Trial begins in Rape, Murder Case of S. African Lesbian Soccer Star

Three men are on trial in South Africa for the gang rape and stabbing death of Eudy Simelane, a top female soccer star who was openly lesbian.

In South Africa, the phenomenon of "corrective rape" by men determined to "cure" lesbians through forced sexual intercourse has reportedly been on the rise.

In the case of the men who allegedly attacked Simelane--who at age 29 had been the captain of the national soccer team--rape was followed by murder: Simelane reportedly suffered 25 stab wounds.

The attack may have been motivated by more than a desire for coercive sexual "correction," reported an Aug. 26 article that appeared in the Irish newspaper The Independent.

The very fact that Simelane was a star in a sport regarded as part of the male domain made her a target, the article indicated.

The article quoted the director for the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project, Phumi Mtetna, who said, "Men are unemployed and feel traditional male preserves such as football or drinking in a bar are under attack. That was Eudy's crime.

"An aggravating factor was that she did not look like a typical female," added Mtetna.

Mtetna said that instances of "corrective rape" are probably under-reported.

"Most survivors of these attacks do not report them," the article quoted her as saying.

"We believe there are hundreds of people who have been targeted."

Such attacks are part of a larger trend, Mtetna asserted. "People are just getting killed here because they are different, like HIV-positive people have been killed in the past.

"What is important is to get a verdict which includes murder."

The trial--already put off its original start date when a key witness dropped out--is seen as a crucial step for GLBT South Africans, with equality organizations intending to generate publicity aimed at combating ignorance.

Mtetna noted that gay and lesbian victims cannot necessarily rely on the authorities for assistance.

"If a lesbian tries to report a rape, police will say something like, 'Who would rape someone looking like you?'" the article quoted her as saying.

Last Feb. 10, American GLBT athletic news site Outsports.com posted an article on the killing and the then-impending trial, reporting that protesters had turned out in force to decry anti-GLBT violence.

The site deemed Simelane to be the South African equivalent of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay young man whose fatal beating and abandonment outside the Wyoming town of Laramie came to symbolize anti-gay violence in the United States.

That article also noted that the trial of Simelane's killers marks only the second time that the accused murderers of a black lesbian have faced trial.

So-called "corrective rape" is part of a larger social picture in which sexual violence is used as a weapon to intimidate, demoralize, or punish victims. The Independent article observed that an estimated 150 women are raped every day in South Africa.

In the African nation the Democratic Republic of Congo, male rape is reportedly on the increase, as militias sexually assault male civilians as a way of terrorizing villagers.

An article on "corrective rape" posted at AfricanLoft also noted the increase in male rape in Congo, and carried a quote from the women's rights coordinator of ActionAids, Laura Turquet, who decried the practice of forced sex used against lesbains.

Said Turquet, "So-called 'corrective' rape is yet another grotesque manifestation of violence against women, the most widespread human rights violation in the world today.

"These crimes continue unabated and with impunity, while governments simply turn a blind eye."

The article cited an ActionAid tally that claims that in the past 11 years, over 30 lesbians have been murdered.

Heterosexual women are also targeted; the rate of conviction is staggeringly low, according to ActionAid, which reported that only one in every 25 reported cases of rape leads to a conviction.