Nevertheless, LGBTQ South Africans, particularly those outside of the major cities, continue to face some challenges, including homophobic violence (particularly corrective rape), and high rates of HIV/AIDS infection.

[24] In the country's 1987 general election, GASA and the gay magazine Exit endorsed the National Party candidate for Hillbrow, Leon de Beer.

[29][30] In 1993, the African National Congress, in the Bill of Rights,[a] endorsed the legal recognition of same-sex marriages,[31] and the interim Constitution prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

In 1994, during his inauguration speech as president, Nelson Mandela stated the following:[33] In 1980s the African National Congress was still setting the pace, being the first major political formation in South Africa to commit itself firmly to a Bill of Rights, which we published in November 1990.

[37] The stated purposes of the flag include celebrating legal same-sex marriage in South Africa and addressing issues such as discrimination, homophobia, corrective rape and hate crimes.

Former South African President Jacob Zuma was among its most outspoken opponents, claiming in 2006 that "when I was growing up, an ungqingili (Zulu term describing a homosexual) would not have stood in front of me.

"[46][47] In 2019, Cyril Ramaphosa included lesbian and gay people in his presidential inauguration speech, saying:[48] Let us end the dominion that men claim over women, the denial of opportunity, the abuse and the violence, the neglect, and the disregard of each person’s equal rights.

A society where disability is no impediment, where there is tolerance, and where no person is judged on their sexual orientation, where no person suffers prejudice because of the colour of their skin, the language of their birth or their country of origin.On 4 August 1997, in the case of S v Kampher, the Cape Provincial Division of the High Court ruled that the common-law crime of sodomy was incompatible with the constitutional rights to equality and privacy, and that it had ceased to exist as an offence when the Interim Constitution came into force on 27 April 1994.

Strictly speaking, this judgment only applied to the crime of sodomy and not to the other laws criminalising sex between men, and it was also only binding precedent within the area of jurisdiction of the Cape court.

[52] In 2008, even though the new law had come into effect, the former inequality was declared to be unconstitutional in the case of Geldenhuys v National Director of Public Prosecutions, with the ruling again applying retroactively from 27 April 1994.

[53] On 1 December 2005, in the case of Minister of Home Affairs v Fourie, the Constitutional Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the state to deny same-sex couples the ability to marry, and gave Parliament one year in which to rectify the situation.

[60] In November 2017, the National Assembly passed the Labour Laws Amendment Act 10 of 2018, introduced as a private member's bill by African Christian Democratic Party MP Cheryllyn Dudley.

[64] The protection of LGBT rights in South Africa is based on section 9 of the Constitution, which forbids discrimination on the basis of sex, gender or sexual orientation, and applies to government and private parties.

South Africa does not have any statutory law requiring increased penalties for hate crimes, but hatred motivated by homophobia has been treated by courts as an aggravating factor in sentencing.

[70] Following calls that the bill was too vague and threatened freedom of speech,[71] provisions dealing with hate speech were changed, and now read: "Any person who intentionally publishes, propagates or advocates anything or communicates to one or more persons in a manner that could reasonably be construed to demonstrate a clear intention to— (i) be harmful or to incite harm; or (ii) promote or propagate hatred, based on one or more of the following grounds: age, albinism, birth, colour, culture, disability, ethnic or social origin, gender or gender identity, HIV status, language, nationality, migrant or refugee status, occupation or trade, political affiliation or conviction, race, religion, or sex, which includes intersex or sexual orientation".

[74] In August 2011, the Department of Justice established a National Task Team (NTT) to address the issue of hate crimes against LGBT people.

The NTT has established a rapid response team to attend to unsolved criminal cases as a matter of urgency and produced an information pamphlet with frequently asked questions about LGBTI persons.

Radebe stated that the Department of Justice acknowledged the need for a specific legal framework for hate crimes and that the matter would be subjected to public debate.

In a 2015 survey from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, 44% of participating Grade 5 students (age 10-11) reported being bullied weekly, and 34% monthly.

In 1996, the government adopted the White Paper on National Defence, which included the statement that, "In accordance with the Constitution, the SANDF shall not discriminate against any of its members on the grounds of sexual orientation.

[84] Transgender people from rural areas or provinces where gender-affirming care is little to no availability must travel long distances to major cities to access these services.

The South African Society of Psychiatrists states that "there is no scientific evidence that reparative or conversion therapy is effective in changing a person's sexual orientation.

The teens, reportedly, were punched, beaten with spades and rubber pipes, chained to their beds, not allowed to use the toilets at any time and were forced to eat soap and their own feces, all with the aim of "curing" their homosexuality.

During apartheid, Dr. Aubrey Levin led The Aversion Project, a medical torture programme designed to identify gay soldiers and forcedly "cure" their homosexuality.

Vir Ander ("For Others" in Afrikaans, also a pun of the word "Verander" meaning "Change") premiered on 2 September 2017 at the South African State Theatre.

[95] In 1998, National Party leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk denied accusations that he had paid a man for sex, by stating that he was a Boerseun (farmer's son), implying that homosexuality was not something to be found among Afrikaners.

For example, the NGO ActionAid has condemned the continued impunity and accused governments of turning a blind eye to reported murders of lesbians in homophobic attacks in South Africa; as well as to so-called corrective rapes, including cases among pupils, in which cases the male rapists purport to raping the lesbian victim with the intent of thereby "curing" her of her sexual orientation.

[106][107] Smaller cities such as Bloemfontein, Polokwane, Port Elizabeth, Mbombela,[108] East London, Pietermaritzburg and Knysna, too, host LGBT-related events, clubs and bars.

In the soap opera's current reincarnation as Generations:The Legacy, there is a transgender woman character by the name of Wandile and her host of LGBT friends and associates.

[125] Additionally, according to that same poll, 9% of South Africans would try to "change" a male neighbour's sexual orientation if they discovered he was gay, while 72% would accept and support him.