A convicted cross-dressing murderer has taken the Department of Correctional Services to court demanding the right to wear long hair, dresses and make-up.
Jerome Benjamin, aka Jade September, is a former sex worker who was jailed in 2013 after pleading guilty to killing her client, 65-year-old Graham Flax, in Cape Town, while under the influence of drugs.
On Monday, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT+) community rallied behind September, who is taking on the department after being denied the right to express her gender identity as a female in a male prison.
Prior to court proceedings, members of Sistaaz’Hood, a group of transwomen sex workers, stood at the steps of the high court with posters and placards calling for equality.
The group wore purple T-shirts and their posters read “Justice for Jade”.
MURDERED: Graham Flax, 65
One of the members, Goolam Petersen, said: “Most of us know Jade and are here to support her in getting her dignity back which has been taken away from her in prison.
“Once you strike Jade, you strike every trans in South Africa because trans exists, but some people are too blind to see.
“The law that needs to protect us is the biggest criminal because there is no way for us to survive such as having our IDs changed, healthcare services and social service departments all take our rights away; it’s like there is no place for us in this country.”
Petersen said this court case was just one of the ways to get recognition from government.
“Jade is our voice now. We don’t expect much, all we want is for transwomen to be seen as who we are, be accepted and for our dignities to be upheld. We don’t ask for special treatment, just give us equal rights.”
WE WANT EQUALITY: Sistaaz’Hood at court
Sistaaz’Hood Coordinator Leigh Davids said: “Jade September is a woman in a men’s prison but she would not be safe in a women’s prison. She is a transgender woman caught in a system which does not afford her a chance to fulfil her role in the justice system.
“Most of us have been imprisoned and understand full well the complexity of our position in the prison system.”
While incarcerated at the Helderstroom Maximum Correctional Centre in Caledon, September said she had been subjected to verbal abuse and harassment from prison officials, and at one stage placed in segregated confinement for 17 days, from 19 March to 4 April 2016.
This was after she defied officials and expressed her gender.
Her personal items have been confiscated, and she was forced to cut off her braided hair.
The court heard that on December 7 last year, following a confrontation with one of the prison head, September attempted to commit suicide.
The matter continues on Tuesday.