Remembering Simon Nkoli

Simon Tseko Nkoli (also spelled Nkodi; 26 November 1957^α – 30 November 1998) was an anti-apartheid, gay rights, and AIDS activist in South Africa. Active in the Congress of South African Students (COSAS), the United Democratic Front (UDF), and the Vaal Civic Association, he was imprisoned as one of the Delmas 22 in 1984. After his acquittal in 1988, he founded the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand (GLOW) and organized South Africa's first pride march. His activism influenced the African National Congress (ANC) to enshrine gay rights in the South African constitution. One of the first South Africans to disclose that he was living with HIV/AIDS, Nkoli founded the Township AIDS Project to provide HIV prevention services to Black South Africans. After his death from AIDS-related complications, his colleagues established the Treatment Action Campaign which successfully lobbied the government to expand access to HIV treatment.

Nkoli was born on 26 November 1957^α in Phiri, Soweto,^[4][5] to a Sotho-speaking family.^[6][7] He had three siblings.^[4][8] As a child, Nkoli had to hide his parents from the police in a cabinet because they lived in an area forbidden to them by the apartheid-era Pass laws and Group Areas Act.^[8][9][10] He recounted this experience in "Wardrobes" in the anthology Defiant Desire: Gay and Lesbian Lives in South Africa.^[11][12][13] After Nkoli's parents separated, he lived with his grandparents on a farm and attended primary school in Orange Free State for several years before moving in with his mother in Sebokeng in the Vaal Triangle area.^[4][14][15] Nkoli's family was working class.^[16][8][17] His mother, Elizabeth, was employed as a domestic worker and later a sales clerk, while his step-father, Elias, was a hotel chef.^[14][18]

Nkoli met his first boyfriend, a white bus driver, by responding to a pen pal ad in a magazine.^[14][9] Nkoli's mother was upset when he told her about their relationship.^[19][18] In an attempt to change Nkoli's sexual orientation, she took him to multiple sangomas (traditional healers) and a Christian clergyman. Lastly, she consulted a therapist who affirmed Nkoli's gay identity and encouraged him to accept himself.^[20][21][15] Nkoli later called himself "lucky" that, instead of disowning him, his mother "tried to help me, in the ways that she knew how".^[22][23] With time, Elizabeth accepted Nkoli's sexual orientation. She supported him throughout his life, including his many arrests and the police harassment she experienced due to his anti-apartheid activism.^[7][22]

Nkoli first became involved in activism in high school, organizing students and spearheading a campaign opposing Afrikaans as his school's language of instruction during the 1976 Soweto Uprising.^[24][25][8] During the uprising, he was arrested for the first time.^[26][27] Nkoli was active in several groups including Young Christian Students, Young Christian Workers, and Vaal Youth Crusade.^[24][28][29]

While attending secretarial college in Johannesburg,^[30][2] Nkoli joined the Congress of South African Students (COSAS), an anti-apartheid group. He became secretary for its Vaal Triangle branch while his friend Gcina Malindi served as chair.^[4][31] At the time, the Vaal Triangle branch primarily organized around student concerns and rent increases.^[32][8][25] After his colleagues in COSAS encouraged him to bring a girlfriend to their events, Nkoli came out to them as gay.^[33][34][3] The group held lengthy discussions about whether he should give up his position as secretary, with some arguing that homosexuality is "un-African".^[35][15] Ultimately, 80% of the group voted to support him as secretary.^[4][12]

Affiliated with both the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the then-banned African National Congress (ANC),^[36][8] Nkoli gave speeches and participated in marches, boycotts, and sit-ins.^[2] He was frequently detained by the police for his activism, sometimes for months at a time.^[7][15][2] Additionally, Nkoli worked at the South African Institute of Race Relations and assisted political prisoners via the Detainees Support Committee.^[19][37][25]

In 1983, Nkoli joined the Gay Association of South Africa (GASA).^[38][39] A mostly white organization which considered itself to be apolitical, GASA occasionally supported apartheid politicians and released statements denouncing homophobia but did not condemn apartheid.^[40][41][42] Nkoli opposed GASA's apolitical stance and was unable to attend many of their events because they were held in white-only locations.^[43][44] Additionally, he felt that GASA tokenized their Black members, allowing them to join primarily to convince the international gay community that GASA was not racist.^[45][46] In an effort to create a more Black-inclusive space within GASA, Nkoli recruited new members via the City Press.^[47][44] They met on Saturdays— initially at the GASA office but later at members' homes in Soweto after white members complained that they were disruptive.^[48][49] In May 1984, Nkoli and the new members formed the Saturday Group, a GASA-affiliated organization that aimed to be a place for gay people of all races.^[50][51][52] According to Nkoli, the Saturday Group primarily provided counseling to gay Black people but also organized parties and had white members.^[50] Nkoli estimated that it had 124 members when he was arrested in September 1984, after which it disbanded.^[53][45]

