The NWU Campus Pride Society held the first official celebratory Pride march on Saturday, 8 October in the Bult area. The purpose was to raise awareness about the Potchefstroom LGBTQIA+ community in the South African Pride month of October. It was organised in collaboration with the NWU HSPS (Human, Social and Political Sciences Society) and supported by the Anker Christian church. It was the first official Pride march of approximately 40 people where NWU students and young adults had permission to march in the streets of Potchefstroom.

Photos: Supplied

“I want to make Potch equal for everyone so that they are proud to be themselves,” Renken Meiring, Humanities Executive of the NWU Campus Pride Society, explained. This NWU committee strives to create a safe haven for LGBTQIA+ students and allies. One of the challenges they face is that it is often unclear who supports them. It was a special moment for the marchers when students stood on the balconies of their apartments to cheer them on as they walked by.

Honoured LGBTQIA+ guests came from Pretoria to participate in the march. This included Marco Prins, Dillan Potgieter and Angelo Morgan who are the Mr. Gay Pride Pretoria 2022 winner, first and second runner up respectively. Nicole Jones and Krystal Methony, former winners at the Gay Club SA, also joined the march.

The NWU Campus Pride Society hopes to make the Pride march an annual occurrence and it will be back bigger next year.