Donna Ann Marie Smith
Donna A. M. Smith (born 2 June 1960) is a Jamaican lesbian, bisexual, queer (LBQ) rights activist, lawyer, editor, poet, training and development practitioner and life coach.[1]
Smith was born in Bullet Tree, Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica to Valerie Creary, a primary school teacher and Winston Smith, a civil engineer. She is one of two children on her maternal side and at least 18 children on her paternal side. She was raised by her mother and grew up between Saint Catherine, Kingston, and Saint Andrew Parish in Jamaica and has resided in South Africa since 2000.
Education
Smith completed a Bachelor of Laws (Hons.) degree from the University of the West Indies in 1981 and received her Council of Legal Education Practising Certificate from the Norman Manley Law School in 1983.
She has multiple certifications in various skills including mediation, negotiation, facilitation and training, divorce mediation and marriage counselling, to name a few.
Activism
Smith’s activism dates back to the age of 15 when she came out as a lesbian and began educating those around her and standing up for herself. When she was 17 years old, Smith wrote a paper called “Homosexuality and the Gay Revolution” for an English assignment, which earned the ire of some at Immaculate Conception High School, a conservative Catholic girls’ high school. She got an A minus because, according to the teacher, despite the high quality of the work it was too supportive of homosexuality and deliberately perverse.
While researching the paper she reached out to the only LGBTQ rights organisation in Jamaica and the English-speaking Caribbean at the time, the Gay Freedom Movement, and she later became a member from 1977–1979.[2] Her contributions to the organisation included writing a column called “Girl Talk” for their monthly newsletter, the Jamaica Gaily News, and other advocacy work.
After a long hiatus from queer activism to focus on her education and law career, Smith became a member of the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG) in 1998. J-FLAG was formed to combat the growth of violent attacks against predominantly gay men in Jamaica at the time. As the only out member, Smith soon became the face of the organisation, appearing publicly to advocate for queer rights. As the first female co-chairperson of J-FLAG, she received a full scholarship to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) conference in September 1999 hosted by Johannesburg which led to her eventual relocation in 2000. She met her then partner Zanele Muholi at the conference. Although Smith’s move was motivated by her new relationship and to grow her mediation, training, and development practice, she found herself involved in LBQ activism largely due to her partner’s encouragement and prominence in the space:
"Zanele had a great deal of faith in me, she believed I was meant to do great things in and for the LGBTI movement/community in South Africa"[3]
In 2001, Smith was involved with Andile Vinjiwe’s Black Pride (later known as African Pride). She was part of a delegation sent to negotiate with the PRIDE Organising Committee for more inclusivity and later became sole chair of PRIDE.
In 2002, Smith, Muholi and 25 other women decided to answer the insistent demand for black LBQ organising by creating the Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW), an organisation fighting for the rights of, and providing psycho-social support to, black lesbians in South Africa.[4] It was initially based at their home in Kensington, Johannesburg and consequently, Smith was the first CEO of FEW from 2003–2007.
Smith also helped establish the Joint Working Group of LGBTI organisations in South Africa (JWG), and the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL).[5] Smith has served on the board of Fifty and Beyond South Africa (FABSA), established to address the needs of women 50 years and above.[6] She is currently Director of Development at CAL, a position she has held since 2018.
References
- ↑ "Soulful poet calls the tune". June 15, 2010 – via PressReader.
- ↑ "CIRN: GAY FREEDOM MOVEMENT ARCHIVES". [1]. Retrieved October 13, 2022. External link in
|website=(help) - ↑ "2014 March 21: Part 2 A retrospective on my life and work as an activist in South Africa". [2]. May 17, 2013. External link in
|website=(help) - ↑ "Home". [3]. Retrieved October 12, 2022. External link in
|website=(help) - ↑ "JOINT WORKING GROUP" (PDF). [4]. Retrieved October 12, 2022. External link in
|website=(help) - ↑ "South Africa FABSA". [5]. Retrieved October 13, 2022. External link in
|website=(help)
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