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Transgender people slam DJ Anele of Highveld
People on the townships are being killed for variant gender expression and comments like those made by Highveld Stereo DJ Anele in a broadcast during which she made fun of Ms Universe pageant contestant, Miss Canada’s Jenna Talackova, simply exacerbates a problem which is already widespread. This was the opinion of Sibusiso Kheswa (S’bu), Advocacy Co-ordinator at Gender DynamiX speaking at the Broadcasting Complaints Commission tribunal on 5 June 2012. He said that in most cases hate crimes involving  LGBTI people were not necessarily about their sexual orientation but more about their variant Gender identity and expression.
S’bu, a transman, added that although Prime Media had made an apology in a response document to the Commission, they needed to make a public apology on air. The Prime Media representative assured the BCCSA that this was a distinct possibility and that such a proposal would be made to the radio station.
Adrienne Visser, a transgender woman from Johannesburg who brought the complaint to the broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) said it has never been okay to discuss people’s genitals on the radio. “We are not freaks,” she said. She reminded Highveld Stereo rhat she too was part of the radio station’s community as well as being transgender and said that it was hurtful and alarming to be represented in such a manner. Millions of Highveld Stereo listeners heard the dehumanising comments during which the Ms Universe contestant was referred to as an “it”.
Cape Town based artist and transgender activist Robert Hamblin explained that transgender people in South Africa are extremely vulnerable and subject to targeting especially in socio-economic challenged communities. He added that transpeople in South Africa often live in conditions of poverty because their gender presentation is “a challenge to Society and they are thus excluded from opportunities to thrive.”
Transgender and Intersex Africa board member and transman Craig Matu said that Anele’s ignorant statement validates the perception that gender is located in the genitals and this puts transpeople at risk. “When a popular DJ jests about transgender people’s genitals being examined, this is seen as acceptable behaviour and a message gets sent out that transpeople lack human qualities and it is permissible to be violent towards them,” he added.
Prime Media acknowledged that the statements were made in bad taste but did not agree that they amount to hate speech or incitement to violence. They also said that the statements were in conflict with the radio station’s values and they will abide by the recommendations of the BCCSA and the outcome of the Tribunal.
Although the BCCSA engaged earnestly with the topic and agreed that the process of the BCCSA are transparent, they were reluctant to label the statements as hate speech as they were unsure that the utterances met the legal standard definition of incitement to violence. They promised that they will release judgement that takes all positions into account.
The transgender participants pushed for an opportunity for right of reply on Anele’s show in order to educate the public about real lives of transpeople in South Africa and in so doing destabilise mythology around this.
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