We Are the Revolution in Bloom: Rays of Hope this Africa Pride MonthThis Africa Pride Month, as the world marks International Lesbian Day, I write not from the margins but from the centre, the radiant and unrelenting centre of African lesbian feminism.
We are not the afterthoughts of liberation. We are the pulse.
We are the rhythm that refuses silence, the laughter that survived exile, the soft hands that still reach for love in a world that tried to crush us.There is no shame in our existence. Only brilliance. Only audacity. Only becoming.Our Love Is Political, Our Joy Is RevolutionaryTo love as an African lesbian is to commit a political act. To wake up each morning, breathe freely, and choose tenderness anyway is rebellion. Because in many of our countries, our love is still treated as criminal. Our affection is still whispered in corridors. Our names are still erased from the story.And yet, here we are.
Loving loudly.
Building families that defy the state’s imagination.
Writing our truths into law, art, theology and movement.
Our visibility is not a threat; it is a promise that Africa’s future will not be built on silence.We Carry the Fire of the Feminists Before UsWe are the daughters of Audre Lorde, of Thandiswa Mazwai’s defiance, of the village woman who refused to marry and chose freedom instead.
We carry their courage into new forms of resistance, into classrooms, courtrooms, pulpits and policy spaces. We have moved from whispering our names to inscribing them on banners. This is our time. The world must finally say our names with respect.Pride Is Not Imported; It’s RootedThey call Pride “Western,” as if joy had a passport. But our joy is indigenous. Our resilience is ancestral.
We come from a continent that has always known community beyond gender, spirituality beyond heteronorms, and kinship beyond blood. Our queerness has always existed, in rituals, in songs, in silence, in survival.When we dance at Pride, we summon that history.
When we kiss in public, we do it for the women who could not.
When we demand rights, we do it knowing that liberation is not a foreign concept; it is African.The Work Is Not Done, But the Vision Is BrightWe still fight laws that criminalise us, preachers who weaponise scripture, and movements that erase us. But we fight differently now, with joy, with art, with faith in ourselves and each other.
We build networks. We mentor. We create spaces where being a lesbian is not a risk but a revelation.
We cry and we celebrate in the same breath because our lives are not just resistance. They are radiant.Marang: Rays of a New DawnIn Setswana, Marang means rays of sunshine. It is more than a name, it is a prophecy. In our Nguni languages, names are prayers. They are destiny spoken aloud. And so, the Marang Fund was never just a project. It is a light breaking through the heavy clouds that have long shadowed queer lives across Southern Africa.It is the soft dawn of possibility, a Fund born to resource courage, amplify unheard stories, and build bridges of feminist solidarity across Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Madagascar and Mauritius.
It is the light that reminds us that every African lesbian deserves to rise into her morning unafraid.As we mark International Lesbian Day, I see the Marang Fund not only as an initiative I have the privilege to help steward, but as a living metaphor for the world we are creating. A world where light touches even the most silenced corners. A world where every story, everybody, every identity is seen, honoured and held.To My Sisters, Lovers and Co-ConspiratorsTo every lesbian walking barefoot through fear and still daring to dream, I see you.
To every queer woman holding space in a church that calls her sin, I honour you.
To every mother, activist, student, healer, artist and rebel, you are the revolution in bloom.This Africa Pride Month, may the rays of Marang remind us that we are the light we have been waiting for.
We are not waiting to be tolerated.
We are building worlds where we are loved, safe and free.So this month, let us raise our fists and our glasses.
Let us march and make out.
Let us pray and protest.
Let us live the fullness of our truth.Because when African lesbians rise, the sun rises with us.
We are the new dawn, and the world will feel our warmth.(Written by Lusanda Mamba, Project Manager – Marang LGBTIQ Fund, Gender Links Eswatini)
