Gay men, leisure space and South African cities: the case of Cape Town

In response to the current paucity of geographical research into post-apartheid development of gay leisure space, the paper focuses on the nature and extent of gay leisure space development in De Waterkant, South Africa’s first “gay village”, located in the Cape Town CBD periphery. Despite a new liberal constitutional environment, the gay spaces generated in post-apartheid De Waterkant are not inclusive of most gay South Africans. On the contrary, the legacy of apartheid race, gender and class inequality persists, generating a wealthy, White, male leisure space enclave. As a consequence, De Waterkant’s potential to function as a site of identity formation, development and re-affirmation, seen in many gay villages found in other Western societies, appears unlikely.