Meet the organisations keeping South Africa’s LGBTQIA+ community thriving all year round
While rainbow flags disappear after Pride Month, the work doesn’t stop. Across South Africa, organisations are fighting for equality in courtrooms, providing healthcare, offering safe spaces, supporting survivors of violence, creating community through arts and culture, and making sure LGBTQIA+ people aren’t left behind. These are some of the organisations building Pride every single day.
Uthingo Network
Founded in 2003, this KZN-based human rights organization works to create safer, more inclusive communities for LGBTQIA+ people, particularly those living in rural areas. Uthingo partners with schools, healthcare providers, local government and traditional and religious leaders to tackle stigma, improve access to services, and provide psychosocial support and leadership development.
Gender Dynamix
Founded in 2005 and based in Cape Town, Gender DynamiX (GDX) is Africa’s first registered public benefit organization Dedicated exclusively to transgender and gender-diverse communities. GDX advances trans rights through advocacy, research, legal and policy reform, leadership development and improved access to gender-affirming healthcare. The organisation also supports community-led initiatives across South Africa and the wider southern African region, working to ensure trans and gender-diverse people can live safely and authentically. In the past 20 years, GDX has become a leading voice for transgender human rights, helping shape more inclusive laws, healthcare systems and education while strengthening trans-led movements across the continent.
Access Chapter 2 (AC2)
This Pretoria-based human from discrimination and rights organisation is dedicated to advancing equality for LGBTQIA+ people, women and girls across South Africa. Founded on the principles of Chapter 2 of the SA Constitution (the Bill of Rights), AC2 provides integrated legal, health and psychosocial services through its We Belong Centre, while advocating for policy reform, access to justice and protection gender-based violence. The organisation also conducts influential research to strengthen LGBTQIA+ rights.
In one national study, AC2 found that 58% (175 out of 303 respondents) had directly experienced efforts to suppress or change their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, highlighting the urgent need for stronger legal protections and survivor support.
Forum For The Empowerment of Women (FEW)
Established in 2002, this Joburg-based, black lesbian, bisexual and queer organisation actively advocates for the rights, safety and well-being of black LBQ women and gender non-conforming people in South Africa. FEW creates safe spaces through leadership development, community building and rights education, while also providing hate-crime response services, court support, criminal justice system training and advocacy on gender-based violence and SOGIESC (sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics) rights. The organisation is the driving force behind Soweto Pride, which it launched in 2004 to combat homophobia and increase LGBTQIA+ visibility in township communities.
Pride Shelter Trust
Founded in 2011, this is Africa’s first dedicated shelter for LGBTQIA+ people experiencing homelessness, family rejection, violence or other crises. Based in Cape Town, the organisation provides short-term safe accommodation alongside trauma-informed psychosocial support, counselling, gender-affirming healthcare referrals, life-skills development and reintegration programmes that help residents rebuild independent lives. Its holistic approach focuses on dignity, mental well-being and long-term empowerment rather than emergency shelter alone. Since opening its doors, the Trust has supported hundreds of LGBTQIA+ individuals and currently accommodates up to 20 residents at a time, with 46 residents successfully reunited with their families and reintegrated into society through its support programmes.
The Other Foundation
This southern African grant-making organisation helps fund and strengthen the LGBTQIA+ movement across 13 countries in the region. Rather than delivering services directly, it invests in grassroots organisations, activists and research that advance equality, safety and inclusion for LGBTQIA+ communities. Its work spans human-rights advocacy, public education, leadership development and strategic partnerships, while also producing landmark research that shapes policy and public opinion. One of its most influential studies, Progressive Prudes, was South Africa’s first nationally representative survey on attitudes towards LGBTQIA+ people, providing vital data that continues to inform advocacy and social change across the region.
Words: Charlton Knight
Photography: Pexels, Supplied, Gallo/Getty Images (Background)
