Experiences of Homophobia by the Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual Students in Selected Institutions of Higher Learning in OR Tambo District Municipality, Eastern Cape Province.

Sexuality remains one of the most misinterpreted and misunderstood social concepts. The societal norms have had a role to play. The identification and acceptance of heterosexuality as the only sexual practice has created some misconceptions. Furthermore, the role played by religion has a tremendous influence on how people views sexuality. However, the aim of the study is to investigate the experiences of the LGBTQIA society with special reference to students residing in the OR Tambo district municipality. Social Constructionism and Five Faces of Oppression are theories that underpinned this study. Furthermore, the nature of this research is descriptive and explorative and the methodology utilized in this study correlates to the mentioned research design. Therefore, qualitative research method was adopted in this study. A sample of 15 participants was utilized, and Non-probability sampling procedure was used through snowball sampling. An in-depth interview guide was used for data collection and thematic analysis approach was utilized for the analysis. Findings of the study suggests that there is rife homophobia in the IHL; the students subscribing to heteronormativity have been threatening those who were homosexuals and/or aligning with the LGBTQIA community with physical assault. It further found that they showed resilience and consistency when it came to academic performance. This, they attributed to their urge to “prove the naysers wrong” as they have been told that they will never make it in life because of their sexuality. The study recommends that the university should engage external stakeholders on the decriminalization of homosexuality and that the university should protect their students from all sort of harm.Thesis (Masters) -- Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, 202