MHM Magazine

to implement to the best of its ability, with limited available resources and funding, queer activists are also responding to hate crimes against LGBTIQ people in South Africa. Since February 2021, there have been approximately 42 hate crimes committed against LGBTIQ people in South Africa. From those hate crimes cases that have been reported, or made it into mainstream news, 16 cases are incidents of violent killings. It is important to note that all of these murders were committed against black queer people, with the majority living in rural areas or townships. Activists and queer civil society organisations have been fighting tirelessly for the enactment of hate crimes legislation to ensure harsher sentences for perpetrators and to provide some protection for queer people under the law, but this has yet to become a priority for government. All of this is happening regardless of our progressive constitution. The challenges of working in this particular field are therefore immense and activists are experiencing secondary trauma in their day to day practice as they respond to the needs of their community. When a hate crime is committed against a queer person for example, activists in that area respond and support the grieving families and raise funds for burials because families often cannot afford to bury the person who was murdered. It is very difficult to quantify the challenges faced by queer activists on the ground. Many of these community activists don’t earn a salary and are doing this work because they feel compelled to be of service to the LGBTIQ community that need support in various contexts. Activists I know personally will give up their last little bit of income in order to help someone in need and during this difficult time, the needs have been too vast to respond to by any means. LGBTIQ activists are not trained first responders or trained counsellors. They are not trained to handle these particular challenges yet they take on this responsibility by serving their communities regardless of the damage it may be doing to their own mental health. In the activist community, it’s often frowned upon to express vulnerability because as an activist, you are expected to lead by example. You have to be strong and show your community that you’re able to lead and respond to the needs of the community. Mental health therefore takes a back seat in the queer civil society sector more broadly and this has dire consequences because of the inevitable burnout that happens to our activists far too often. There is also an unfortunate high rate of suicide amongst LGBTIQ activists who simply cannot continue to cope with the pressures of the work they are doing in communities related to violence, exclusion and discrimination. The work of activism is also conducted in the context of our community far too frequently facing poverty and homelessness. It’s also important to note these challenges which are intersectional and race, class, gender, sexuality and nationality for example, also play a role in the experiences of activists. There is also no doubt that POC (people of colour) queer people in South Africa face immense trauma and have less access to psychosocial support services than their white and privileged counterparts. There really needs to be a determined effort made by mental health practitioners to prioritise the mental health of queer activists and queer communities in South Africa, by volunteering their time and services. The importance of providing support through trauma containment training and trauma counselling for example, cannot be underestimated and the services of SADAG and Lifeline are therefore highly valued by queer civil society organisations. Prioritising mental health for queer activists can also foster a culture of care in queer civil society organisations, and this can have a positive influence on the work conducted nationally in relation to community activism more broadly. 2 | MENTALHEALTHMATTERS | Issue 4 | 2021 MHM visit our website www.ihpublishing.co.za