In 1983, the Vaal Civic Association (VCA) was formed to organize around socio-economic issues in the Vaal Triangle area, including housing, transportation, and labor rights.^[54] It was affiliated with the UDF.^[55][56] Nkoli, who was active in the VCA,^[56] engaged in tenant organizing and gave speeches in support of rent strikes.^[57][58][25] On 3 September 1984, the VCA organized a general strike and march. The protest was motivated by multiple factors, including rent increases, sub-par living conditions, and Black government officials seen as collaborators. Although the organizers had intended for the protest to be nonviolent, it escalated into widespread rioting after the police shot and killed multiple people. Protesters battled the police, set fires, blocked roads, and killed several Black officials.^[59][56] According to Nkoli: "The police as usual intervened. They wanted the march to disperse. People became angry. Police started shooting at our people, setting dogs on them. There were police casspirs all over the place... By 11 a.m. lots of people had been shot dead."^[60] The unrest, known as the Vaal uprising, spread to other areas and continued into 1986.^[61]

On 23 September 1984, Nkoli attended the funeral of a student activist who had been killed in the Vaal uprising.^[62][24] At the burial, the police attacked the mourners, beating them with sjamboks and firing tear gas.^[62][63] Nearly 600 people were arrested for attending an "illegal gathering".^[62][64] The known activists, including Nkoli, were separated from the other detainees by the Security Branch and severely beaten again.^[63] For at least nine months, Nkoli was held without charge,^[24][65] mostly in solitary confinement.^[64][66] The police interrogated Nkoli about his political views and sexuality, particularly about his relationships with white men.^[67][66] They told him that the ANC would never accept him because he was a moffie (a slur for a gay man).^[19][68] He later recounted that the police would "bring in things like a baton and tell me to go fuck myself with it. They also said they'd put me in prison with others and get me raped."^[67][69]

In June 1985, Nkoli and 21 other political leaders were charged with treason, murder, terrorism, and furthering the aims of the ANC, a banned organisation. Largely related to the Vaal uprising,^[70][56][71] the charges carried a potential sentence of death, and the defendants were denied bail.^[72][64][73] Their trial became known as the Delmas Treason Trial because of its initial location in the small town of Delmas.^[65] It was later moved to the Palace of Justice in Pretoria.^[66][74] The Delmas 22^[26][b] included Nkoli's friend Gcina Malindi as well as high-ranking anti-apartheid leaders Terror Lekota, Popo Molefe, and Moss Chikane.^[76][74] Most of the defendants, like Nkoli, were affiliated with the UDF.^[65][48] Their legal team included George Bizos, Zak Yacoob, and Caroline Heaton-Nicholls.^[77]

Towards the end of 1985, Nkoli was taken out of solitary confinement^[73][66] and held with the rest of his co-defendants in Modderbee Prison.^[78][79] While discussing a love letter between two male prisoners, some of Nkoli's co-defendants made homophobic comments. Nkoli responded angrily and came out as gay, sparking several weeks of debate among the co-defendants.^[80][19] Fearing that Nkoli's sexual orientation would decrease their public support, some of his co-defendants argued that he should be tried separately.^[25][26][81] Their legal team advised against it and asked them to treat Nkoli better.^[73][81] In the end, Nkoli’s co-defendants generally became more accepting of his sexual orientation, especially UDF leaders Terror Lekota and Moss Chikane,^[66][82] and the Delmas 22 were all tried together.^[80][73]

As news of the trial spread, Nkoli gained supporters in Europe and North America, inspiring anti-apartheid activism, especially in the gay community.^[26][83] A group of Canadians, including Tim McCaskell, founded the Simon Nkoli Anti-Apartheid Committee (SNAAC) in Toronto.^[26][84] The City of London Anti-Apartheid Group campaigned in support of Nkoli during their Non-Stop Picket of the South African Embassy.^[85][86][87] Nkoli received correspondence from his international supporters,^[88][76] including more than 150 Christmas cards in 1986.^[89][90] He later stated that his global support campaign "helped the ANC to see that a human rights struggle without a gay rights dimension was unacceptable".^[91]

