Pride - Protest and celebration is a history of South Africa's gay pride marches and parades over the last 16 years. It brings together a host of valuable and rare material - pictures, documents and personal testimony of activists, organizers and participants of Pride since 1990. Press clippings are also used in this beautiful collection, to trace how Pride has been reported over the years, helping to form both an historical record and a colourful, enjoyable scrapbook of memories of the most visible face of South Africa's gay and lesbian community. South Africa's first-ever gay Pride march took place in October 1990, just as the liberation movements including the ANC and the PAC were returning home after decades in exile. That year, Pride pushed for the inclusion of gay rights in the human rights for which South Africans were then fighting. That dream was realised in the Constitution, ratified in 1996, which enshrines protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation - a Constitution unique in the world. Since then, Pride has continually evolved. In 1994 it became a "parade", and in later years it came to include a mardi gras and other activities. Its focus moved from its campaigning of the early years to, increasingly, a celebration of freedom and gay/lesbian culture, as much a huge party as anything else. Yet it has been controversial within gay/lesbian circles as well as in the view of the larger society - and there are still rights (such as gay marriage) for which to fight.

On 30 November 2006, South Africa became the world’s fifth country and Africa’s first to legalise marriage for same-sex couples. To Have & To Hold explores the journey to same-sex marriage with a collection of interviews, essays and documents recognising the multiplicity of viewpoints on the topic, as well as the multiple aspects and efforts that shaped the making of same-sex marriage in South Africa.

It seeks to represent those perspectives by drawing on the opinions of a wide range of experts as well as representing those for whom the right to marry holds the most meaning – the people whose marriages can now be legally recognised. The combination of historical documents, personal reflections and academic and activist analyses of same-sex marriage makes this book invaluable for understanding this historic journey and its legal, social, cultural and religious ramifications.