Linda Ngcobo

Linda Ngcobo
DiedFeb 1993 (1993-03)
Cause of death
AIDS-related illness
Known forco-founding GLOW, co-writing an essay about gay sexuality in the townships

Linda Ngcobo (c. 1965 – February 1993) was a South African LGBTQ activist and a founding member of the Gay and Lesbian Organization of Witwatersrand (GLOW). He was one of the first Black gay activists to die of AIDS-related illness in South Africa.

Biography

Ngcobo was Zulu.[1]: 55  He studied to be a teacher and resided in Soweto.[1]: 356 

GLOW was established in 1988 by Ngcobo along with Simon Nkoli and Beverley Palesa Ditsie.[2][3] The organization held its first Miss GLOW competition, an annual drag show organized by Ngcobo, in Soweto in 1988.[4]

With Hugh McLean, Ngcobo co-authored "‘Abangibhamayo bathi ngimnandi’ (Those who fuck me say I’m tasty): Gay sexuality in Reef township", an essay in the 1995 anthology Defiant Desire: Gay and Lesbian Lives in South Africa. McLean and Ngcobo interviewed 20 men about their sexuality. Their work showed how gay sexuality is "unexpectedly integrated into township culture".[1]: 7  They defined terms such as skesana, meaning the receptive male partner in anal sex, and pantsula "(macho township guy) who sleeps with what he believes to be a hermaphrodite or with someone who pretends, and who he pretends, is female"[5]: 18  Ngcobo recounted ways that he would make his body seem more female when having sex with a pantsula.[6]

Some people in Ngcobo's township considered him to be a woman, including his family, who assigned him chores associated with women. One of his boyfriends thought he could give birth.[7][5]: 7  Ngcobo briefly took female hormones.[5]: 8  It appears that he identified as both non-binary and a gay man.[6]: 536 

Ngcobo died of AIDS-related kidney failure in February 1993.[1]: 356 [8]: 74  He was one of the first Black gay activists to die of AIDS-related illness in South Africa.[1]: 16  Many people attended his funeral in Phiri Hall in Soweto. He was a choir member in the African Apostolic Church, where his father served as an elder and lay preacher. GLOW members attended the funeral and covered his coffin with the organization's banner during the church service.[1]: 14  According to scholar Mandisa Mbali, this may have been the first AIDS-related political funeral in South Africa.[8]: 6 

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gevisser, Mark; Cameron, Edwin, eds. (1995). Defiant Desire: Gay and Lesbian Lives in South Africa. Routledge. pp. 14–31, 158–185. ISBN 0-86975-435-1.
  2. ↑ Mchunu, Khaya (June 2023). "The Queer Activism of Simon Nkoli's Clothed and Styled Body". Gender Questions. 11 (1): 5. doi:10.25159/2412-8457/11822.
  3. ↑ Mohdin, Aamna (2020-08-20). "Beverley Ditsie: the South African woman who helped liberate lesbians everywhere". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-08-19.
  4. ↑ "Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand (GLOW)" Archived 2026-06-09 at the Wayback Machine. GALA Queer Archive. A4 Arts Foundation.
  5. 1 2 3 Donham, Donald L. (1998). "Freeing South Africa: The "Modernization" of Male-Male Sexuality in Soweto". Cultural Anthropology. 13 (1): 3–21. ISSN 0886-7356.
  6. 1 2 Swarr, Amanda Lock (2009). ""Stabane," Intersexuality, and Same-Sex Relationships in South Africa". Feminist Studies. 35 (3): 524–548. ISSN 0046-3663.
  7. ↑ Murray, Stephen O. (2021). "SEXUAL POLITICS IN CONTEMPORARY SOUTHERN AFRICA". Boy-Wives and Female Husbands: Studies in African Homosexualities. State University of New York Press. p. 245.
  8. 1 2 Mbali, M. (2013-03-29). South African AIDS Activism and Global Health Politics. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-31216-7.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.