Court proceedings began in October 1985 and lasted approximately 420 days, making it one of the longest trials in South African history.^[73][74][65] The prosecutors accused Nkoli of attending an illegal meeting,^[92][66] and Nkoli came out as gay by testifying that he had in fact been at a GASA event at the time.^[93][94] In June 1987, he was released on bail.^[95][96] Restricted from working, he was supported financially by SNAAC.^[84][97] The court decided the case in November 1988: Nkoli and ten of his co-defendants were acquitted, while the other eleven were found guilty.^[98][99][66]

Before the Delmas Treason Trial, Nkoli was a member of GASA, a mostly white gay organization.^[40][100] After Nkoli was arrested during the Vaal Uprising, GASA declined to support Nkoli or advocate for his acquittal.^[101][102] GASA did not make an official statement about his trial until 1986. In their brief statement, they appeared to justify his imprisonment and said that their lack of support for Nkoli was because he had not been arrested for "gay activities".^[103][27] Because of GASA's behavior towards Nkoli, the Scottish Homosexual Rights Group (SHRG) and other members of the international gay community criticized them as racist and advocated for their expulsion from the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA).^[104][52]

At ILGA's annual meeting in 1986, GASA representative Kevan Botha made a speech defending his organization’s lack of support for Nkoli by pointing to his murder charge and stating that GASA was apolitical.^[100][104] He also spoke about GASA's "multiracial work".^[105][52] Previously, Nkoli had advocated against ousting GASA, but after Botha's speech he openly criticized the organization.^[106][52] At their 1987 meeting, ILGA suspended GASA's membership, and GASA disbanded soon after.^[107][108]

While in prison for the Delmas Treason Trial, Nkoli wrote a letter about his vision for a gay organization that would be "progressive" and "align itself unashamedly with the struggle for a broad-based freedom in South Africa".^[109][110] After his release on bail, Nkoli co-founded the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand (GLOW) with Beverley Palesa Ditsie and Linda Ngcobo in April 1988.^[111][112] GLOW, a predominantly Black organization, included white members^[113][114] and aimed to be a place for "All South Africans who are Committed to a Non-Racist, Non-Sexist, Non-Discriminatory Democratic Future".^[115] In contrast to GASA, GLOW was politically minded and involved in both the gay rights and anti-apartheid movements.^{[115][56][116]} GLOW hosted committees on various topics and also had a newsletter, a drag competition called Miss GLOW,^[111][113] and a bar in Soweto called the Glowbar.^[117][118] By the early 1990s, GLOW had multiple branches throughout the Johannesburg area^[111][119] and 1,000 members.^[120]

In 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from prison, the ANC was unbanned, and negotiations for the end of apartheid began.^{[121][122][123]} The state of emergency that had prohibited protests and other civil rights was canceled.^[120][124] On 13 October of that year, GLOW organised the first pride march in South Africa.^[125][17] According to Edwin Cameron, Nkoli planned the march as both a protest for gay rights and a celebration of gay identity.^[17][126] The event began inside the South African Institute of Race Relations.^[122][127] Ditsie, Cameron, and others made speeches.^[128][129] In Nkoli's speech he said:

I am black and I am gay. I cannot separate the two parts into secondary and primary struggles. In South Africa I am oppressed because I am a black man, and I am oppressed because I am gay. So, when I fight for my freedom, I must fight against both oppressors...With this march gays and lesbians are entering the struggle for a democratic South Africa where everybody has equal rights and everyone is protected by the law: black and white, men and women, gay and straight.^{[129][130][131]}

The march of about 800 people^[132][133] walked from Braamfontein to Hillbrow in Johannesburg.^[134][122] The mood was celebratory.^[135][136] Participants held hands and chanted:^[135][137] "Out of Closets— Into the Streets", "Not the Church, Not the State— We Ourselves Decide Our Fate", and "We’re here! We’re queer! We’re everywhere."^{[138][139][140]} Some participants wore paper bags over their heads to protect their identities,^[122][132] but many took them off once it started raining.^[141][140] The speeches continued after the march, with Nkoli telling attendees to kiss the person next to them.^[139][142]

The pride march became an annual event with thousands of participants.^[143][144] Initially, some white people did not participate due to the march's association with the anti-apartheid movement. Eventually, a mostly white Pride Committee took over the responsibility of organizing the march. GLOW and Nkoli criticized the new organizers as disregarding the concerns of Black members of the community. For example, Nkoli disapproved of afterparty entrance fees which most Black people could not afford. He thought that the parade could not be considered "truly African".^[145][146]

