Celebrate African Queerness at Johannesburg Pride 2025

AS PRIDE Month 2025 draws to a close, culminating in the Johannesburg Pride March today, Kaye Ally, founder and director of the Pride of Africa Foundation, hopes Pride will send a clear message that queer Africans are visible, proud, and their identities are not up for debate.

- KAREN SINGH

The "Purely, Queerly, African" theme was inspired by a desire to reclaim and reframe queerness on the African continent, said Ally.

Too often, African queer identities are treated as imported or unnatural, when in truth, queerness has always existed here long before colonisation and the erasure that followed.

She said that the theme is about taking ownership of their narrative, asserting that being queer and being African are not opposites; they're intertwined, powerful, and valid.

It’s also a call to celebrate the diversity and richness of our stories, languages, traditions, and creativity, and to express queerness through uniquely African lenses, she added.

Ally said: "Purely, Queerly, African" is a love letter to authenticity. It challenges stereotypes and invites the community and allies to see Pride not as a borrowed concept, but as a deeply African act of visibility, resistance, and pride.

Having Johannesburg's Executive Mayor, Dada Morero, join the Pride of Africa Day and March is a powerful moment of visibility and validation for the LGBTQ+ community.

For only the second time in its 36-year history, the march will be joined by the City of Johannesburg's executive mayor.

Ally stated that this signals queer people as integral to the city’s identity, rather than being on its margins.

"This official support lends legitimacy to the movement, showing that Pride is not just a celebration but a civic event rooted in inclusion, safety, and equality. It also challenges long-held stigmas by setting an example of leadership that embraces diversity publicly, not just in policy."

More than symbolism, it calls for accountability, ensuring that this recognition translates into continued support, protection, and representation for LGBTQ+ people in city life.