For the record, this is not about #OrlandoShooting; this is about the “daily discriminatory shooting” that the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) community experience daily.
The #OrlandoShooting is a reflection of the societies we live in, whether it’s in the US, South Africa or Brazil.
Give me a chance to share my somewhat selfish two cents about the #DailyDiscriminatoryShootings from which the #OrlandoShooting finds its comfort. This comfort transcends geo-boundaries, as we know them.
The other day, I went to a supermarket and in front of me in the queue was a white guy my age who, like me, was shopping and about to pay.
The cashier was a white woman and she greeted the guy and asked him whether he was paying by cash or card, to which the gentleman replied “card”.
The cashier then turned the EFT card machine to the guy’s direction so he could administer his transaction. Transaction was complete and it was now my turn.
Did I get a greeting? No! Did I get eye contact? No! Did she ask if I am paying by cash or card? Yes! Finally, I get asked. In my mission to try my best not to catch feelings, I replied “card”. Did she turn the EFT card machine? No! She then asked me to give her my card so she could administer the transaction on my behalf. I gave her the card she did the transaction.
When she’d finished, I asked her why she’d treated me differently from the previous customer. Before she could answer, I left. If you do not see what was wrong with this encounter, you are a #DiscriminatoryShooter like the cashier and I will not bother to narrow it down for you.
But back to the LGBTIQ+ discriminatory shootings we experience daily that create an enabling environment for the #OrlandoShooter to exist.
A good example is Mpho Tutu, who was on the verge of being stripped of her right to practise as Reverend Canon of the Anglican Church had she not resigned, because she married a woman. The Cape Town Diocese was instructed by a higher office to revoke her licence on the basis of her marriage to a woman.
Weeks later, the Archbishop of Canterbury called for Christians to pray for the victims of the #OrlandoShooting.
The church has created an environment that makes people like #OrlandoShooter exist and feel comfortable and convinced that their views – no matter how extreme – are justified. The DNA white Christian men, who were part of the Ku Klux Klan, had when they were lynching our black brothers and sisters in the US is the same as that of the #OrlandoShooter.
Therefore, let us not act surprised and #PrayForOrlando. Instead, #PrayForRepublicans in the US to shift their legislative stance on same-sex marriages and gun control laws.
#PrayForChurches to amend their church laws that recognise holy matrimony as a lifelong and exclusive union between one man and one woman.
We should not downplay the role churches play in socialising people and normalising ideas that form part of an individual’s belief systems.
The #DailyDiscriminatoryShootings come in the form of a lifetime ban on men who have sex with men (MSM) from donating blood, without any sound scientific or medical reasons.
The #OrlandoShooting offers us an opportunity to reflect on how we discriminate against others every day.
What gives people like #PennySparrow (calling black people monkeys) or #OrlandoShooter (killing 49 people and injuring 53 at a gay club) the confidence to commit such atrocities?
We need to be aware of our own contradictions and hypocrisies; we are first to complain about politicians who do not bother to talk to us and who only show their faces around campaigning season.
This is because politicians are driven by the looming election day, which motivates them enough to sing, dance and make moving speeches. We do the same. People had to be killed for lawmakers in the US to start the process of reviewing gun laws.
The LGBTIQ+ community had to be slain; to a point where the Food and Drug Administration policy of banning MSM from donating blood was put under the spotlight, with the Democrats calling for the policy to be reviewed since the LGBTIQ+ community was not allowed to save one of their own – because of the stigma attached to the gay community regarding transmission of HIV and hepatitis.
All of us must think and act proactively towards the erosion of injustices of any kind. It should not cost a single soul for us to do the right thing. Let’s not wait for things to get worse before we start praying or reviewing policies and questioning our beliefs and actions.
Blood mustn’t be spilt for us as a people to act.
* Senzo Hlophe is a member of the ACTIVATE! Change Drivers’ network of more than 2 000 young Change-makers in South Africa who are seeking to transform their communities and the country.