By Angelique Serrao
The rainbow gay and lesbian flag flew high when about 200 protesters gathered in Joburg on Tuesday.
Bright colours, high heels and heart-shaped glasses did not detract from the serious nature of the protest at the Sunday Sun's Media Park offices in Auckland Park.
The group were there to voice disapproval of a column written by Jon Qwelane which appeared in the newspaper.
Headlined, "Call me names but gay is NOT okay", the column caused a huge furore for its homophobic sentiment.
On Tuesday the Press Ombudsman ruled that the article was in breach of the Press Code, in that it published "denigratory references to people's sexual orientation" and implied that homosexuals are a "lower breed" than heterosexuals.
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Joe Thloloe found the report did not constitute hate speech and was unlikely to incite violence.
"There is nothing in the column that incites hatred and calls for the harming of homosexuals.
"Columnists are protected by the constitution for as long as their comments don't propagate war, incite imminent violence, or advocate hatred that constitutes incitement to cause harm," Thloloe said.
"Qwelane was well within the law but fell foul of the Press Code."
Thloloe ordered the Sunday Sun to publish an apology.
To the newspaper's credit, it responded to the lashing Qwelane got from readers but fell short of apologising.
Thloloe said he had received nearly 1 000 complaints.
On Tuesday the protesters handed over a memorandum to editors of publisher News24 demanding the Sunday Sun retract the column and publish an apology, that Qwelane be reprimanded and that News24 uphold the Press Code and not allow homophobia or other forms of discrimination in its publications.
Michael Smolinsky from Jewish Outlook, a member of the joint working group, felt it was important to take a stand.
"At the moment lesbians and gays are under attack in this country. Almost every day we get reports of attacks against our members.
"The worst thing is that this article fell on the anniversary of a terrible hate crime against two lesbians that took place last year."
Mixael de Kock, from the gay radio station Bravo Bravo, said protests were important because people needed to fight small discriminations and intolerance or fall back into a country filled with oppression.
As the crowd dispersed, they waved posters calling for people to hoot against homophobia, and some motorists did.
- This article was originally published on page 3 of The Star on July 30, 2008
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