Simon Tseko Nkoli was a South African anti-apartheid activist and one of Africa’s most prominent openly gay leaders. Arrested in 1984 during the Delmas Treason Trial, he helped link the struggle against racial oppression with fights against homophobia, arguing that liberation must include sexual freedom. After his release, he co-founded the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand (GLOW) and helped organize South Africa’s first Pride march in 1990, making visibility a political act. Living openly with HIV, he also became a leading AIDS educator, championing dignity, rights, and solidarity.
Quote: “If you are Black and gay in South Africa, then it really is all the same closet…inside is darkness and oppression. Outside is freedom.”
Tuckahoe NY Pride 
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