The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers by Mark Gevisser is out now from Jonathan Ball Publishers.

‘Gevisser has produced that rare book of non-fiction – rigorously researched, meticulously analysed and beautifully crafted. Pink Line is not just necessary reading for those who care about justice, it ought to be mandatory.’ – Sisonke Msimang, author of Always Another Country

‘Mark Gevisser melds vivid, often anguishing, personal stories with commanding analysis. The result is an engrossing and unforgettable book – one that treats its subjects with profound respect, but never forgets that at base our common struggle, queer or straight, is to find our own way to be sufficiently human.’ – Justice Edwin Cameron

Six years in the making, The Pink Line follows protagonists from nine countries all over the globe to tell the story of how ‘LGBT Rights’ became one of the world’s new human rights frontiers in the second decade of the 21st Century.

From refugees in South Africa to activists in Egypt, transgender women in Russia and transitioning teens in the American Mid-West, The Pink Line folds intimate and deeply affecting stories of individuals, families and communities into a definitive account of how the world has changed, so dramatically, in just a decade. And in doing so he reveals a troubling new equation that has come in to play: while same-sex marriage and gender transition are now celebrated in some parts of the world, laws to criminalise homosexuality and gender non-conformity have been strengthened in others.

In a work of great scope and wonderful storytelling, this is the groundbreaking, definitive account of how issues of sexuality and gender identity divide and unite the world today.

Mark Gevisser’s previous books include the award-winning Thabo Mbeki: A Dream Deferred and Lost and Found in Johannesburg: A Memoir. He writes frequently for Guardian, The New York Times, Granta, and many other publications. He helped organise South Africa’s first Pride March in 1990, and has worked on queer themes ever since, as a journalist, filmmaker and curator. He lives in Cape Town.

Categories Africa International Non-fiction South Africa

Tags Jonathan Ball Publishers Mark Gevisser New books New releases The Pink Line