On 2 June 2008, Daisy Dube, a gender-variant person, and four friends who self-identified as drag queens, went out clubbing in the evening in Yeoville, Johannesburg. Men outside the club called them izitabane,* referring to their gender identity. In resistance, Daisy and her friends shouted back, asking them to stop insulting them by calling them izitabane. The men then started shooting at Daisy and her friends, resulting in Daisy’s death. 

* ‘Izitabane’ is a Zulu word which roughly translates as “hermaphrodite”**. Izitabane is a derogatory slang term. More recently, the Zulu word ‘stabane’ became a more widely used derogatory term referring to any LGBTIQ+ person, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. 

** The term “hermaphrodite” was a scientific description of organisms (plants and animals) that have male and female reproductive organs. The term was also used to describe human beings, and outside of the medical context became derogatory, and an insult. In recent years the term “hermaphrodite” has been replaced by the term “intersex” in medical circles, and even more recently in many social circles, both thanks to the work of intersex activists. ​​