Nkoli tested positive for HIV in prison in 1985, two years after the first documented AIDS-related deaths in South Africa.^[147][148] After prison, he began working to educate others about the virus.^[149] In particular, he noticed a lack of awareness about HIV among Black people.^{[117][94][150]} At the time, HIV was widely considered to be a "white disease".^{[151][152][153]} Existing community efforts to address AIDS mostly involved white people,^{[150][154][155]} and educational materials in Black South African languages did not exist.^{[150][156][157]} In 1989, Nkoli and Peter Busse co-founded the Township AIDS Project (TAP).^[158][159] TAP was one of the first organizations to focus on HIV prevention for Black people, especially gay men and those who lived in the townships.^{[158][160][161]}

Between July and September 1989, Nkoli travelled to cities throughout Europe and North America raising money for TAP and speaking about apartheid, gay rights, and AIDS in South Africa.^{[1][119][162]} His trip included the ILGA conference in Vienna and the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center in New York City.^[1][148] At MIT, he spoke at a conference called "From Stonewall to Sharpeville", where he told the audience: "Freedom is what we want in that country; and that is what we are going to get!"^[162] The tour was coordinated by SNAAC and James Credle from the National Association of Black and White Men Together.^{[163][164][157]}

In 1990, TAP opened their first office in Soweto.^[165][166] TAP was affiliated with GLOW,^{[117][162][150]} and members of GLOW, including Nkoli and Beverly Ditsie, worked there.^[158][136] Their efforts were hindered by South African law which, for example, meant they could not show videos about safer sex or use dildos to demonstrate how to use a condom.^[152][117] The apartheid government did not provide funding for TAP, but they received donations from foreign groups, including LLH Norway.^[152][117]

Like other AIDS activists, Nkoli viewed the "abstinence, be faithful, use a condom" approach to HIV prevention as ineffective and unnecessarily strict; he instead promoted sex-positive, harm reduction strategies. Educational material he distributed promoted safer sex "as a normalised part of enjoyable, erotic, healthy, sexual activity" and often showed interracial relationships.^[161] In one TAP poster, Nkoli embraces a white man below the phrase: "If you really love him/ Think safer sex".^[167]

Nkoli also believed that being visible as someone with HIV would help him educate people about the virus.^[151] According to former TAP director Enea Motaung, Nkoli stated: "for people to know about the disease, I think I must disclose [my status]".^[151] The decision was nerve-wracking for Nkoli,^[151][12] but in 1990 or 1996, he publicly announced his diagnosis, becoming one of the first openly HIV-positive African men.^{[168][148][143]} At the time, fewer than ten AIDS activists were open about their positive status, according to Peter Busse.^[159]

Nkoli worked with TAP until 1996.^[169] He also founded a group called the Positive African Men Project in Johannesburg.^[169][148]

Nkoli was instrumental in ensuring that gay rights were enshrined in the South African constitution.^{[170][171][172]} As early as 1989, he was in communication with ANC leaders like Thabo Mbeki, Ruth Mompati, and Nelson Mandela to pressure the ANC to take an official position in support of gay rights.^[173][174] His "Open Letter to Nelson Mandela" was published in the Village Voice in 1990.^[174] When Albie Sachs asked GLOW to contribute to the process of creating South Africa's interim constitution, they gathered input from the LGBT community and eventually proposed adding an "equality clause" prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. The ANC agreed and included it in the interim constitution that went into effect in 1994.^{[173][175][56]}

In 1994, South Africa held its first democratic elections.^[176][123] The equality clause faced pushback from conservative South Africans, with 65% of ANC supporters saying they opposed homosexuality.^[123] The LGBT community mobilized to ensure the equality clause would be included in the final version of the constitution.^[173][40] Nkoli, Zackie Achmat, and others founded the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality (NCGLE), a multi-racial coalition of more than 50 organizations, that prioritized organizing around the equality clause.^{[177][6][178]} Edwin Cameron, Nkoli, and others leveraged their relationships with the drafters of the Constitution, including Zak Yacoob, Nkoli's Delmas Treason Trial lawyer.^[179] In 1995, an NCGLE delegation, including Nkoli and Ian McKellan, met with the newly elected President Nelson Mandela who reaffirmed the ANC's commitment to gay rights.^{[130][178][173]} The NCGLE's lobbying campaign was ultimately successful, making South Africa, in 1996, the first country in the world to explicitly prohibit discrimination against gay people in its constitution.^[180][170] Nkoli and the NCGLE also campaigned against South Africa's anti-sodomy laws, which were repealed in the last year of his life.^{[181][182][180][183]}

