Being lesbian in a democratic country

South Africa is democratic country where everyone is expected to enjoy the full benefits of not being discriminated against. Yet it is evident in our daily lives that it is not always the case. The country has experienced corrective rape cases which received little or no justice at all.
As a lesbian I faced several challenges and had many barriers to break along the way. Living in the closet was not an option I was willing to take. Yet again coming out brought so many challenges which included rejection from family and close relatives. Young as I was I had to stand up for what I believed was right for me. That was living a life that would make me happy.
As years passed by I met a lady from my neighbouring village and we fell in love. It was so natural, love beyond gender. I didn’t fall in love with a woman. I fell in love with a human being. It was just like in the movies, she gave me goose bumps and we couldn’t just get enough of each other. But that would change the minute we receive a nasty comment from anyone we meet, be it in town or in the village. It was all the same. The rejection acted as a major challenge on its own. Being rejected by the same village that you were born and raised in, where do you run to? Though all these would disappear once I’m in the hands of my loving partner, it still served as a challenge.
Despite all these challenges and trials, we grew older and so was our love for each other. I then moved to the big city (Pretoria) to start on my career. The big city became a home away from home. A place where no one will stare at me for holding hands with my partner though the stigma of being homosexual was there it was not as bad as back home. After five years my partner and I started to think along the lines of marriage and kids. It was the best thing and most important thing to do for us. It felt right, we had grown to love and understand each other. We had grown to accept our sexuality and felt more comfortable with who we are. Our love for each other had matured and needed to take the next step. We felt content about it. We could deal with not being wedded by a priest but one thing we couldn’t deal with was bringing a soul to this awful country. Reality knocked to say, are you really saying you can raise a child in this awful and judgemental country? I asked myself if we had what it takes to prepare the child for those moments where he\she will be playing with a priest child who preaches that there is no place in heaven for homosexuals except in hell. Were we really ready to send our child to a school which might send him/her back for having two mothers? Roman Catholic as I am, where was I going to baptise my child? Now tell me, is this country really democratic? This really frustrated us, but we prayed and hoped that the love and support that we were going to give to this child was going to be enough to prepare him\her for the cruel country we live in. We have to find a way because clearly the Bill of Rights won’t do it.
This is just a glimpse of the daily issues that we face.