Persistant police discrimination in South Africa: Experiences of the LGBT community

Abstract

South Africa is globally at the forefront of adopting a comprehensive human rights approach to protecting and promoting the rights of  LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender) people. However, there remains a notable gap between the constitutional rights and  protections for LGBT persons, and the actual realisation of these rights. The purpose of this study was to investigate issues surrounding  the discrimination that the LGBT community face on a daily basis from the South African Police Services. Various research has been done  to try and understand why there has been such low reporting of incidences of violations by LGBT community. Police Discrimination has  been sighted as one of the main reasons for under or no reporting. We undertook this study to gain insight into the experiences of police  discrimination as experienced by the LGBT community in the country. A random sample of 100 South Africans from the LGBT  community were surveyed. The sample size had been decided as it had been the most feasible for the South African researchers due to  other work commitments. The study employed a snowball method to recruit people from the LGBT community. Data collected was captured into a Microsoft Excel data management system from respondents’ responses to questions and thereafter analyzed. The  findings indicated that, self-reported experiences of police discrimination because of sexual orientation gender identity and or expression  had been similar in all three key provinces, with respondents from KwaZulu-Natal reporting the highest proportion, followed  by Western Cape and Gauteng. This study has demonstrated that there continues to be an urgent need for interventions that respond to  the continued police discrimination faced by the LGBT community in South Africa. Despite legal protections for this community, there is  evidence of continued marginalization, mistreatment and discrimination of LGBT persons by police.