According to Nkoli, 25 members of GLOW died of AIDS-related causes between 1988 and 1998.^[184][185] In 1993, GLOW's co-founder Linda Ngcobo died of AIDS-related causes at age 28. Ngcobo's funeral was attended by both GLOW activists and congregants of his family's conservative church.^[186] Nkoli gave a eulogy in front of a giant GLOW banner and led a call and response for gay rights.^{[187][12][188]} Nkoli vocally criticized the South African government for its response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.^[143][12] In a 1998 interview, he advocated writing letters to the Department of Health, saying "people are dying anyway without action. Why not die with action?" and planned to go on hunger strike in protest.^{[143][189][190][191]}

After his diagnosis, Nkoli lived with HIV for 12 years and was often sick during the last 4 years of his life.^[143][12] Although effective HIV treatment became available in 1996, Nkoli was unable to afford it.^{[192][193][194]} He went into a coma and died on 30 November 1998 at Johannesburg General Hospital,^[189][195] shortly after a group of AIDS activists had arrived to visit him. They returned to their office determined to take action.^[196]

Nkoli's memorial service was held on 4 December at St. Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg.^{[197][198][148]} Zackie Achmat gave a speech urging the audience to: "cry, rage, mobilise. Don’t only mourn.”^[143][189] In an obituary, Achmat called Nkoli a "gay martyr".^[199][8] Nkoli's funeral was held on 10 December at the Mphatlalatsane Community Hall in Sebokeng.^[197] His coffin was draped in a rainbow flag and flowers,^[200] and many people spoke in tribute of him, including AIDS activists Prudence Mabele and Peter Busse as well as his Delmas Treason Trial co-defendants Terror Lekota, Popo Molefe, and Gcina Malinde.^[197] That same day, Achmat and a small group gathered at St. George's Cathedral to announce the establishment of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) which aimed to expand access to HIV medications in South Africa.^[196][201]

At the time of the Delmas Treason Trial, Nkoli was in a relationship with Roy Shepherd. Nkoli met Shepherd, a former Anglican minister,^[202] at the Gay Christian Community,^[76][203] a non-denominational Christian meeting group based in Johannesburg.^[204] During Nkoli's imprisonment, the two exchanged letters, and their relationship "sustained" Nkoli.^[205] A collection of their letters was published as part of the GALA Queer Archive under the title Till the Time of Trial: The Prison Letters of Simon Nkoli.^[206] In the last 5 years of Nkoli's life, he was in a relationship with Roderick Sharp.^{[12][207][169]}

Gcina Malindi was Nkoli's close friend since high school.^[208][7][63] They were active in the anti-apartheid movement together, attending protests^[7] and serving in the leadership of their COSAS branch.^[31] Malindi has spoken about reassuring Nkoli's mother during Nkoli's frequent arrests.^[7] They were arrested together in September 1984^[63] and imprisoned together for the Delmas Treason Trial.^[65] Malindi supported Nkoli throughout prison, including his coming out^{[209][7][210]} and his HIV diagnosis.^[147]

Nkoli became a friend and mentor to Beverly Ditsie after she attended a meeting he had organized about gay rights. Together, they founded GLOW and organized the first pride march.^[140][211] Ditsie has described GLOW as life-changing:"I just blossomed... I found what I had been looking for: a place to belong."^[135] According to Ditsie, she repeatedly tried to convince GLOW to address lesbian issues, such as corrective rape, but was unsuccessful.^[140][212] Ditsie left GLOW after Nkoli told her that participating in the 1995 UN's World Conference on Women would not be relevant to the gay rights movement. Two years later, Nkoli invited her to a 10th anniversary celebration for GLOW, and they became friends again. In 2002, she released Simon & I, a documentary about their friendship and activism.^[140][144]

Nkoli was an athlete,^[213][12] especially a runner.^{[214][180][117]} He liked reading^{[12][76][140][205]} and was a Christian.^[200] His interest in fashion is evident in his prison letters to Shepherd, in which he describes the clothes he wore and wanted.^[76][215] He dressed stylishly and was called "Mr. Elegant".^{[215][216][217]} One obituary said that he wore "a camouflage mini-skirt, jackboots and beret" to gay bars.^[218] Others have noted his fondness for wearing leather.^[12][219]

