In Photos: Swaziland's First Ever Pride March

Last week Saturday, the LGBTIQ+ community of The Kingdom of Eswatini (formerly The Kingdom of Swaziland) held their first ever pride march and celebration event.

The march, which was organized by the LGBTIQ+ organization Rock of Hope, commenced at the Prince of Wales Stadium in the country's capital city, Mbabane. It saw reputable names such as socialite Franky Dlamini, rapper C4, US Ambassador in Swaziland Lisa Peterson, among others, participating in the event's goings on.

The first Swaziland Pride is over and it was a HUGE success! The community and their allies painted the streets of this country rainbow, with a beautiful, colourful parade that was literally exploding with joy. #eSwatiniPride #SwazilandPride pic.twitter.com/w2Wl2UGeCp
— All Out (@AllOut) 30 June 2018

At the stadium, there were food stalls and performances by artists from Swaziland, Mozambique and South Africa.

Even though, some Swazis, including the human rights group SWAGAA (Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse), weren't so happy with the march, it was still a success.

Read more and check out the pictures via Okay Africa

Swaziland’s First Pride Parade Will Test Just How Accepting The Country Really Is

When Musa Dlamini was asked if he planned to dress up at Swaziland’s first-ever LGBT pride parade taking place Saturday, he responded without missing a beat.

“I’ll be wearing white shorts, but they are very short, and my red sneakers with a vest that will show my muscles,” the 31-year-old told BuzzFeed News with a laugh during a phone call from Mbabane, the capital of the small Southern African country.

It’s an outfit that Dlamini, a logistics manager at a local family planning NGO, hasn’t always felt free wearing in a country he says isn’t the most welcoming to gay men.

“Here, you live two lives,” said Dlamini, who came out in 2009. “When you are going into the community, you have to present yourself the way they want you to be.”

A country like Swaziland, which was recently renamed eSwatini, may seem like an odd choice for a country to hold a pride parade — it’s the last absolute monarchy on the African continent and there’s no clear sense of how many LGBT people are among its population of about 1.3 million people.

But it’s presented unique challenges and opportunities that have left people feeling excited and apprehensive. On the one hand, eSwatini has been a historically peaceful place. Despite its laws prohibiting men from having sex with other men, members — and perceived members — of the LGBT community do not face widespread violence on a daily basis the way they do in other countries.

And that’s precisely what worries some people:  What will happen when the rest of society is forced to reckon with a topic and a group of people that, normally, they quietly turn the other cheek to? Read more via Buzzfeed