Leigh Davids

Leigh Davids (25 March 1979; 27 February 2019) was a South African transgender woman, political activist and advocate for transgender sex workers’ rights and the decriminalization of sex work.

Early life Davids was born into a Muslim family in Cape Town. She left home at 14 to escape abuse and discrimination from her family, who did not accept her gender identity. She turned to sex work to support herself, after which, like many other sex workers in South Africa, she suffered police harassment and abuse. These experiences informed her activist work in later life and influenced her fight for the decriminalization of sex work in South Africa.

Career as an activist Davids worked for GenderDynamix, SWEAT (Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce), GALA, and SRJC (Sexual and Reproductive Justice Commission). She was a founding member and coordinator of SistaazHood, a transgender women sex worker support group, founded in 2010, which is the largest of its kind in Africa. In 2016, SHE (Sexual Health Empowerment) awarded her for Movement Building in South Africa. and in 2018 she was the focus of photographer Robert Hamblin’s exhibition elevating the voices of transgender sex workers of colour in Cape Town. She shared a story about her personal daily struggles which highlighted the broader structures of institutional prejudice, sexual and gender-based violence: [...] they [society] don't speak my language [...] the language a poor, homeless, black person speaks; I mean the language a transgender sex worker of Cape Town speaks, that live on the streets, that has no home. Do anyone of y’all know my language yet? [...] In the morning when I wake up, [and] when the other girls see me under a piece of plastic [...] I think how will I get R40 today? For whom will I perform my poverty for today? Who will humiliate me today when I ask for ARVs? Who will send me away again this year when I say I was raped AGAIN?! Will this be the day that policemen won't make me suck his dick just because I walked to the [bus] stop while being trans? Will I survive this day? Davids also describes the rejection of poor queer people and sex workers by the South African healthcare system ultimately preventing their access to proper HIV treatment.

Davids is recognized for having dedicated her life to the fight for sex workers’ rights, educating communities about sexual orientation and gender identity, creating safe, supportive spaces for LGBTQA+ people and advocating for fair and equitable access to healthcare.