Being beaten, having thugs break into your home to hold a gun to you head and being threatened with rape and death is enough to break anyone.

Not the chief organizer of Johannesburg Pride.

Despite fearing for her life, Kaye Ally is determined for the event to go on.

She has revealed since the preparations for the gay pride rally began in earnest, she has become the target of an ongoing hate campaign.

Speaking to Mamba Online, she claimed the violent attacks began in the early hours of 23 August when three men broke into her home as she slept.

The men, wearing balaclavas, held a gun to her head and stole her laptop, cell phone and tablet as well memory sticks and two files on Johannesburg Pride.

‘They said they know I’m gay and they won’t rape me, that they weren’t there for that,’ said Ally.

She was beaten and tazered, and she reported the attack in the morning.

Two weeks ago, she was again attacked in a parking lot near her workplace.

‘I was getting out of my car. I had my back to them and I didn’t see them. They pushed me down onto the car. I had a knife jabbed into my side and I was told to stop and cancel Joburg Pride,’ Ally claimed, saying it was the first time she directly associated the attacks with the gay rallying event she was planning.

On Sunday (22 September), she said another incident took place as she was getting into her car.

‘I was once again caught off guard. I was pinned down at my car. They said to me that I don’t seem to be understanding English and that I must cancel Joburg Pride or next time they’ll teach me a lesson.’

Ally said she has never been able to clearly see or identify her attackers, other than knowing they were men.

Her workplace has also received numerous and disturbing calls, warning them they have a lesbian working for them and she was violating her contract by also ‘working’ as an employee for Joburg Pride.

Ally is now working with the other volunteers to discuss whether it is safe for the event to go ahead. In the meantime, she is being protected by security staff and will not be alone from now on.

‘As far as I’m concerned I am committed to Pride,’ she said. ‘I’m not going to let petty criminals sway my dedication to Pride.’

Ally added: ‘We will look at all the threats and take it seriously. I would put the safety and security of the community before anything else. My involvement stands steadfast but the way forward is not determined by me alone.’