The Joburg gay nightlife as a place of belonging for Queer bodies

The film focuses on the lives of queer individuals who are/were in search of a place to belong as they were shunned form their homes and communities for living their truth. As much as this film is based in 80’s New York, a lot of the issues faced by the cast are still prevalent in modern day South Africa (for the purposes of this piece we’ll focus particularly on Joburg).

One might argue that we’ve progressed as a world and as a country, but it seems that that’s only on paper (legislation, gay rights, etc) and not in reality. I say this because we still have queer bodies fighting to survive and be included in a lot of spaces. In Joburg, just like in 80’s New York, there are a lot of spaces where members of the LGBTI+ community are not free to be who they are. To the extent where they have to forge spaces where they can gather and freely express themselves. The same way that the characters in pose had to create their own belonging, i.e. the ballroom scene, Joburg queer individuals have made the joburg nightlife (Gay clubs and such) their place of belonging.