Can you believe it? It has already been three years this October that GaySA Radio has been open for business. And they are going to celebrate by hosting a 3-year-old themed party at Pretoria Pride, the proceeds benefiting Cotlands.

The dream that led to the starting of GaySA Radio in 2015 has over the past three years led to very interesting times. The station started with just the four founders who started working on the programmatic structures, soon to be joined by several volunteers who dedicated their time and effort to enable the first South African internet radio station to broadcast LGBTQ+ content to Africa and the world. While the first two years were staffed mainly by volunteers, a small permanent team was appointed at the beginning of this year to give more stability to the content delivery, as well as starting to fine tune this niche media segment so as to contribute to real and lasting change in perceptions and the way the issues are handled.

GaySA Radio raised it hand and did something for LGBTQ+ people in South Africa by spearheading the campaign to keep gay-hating pastor Steven Anderson and his cronies out of South Africa (and Botswana, and Jamaica!) Our ongoing efforts at the SAHRC against Anderson acolyte Oscar Bougard recently led to his being found guilty with a suspended sentence.And so the third birthday celebration month of October is an excellent time to celebrate some of the successes and introduce some improvements to better serve LGBTQ+ people through our platforms. These changes include a longer curated content day on the live stream (http://gaysaradio.ndstream.net), more podcast series, and focusing the music exclusively on LGBTQ+ artists, allies and icons. These are just some of the changes on the way as we move toward 2019.

To kick off the birthday celebrations that will last throughout October, you are invited to attend the birthday party that will be held on 6 October at Pretoria Pride. The fun starts at 10 am as we especially invite LGBTQ+ people with children to come and have some fun with Magic Man Hendini. This very colourful magic show is followed by rainbow cake and something to drink. Photographer Rudi will be on hand to capture your party pics. There is space for about 100 people at the party, so to RSVP is crucial. This can be done by emailing your name, cell number and number of people to info at gaysaradio dot co dot za. As part of our charity drive that benefits Cotlands, we ask that all our guests donate an educational toy suitable for a three year old or R 150, which can be brought to the event. There will be a credit card machine on the day to easily make a donation. If you are not attending, you can still support the children at Cotlands by depositing the R 150 donation into the GaySA Radio Thando NPO business cheque account 6269 6183 624.

Once the party celebrations have concluded at around 12 noon, GaySA Radio joins forces with Rasputin and becomes a chill lounge for the rest of the day, with a selfie station where photographer Rudi will be doing his best to photograph every single person who attends Pretoria Pride on the day. Let’s see how many he can do!

Remember to LISTEN to GaySA Radio during October for everything LGBTQ+. To listen and for more information, go to gaysaradio.co.za and follow GaySA Radio on social media.