"I have been patient with the name-calling and the insults. This time it broke me down."

A college student in South Africa says he was expelled from his college because he is gay.

On Monday, 20-year-old Bheka Khanyile was removed from his class at Coastal College in Umlazi, southwest of Durban. He says his teacher forced him out, “because she cannot teach a gay guy,” he told GroundUp.

Last year, the same teacher taunted and harassed Khanyile in front of other students and faculty, reportedly asking him whether he had a vagina or a penis. She also mocked him for wearing braids and makeup.



Just prior to removing him from class, the teacher verbally attacked him in the crowded school cafeteria.

“She started saying horrible stuff,” recalled Khanyile, who is studying office administration. “She said I don’t know how to use my penis, because I would make such a handsome boyfriend… that I must leave this homosexuality thing because I was not born like this.”



For Khanyile, it was the final straw: “When she told me I should leave her class, I went straight home… I have been patient with the name-calling and the insults. This time it broke me down. I’ve been made a joke because of my sexuality. I have heard cleaners at the college laughing at me because I’m gay.”

In 1996, South Africa became the first nation in the world to add language banning discrimination based on sexual orientation to its constitution, and the country was the fift in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. But homophobia is still deeply entrenched in the country, where LGBT citizens face extremely high rates of discrimination and violence.

After global outcry over the “corrective rape” and murder of a prominent lesbian activist in 2011, the South African government set up a taskforce to address anti-LGBT hate crimes. Still queer victims of violence report being ignored or facing additional harassment from police and healthcare workers.

Khanyile reported his expulsion to school officials, but says that nothing has been done. Questioned by the local media, a college spokesperson insisted he should have reported the abuse sooner.

Coastal College principal Sibhanana Ndlovu has promised to investigate the incident and, if necessary, discipline the teacher. “The scourge of lesbians and gay abuse is tearing our society apart,” Ndlovu said in a statement, “and it is imperative that we all play a meaningful role in fighting against it.”