"With moving first-person accounts and fine attention to historical detail, these essays show us a South Africa the world could never have known." -- San FranciscoExaminer"...Defiant Desire needs to be read." -- VLS"Defiant Desire...is scrupoulous in representing the great range of voices that lay claim to gay and lesbian identity in South Africa, without pretending to be exhaustive or forgetting the enormous gender, race, and class differences between and amoung self-identified gays and lesbians." -- VLS"Vividly capturing the diversity of lesbian and gay culture, Defiant Desire blends provocative testimony and nuanced analysis to raise important questions about race, sexuality, and gender ambiguity in South Africa." -- Anne McClintock, Columbia University

• 1. Etymological note: On moffies; Part One - Overviews: 2. DEFIANT DESIRE Mark Gevisser and Edwin Cameron; 3. A DIFFERENT FIGHT FOR FREEDOM: A history of South African lesbian and gay organisation from the 1950s to the 1990s Mark Gevisser; Part Two - Where we stand: Moffies and the laager: 4. 'UNAPPREHENDED FELONS': Gays and Lesbians and the law in South Africa Edwin Cameron; 5. KEEPING SODOM OUT OF THE LAAGER: State repression of homosexuality in apartheid South Africa Glen Retief; Part Three - Making space: Queer societies: 6. A DRAG AT MADAME COSTELLO'S: Cape moffie life and the popular press in the 1950s and 1960s Dhianaraj Chetty; 7. LESBIAN GANGSTER: The Gertie Williams Story Excerpted from Golden City Post and Drum magazine by Dhianaraj Chetty; 8. JOHANNESBURG'S 'HEALTH CLUBS': Places of erotic langour or prison-houses of desire? Peter Galli and Luis Rafael; 9. 'MOFFIES EN MANVROUE': Gay and lesbian life histories in contemporary Cape Town Jack Lewis and Francois Loots; 10. ABANGIBHAMAYO BATHI NGIMNANDI: (Those who fuck me say I'm tasty): Gay sexuality in Reef townships Hugh McLean and Linda Ngcobo; 11. FIVE WOMEN: Black lesbian life on the Reef As told to Tanya Chan Sam; 12. CLIMBING ON HER SHOULDERS: An interview with Umtata's 'first lesbian' Vera Vimbela with Mike Oliver; 13. GOING UNDERGROUND: A visit to gay Welkom Neil Miller ; 14. WEARING THE PANTS: Butch/femme roleplaying in lesbian relationships Julia Beffon; Part Four - Making noise: Queer cultural forms: 15. THE ARISTA SISTERS, SEPTEMBER 1984: A personal account of army drag Matthew Krouse; 16. FROM ADA TO ZELDA: Notes on gays and language in South Africa Gerrit Oliver; 17. EXIT: Gay publishing in South Africa Gerry Davidson and Ron Nerio; 18. A THOUSAND FORMS OF LOVE: Representations of homosexuality in South African Literature Shaun de Waal; Part Five - Making waves: Lesbian and gay activism: 19. COMING OUT AS A BLACK GAY ACTIVIST IN SOUTH AFRICA Simon Nkoli; 20. IVAN TOMS IS A FAIRY?: The South African Defence Force, the End Conscription Campaign, and me Ivan Toms; 21. IDENTITY CROSSFIRE: On being a black gay student activist Hein Kleinbooi; 22. THE LAVENDER LOBBY: Working for lesbian and gay rights within the liberation movement Derrick Fine and Julia Nicol; 23. PRIDE OR PROTEST?: Drag queens, comrades, and the Lesbian and Gay Pride March Mark Gevisser and Graeme Reid; 24. 'WHITE RAPIST MADE COLOUREDS (AND HOMOSEXUALS)': The Winnie Mandela Trial and the politics of race and sexuality Rachel Holmes; 25. 'LESBIANS IN LOVE AND COMPROMISING SITUATIONS': Lesbian feminist organising in the Western Cape Mary Armour and Sheila Lapinsky; 26. LIVING WITH LOSS IN THE BEST WAY WE KNOW HOW: AIDS and gay men in Cape Town John V. Pegge; 27. OF GAY RIGHTS AND THE PITFALLS OF THE 'PC': A Polemic Digby Ricci; Part Six - Testaments: 28. PROMISE YOU'LL TELL NO-ONE: A memoir Koos Prinsloo; 29. MY CHILDHOOD AS AN ADULT MOLESTER: A Salt River moffie Zackie Achmat; 30. 'PRETENDED FAMILIES': On being a gay parent Neville John; 31. IN MEMORY OF ROCKY: An obituary Anne Mayne.