Triangle

            During my time here in South Africa, I had the great opportunity to work at Triangle Project, a NGO based here in Capetown, which focuses on serving the Capetonian and South African LGBT community through Health services, Counseling, Peer education, and Policy advocacy. One of my main tasks while at Triangle was to research and create a policy brief concerning the importance of LGBT sensitivity training for healthcare providers, mainly physicians and nurses, in South Africa. While researching, I was shocked at the stories from various study participants, who reported being ridiculed, gossiped about, or asked inappropriate or invasive questions when visiting various healthcare facilities. Other patients were simply turned away without being seen at certain facilities and would have no way to receive appropriate care or resources, especially around sexual health, if organizations like Triangle Project did not exist. While the South African constitution and other documents are quite progressive (same sex marriage was legalized in 2006 and the constitution explicitly stipulates no discrimination due to sexual orientation/gender expression etc) , the discrepancy between what’s written down and what actually occurs is staggering. Before working at Triangle, policy work, in general, seemed slow, entrenched in politics and generally unfulfilling to me yet my experience in Triangle has definitely given me a new found respect for policy and the impact that it can have on a systematic level. That being said, a large part of societal stigma is rooted in culture and this can only change when people can learn to accept our differences yet realize how similar that we all are.  

- Max Morris