Interested Outsports readers can "attend" the ongoing trial of lesbian soccer player Eudy Simelane's accused murderers via a live blog at Human Rights Watch. HRW just emailed this notice:
On April 28, 2008, Eudy Simelane, 31 years old, was gang-raped and brutally murdered in her home township, Kwa-Thema, near Johannesburg in South AFrica. The apparent motive for her killing was that she was a lesbian who fought back "like a man."
Interested Outsports readers can "attend" the ongoing trial of lesbian soccer player Eudy Simelane's accused murderers via a live blog at Human Rights Watch. HRW just emailed this notice:
On April 28, 2008, Eudy Simelane, 31 years old, was gang-raped and brutally murdered in her home township, Kwa-Thema, near Johannesburg in South AFrica. The apparent motive for her killing was that she was a lesbian who fought back "like a man."
Despite its strong constitution and human rights protections, South Africa has one of the highest rates of violence against women in the world. In the crisis of sexual assault, women who are identified as lesbians or who don’t conform to cultural or social norms for what women “should look like” or how women “should act” have also been targeted, with brutal consequences.
Dipika Nath, researcher for HRW's LGBT Rights Division, is attending the trial of Eudy's alleged killers in Delmas from February 11-14. Activists from across South Africa are joining Eudy's family and friends to draw a nation's attention to violence against lesbians. Nath will be blogging from the trial daily, with photos and stories.
South Africa's Joint Working Group is also blogging from the trial.
