NOVEMBER 20, 2021- Atlanta, Georgia-based not-for-profit SisterLove, Inc, ,founded by Dázon Dixon Diallo, honors the dynamic, award-winning filmmaker, activist, and advocate Beverley Palesa Ditsie, PhD, with the Pandora Singleton Leading Women’s Society Award on her birthday. Dr. Ditsie has an extensive history of documentary film work and advocacy for LGBTQ rights in her native South Africa. Dr. Ditsie also founded the Gay and Lesbian Organization of Witwatersrand (GLOW), a non-governmental organization in South Africa that focused on gay and lesbian community issues. She is now working with SisterLove, inc on documenting their WomenNOW! Sexual and Reproductive, Health, Rights, and Justice Global Summit, an international conference of public health leaders and social justice activists working on black women’s rights.
A Lifetime of Daring Activism
Dr. Ditsie is one of the organizers of the first Pride March in South Africa. Ditsie and her friend, Simon Nkoli, another activist, worked together on creating the pride event after Simon had the idea from his visit to the United States. During the event, she spoke on live TV, becoming a "cultural icon" and also a target for people's hatred and bigotryDitsie is critical of current Pride activities because she sees a cultural and racial divide between LGBT people in South Africa.
Dr. Ditsie spoke at the United Nations Conference on Women in 1995, and gave an address on LGBTQ rights before the United Nations’ 4th World Conference on Women, the first openly lesbian woman to ever do so. Ditsie has worked as an actress and director in television since 1980.
In the late 1990s, she was in the reality show, Livewire - Communities, and was the only black lesbian on the show.
She has also written, directed and consulted in over 20 documentaries. Her first documentary film, the autobiographical Simon and I (2001), won a number of Audience Awards, including the 2004 Oxfam/Vues d’ Afrique Best Documentary. In honor of her lifetime of advocacy, thought leadership, and career success,,SisterLove, Inc honored her with the Pandora Singleton Leading Women’s Society Award, a recognition of her lifetime of advocacy, thought leadership, and career success.
Pandora Award History
The Pandora Singleton Leading Women’s Society Award derives from its namesake Pandora Singleton, a fierce and passionate advocate for women living with HIV/AIDS, especially those in the LGBTQ communities. The Leading Women’s Society is a collective of community activist women who have lived with HIV for 20 years or more. Each year they select an award winner who embodies the spirit of Singleton.
SisterLove, Inc proudly honors Ditsie with this award and offers gratitude for their ongoing work together to document the WomenNOW! Global Summit.
To see her, and others social advocates, public health leaders, and experts in the fight for equal rights for women, girls, and birthing persons of African descent, rsvp for the upcoming WomenNOW! Global Summit on December 3-5 in Durban, South Africa.