As he walked into the Rhodes Union, third-year BA student Brynley Coetzee was already a little nervous. Coetzee is gay and he’d had trouble at the Union before.
People had insulted him, telling him he didn’t belong there. But there had not been any physical violence – until that Friday night in May.
As he walked into the Rhodes Union, third-year BA student Brynley Coetzee was already a little nervous. Coetzee is gay and he’d had trouble at the Union before.
People had insulted him, telling him he didn’t belong there. But there had not been any physical violence – until that Friday night in May.
After a couple of drinks, he went to the bar. “I was feeling uncomfortable,” he says. “I had this haircut and this very pink top on. I suppose I was acting a little camp.”
Someone who Coetzee describes as “a typical jock” came up to him and said: “You’re gay aren’t you?” A heated discussion ensued and at some point Coetzee was pushed. His instinctive reaction was to push back, and suddenly he was on the floor being kicked by two men. “Faggot, you should die!” shouted one of the assailants.
The barman jumped over the counter to stop the fight and Coetzee’s tormentors disappeared. After going to the Campus Protection Unit and the police, who were “awesome”, Coetzee posted a message on the student forums
(a university intranet) to try to find the two men. “We can’t stand by and let prejudice and hatred perpetuate,” was his appeal. “Not after the history of this country.”
Many people responded sympathetically, and some told stories of similar incidents. A suggestion that Coetzee had provoked the attack by “flaunting his stuff at a homophobic person” was met with outrage.
One of the assailants was identified through the forums and he sent Coetzee a personal message apologising and asking if they could deal with it “in a personal capacity”.
Coetzee is uncertain about whether to press charges: “Do I want to give him a criminal record for making a mistake while he was drunk?”
The other man has not been identified, but Union manager Shane Snyman says they have an idea who it was. Apparently he fits the description of someone who’s been involved in past incidents elsewhere.
“We will take a stand against it,” says Snyman. “If we catch anyone there will be issues with the university.”
Student disciplinary officer Gordan Barker says no formal complaint has been laid.
Coetzee is pragmatic about what happened. “We are all entitled to our opinions,” he says. “Sure, some people may feel it’s unnatural. If you don’t like homosexuality, cool, say it. But it doesn’t need to come to physical violence.”
Student Dylan Shimmon has also experienced homophobic harassment. He was kissing a friend in Friar Tucks in the second term when the bouncer separated them. “He said if he sees any more sexual activity between the two of us he’s going to have to kick us out.
“There must have been two or three heterosexual couples climbing into each other and yet we were targeted.”
Friar Tucks manager Wayne Muller says they used to employ a bouncer who is “terribly homophobic”, but he doesn’t work there anymore. Muller says although he can tell his staff what to do, he has no control over his customers. He says homosexuality is a part of life and if people don’t like it they should just go home.
Coetzee and Shimmon say Rhodes is generally a liberal environment. But incidents of homophobia are on the increase. “It’s a segregated university,” says Coetzee. Will he go back to the Union? “Of course, I won’t let myself be intimidated. This is not going to become a new sexual apartheid.”
