Nothing wrong with a pink Valentine …

ABOUT 30 gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex people gathered at Windhoek’s Zoo Park on Thursday to celebrate Namibia’s first ‘Same-sex Valentines Campaign’.

The event was an initiative of gay rights organisation The Rainbow Project (TRP), in an effort to show that Valentine’s Day should not just be celebrated by the heterosexual community. “The demo was organised by our volunteers, who felt there was a need for our love to be respected as well”, project co-ordinator Ian Swartz told The Namibian.Speaking about society’s acceptance of same-sex partners, Swartz said he was of the opinion that things are now a lot better for them than in years past.”People are much more open and out about it, and a lot more people are willing to come out and say they’re gay than in the past.For example, many medical funds are now accepting [same-sex partners] to be registered as dependents, but there is still a lot to be done.We’re not asking to be allowed to marry, but just for our rights to be recognised,” he said.While many people are still steadfast in their arguments that same-sex relationships are an abomination according to cultural and religious beliefs, he said informal surveys done by TRP have shown that the percentage of those against versus those who accepted them was “about fifty-fifty”.”There’s a lot more acceptance than one would think, and even those who don’t accept aren’t really providing any strong arguments anymore,” he said.The demonstration, the organisation stated earlier, was all about “highlighting, creating awareness and visibility of the love of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people partnership in Namibia”, a tough task still considering some of the remarks made yesterday by passers-by.”They want what? To be recognised? This is just funny,” one young man remarked as he stood studying some of the signs carried by demonstrators.Some of the signs read, ‘too cute to be straight’, ‘closets are for clothes’, and ‘I’m the pink sheep in my family’.The theme of the event was ‘Same-sex love is real love’.”The demo was organised by our volunteers, who felt there was a need for our love to be respected as well”, project co-ordinator Ian Swartz told The Namibian.Speaking about society’s acceptance of same-sex partners, Swartz said he was of the opinion that things are now a lot better for them than in years past.”People are much more open and out about it, and a lot more people are willing to come out and say they’re gay than in the past.For example, many medical funds are now accepting [same-sex partners] to be registered as dependents, but there is still a lot to be done.We’re not asking to be allowed to marry, but just for our rights to be recognised,” he said.While many people are still steadfast in their arguments that same-sex relationships are an abomination according to cultural and religious beliefs, he said informal surveys done by TRP have shown that the percentage of those against versus those who accepted them was “about fifty-fifty”.”There’s a lot more acceptance than one would think, and even those who don’t accept aren’t really providing any strong arguments anymore,” he said.The demonstration, the organisation stated earlier, was all about “highlighting, creating awareness and visibility of the love of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people partnership in Namibia”, a tough task still considering some of the remarks made yesterday by passers-by.”They want what? To be recognised? This is just funny,” one young man remarked as he stood studying some of the signs carried by demonstrators.Some of the signs read, ‘too cute to be straight’, ‘closets are for clothes’, and ‘I’m the pink sheep in my family’.The theme of the event was ‘Same-sex love is real love’.