Simelane The partially clothed body of Eudy Simelane, 29, was found in a creek on the outskirts of Johannesburg in April last year. She had been gang-raped, brutally beaten and stabbed 25 times in the face, chest and legs. As well as being one of South Africa's best-known female footballers, Simelane was a highly visible equality rights campaigner and one of the first women to live openly as a lesbian in the suburb where she was attacked. The Lesbian and Gay Equality Project says lesbians who attended the trial of a fourth man, who pleaded guilty to Simelane's murder after 'finding God', were threatened by young men saying that "no matter what transpires in court, we are going to eliminate lesbians and gays." The judge for that hearing declared that Simelane's sexuality had no bearing on the case. Human Rights campaigners say the attack on Simelane typifies what they call "corrective rape" committed by men behind the guise of trying to "cure" lesbians of their sexual orientation. Research indicates 86 per cent of black lesbians from the Western Cape live in fear of sexual assault. Triangle, a South African gay rights organisation, said it deals with up to ten new cases of "corrective rape" every week. Support groups claim an increasingly macho political environment is behind a lack of official action over such attacks.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 29th August 2009 - 12:52am