VOGUE NIGHTS

Event shows why queer spaces are important

VOGUE Nights finally made its way to Cape Town and presented queer joy spectacularly on Saturday.

As one of the biggest queer events in the country, the ballroom-centric night was set to arrive in the Mother City earlier this year but was postponed due to the rise of the Delta variant and South Africa’s move to a higher lockdown level in response to the 3rd wave.

The queer community and allies from across the city came together to celebrate one of the biggest parts of the queer culture: the ballroom scene.

And when we say the LGBTQI+ community were there, we mean the entire community. In something that happens rarely, the crowd featured every gender identity, from transmen to transwomen, non-binary folk, genderqueer and cisgender, across the spectrum of sexuality from gay to bisexual, lesbian, pansexual and asexual, walking or watching people take part in a ball.

For those who don’t know, at a ball attendees walk in different categories to win the grand prize. While this is often a competition between houses, for the first edition of Vogue Nights in Cape Town the categories were open to all there. They included: runway, face, sex siren, Afro dance and the highlight at any ball: Vogue Femme.

Throughout the night, host Tutu Zondo emphasised that it was a queer safe space and that any non-consensual touching was strongly prohibited and perpetrators would be dealt with by the organsers and security.

Queer safe spaces have been a hot topic among the larger LGBTQI+ community globally as many have had to close down due to the coronavirus pandemic. Even in Cape Town, the popular restaurant and live venue Raptor Room had to shut their doors.

But why are queer spaces still important in a time when queer acceptance is at an all-time high?

While on paper and in the media it seems that real strides are being made, with queerness seen as a normal part of society, on the ground, there are still many people who refuse to move with the times. This is despite South Africa having one of the best constitutions in the world with regards to protection for queer people, and same-sex marriage being legal since 2006.

Queer acceptance is still something that struggles to happen in the day-today lives of queer people.

South Africa has seen a huge increase of LGBQTI+ people being attacked and killed recently purely based on who they are.

And on social media, it is no different.

There is also always a debate around queer people’s existence being questioned to music frustration from the community.

Local social media influencer Nadia Jaftha’s brother Taariq is an example of this.

For the last couple of weeks, he has been spewing right-wing talking points sharing his queerphobic, transphobic and homophobic views on Instagram.

And while his first account was banned, a new account popped up where he was sharing more of his hate speech and attacking queer people who spoke out against him and his sister, including No Hiding Here director Gabe Gabriel.

While Nadia and their mother Nawal initially shared statements in disagreement with what Taariq said, neither of them has commented about his recent antics on Instagram, although it is clear they are still socialising with him and therefore enabling him to continue on the endless tirade against queer people for no reason.

And this is why queer spaces are important. For many queer people, a sense of being free around their community in a safe environment isn’t something that’s a day-to-day experience.

Events such as Vogue Nights bring together the community in a way that is seldom seen outside of annual Pride events.

Yes, we have gay clubs in Cape Town and Joburg, but even then, with many of them the spaces cater predominantly to cisgay men, on top of there still being a racial divide, which is an issue on its own.

But at Vogue Nights, the beauty of queer expression was in full bloom, with people feeling free enough to express themselves to their full extent.

Whether it is someone who is bunch queen, high femme drag, femme queen, hyper masc, androgyny and everything in between.

Queer safe spaces aren’t just about grooving.

They act as a place for queer people to have fellowship in a way that isn’t possible normally.

And for that, Vogue Nights deserves to get tens across the board.