Nkoli was "playful and irreverent",^[9] had a "mischievous smile",^[12] and was "always laughing, always making jokes".^[135] He was a serious activist but also saw the importance of pleasure and joy.^[216][17] Tim McCaskell described him as "a slight, shy, and fey young man with a ready laugh that concealed an iron determination."^[164] Peter Busse said he was "always animated".^[136] As a sex educator, he eschewed moralistic HIV prevention messaging in favor of a sex-positive framework.^[161] According to Beverly Ditsie, Nkoli had a habit of walking around naked and was "the [freest] human I have ever come across in my whole life".^[220] Nkoli was fearless^[221] and charismatic,^[217][218] as evidenced by his ability to convince his homophobic Delmas 22 co-defendants to accept his sexual orientation.^[12]

Nkoli's coming out during the Delmas Treason Trial is a milestone in LGBTQ history in South Africa:^{[40][189][97]} it challenged notions of gayness as not African^{[222][223][224]} and anti-apartheid activists as exclusively heterosexual.^[225] His contributions to the anti-apartheid movement as an openly gay man motivated the ANC's leadership to support gay rights.^{[226][227][225]} At Nkoli's memorial service, his Delmas 22 co-defendant Terror Lekota stated:^[36] "How could we say that men and women like Simon, who had put their shoulders to the wheel to end apartheid, should now be discriminated against?"^[97][228]

With Nkoli's influence, the gay rights movement in South Africa shifted from being apolitical and white to being explicitly anti-apartheid and multi-racial.^{[229][113][139]} Through his activism with GLOW and NCGLE, Nkoli contributed to the repeal of anti-gay laws and the inclusion of the equality clause in the Constitution which explicitly protects gay rights.^[225][230] The Johannesburg pride march he founded is now an annual event with thousands of participants.^[143][144] However, violence and discrimination against LGBTQ people has persisted, especially for Black members of the community.^{[231][23][144]} The pride march is no longer organized by GLOW, and its mostly white organizers have been accused of ignoring the needs of Black LGBTQ people.^{[145][146][144]} In 2019, Ditsie wrote that the pride march had changed from a protest to a celebration that ignores the ongoing discrimination faced by Black LGBTQ people.^[144][232]

Visibility was an important part of Nkoli's politics and activism,^{[233][234][235]} whether by coming out to the Delmas 22,^[211][19] organizing the country's first gay pride march,^[236][125] wearing t-shirts with gay slogans and imagery,^[237] or publicly disclosing his HIV diagnosis.^[238] Nkoli experienced racism from the gay rights movement and homophobia from the anti-apartheid movement, but he continued to participate in both movements.^[1] He emphasized the intersectionality of these movements,^{[239][240][241]} as demonstrated by his speech at South Africa's first pride march: "I’m fighting for the abolition of apartheid, and I fight for the right of freedom of sexual orientation. These are inextricably linked with each other. I cannot be free as a black man if I am not free as a gay man."^[227][242] In an essay entitled "Wardrobes", Nkoli compared his experiences of racism to his experiences of homophobia and advocated for visibility:^[223][243]

the closet I have come out of is similar to the wardrobe my relieved parents stepped out of when I unlocked them after the police left. If you are black in South Africa, the inhuman laws of apartheid closet you. If you are gay in South Africa, the homophobic customs and laws of this society closet you. If you are black and gay in South Africa, well, then it really is all the same closet, the same wardrobe. Inside is darkness and oppression. Outside is freedom.^[244]

As one of the first openly HIV-positive African men, Nkoli challenged notions of HIV as an illness affecting only gay white men.^[245] He has been credited with influencing other AIDS activists like Edwin Cameron to disclose their status in an effort to fight HIV-related stigma.^{[189][246][247]} Nkoli's death contributed to the birth of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC).^[160] He died because he could not afford effective HIV/AIDS treatment,^[193] while fellow activist Edwin Cameron was able to access treatment and so was able to live longterm with HIV/AIDS.^{[192][194][196]} Zackie Achmat, who noticed the difference between Nkoli and Cameron's health outcomes and also struggled to pay for his own medications, spoke at Nkoli's funeral calling for an organized campaign for treatment access.^{[192][196][194]} Soon afterwards, Achmat co-founded TAC.^[248][97] TAC successfully lobbied the government to provide South Africans with the treatment that Nkoli was unable to access.^{[249][250][251]}

Nkoli has been the subject of several films. Canadian filmmaker John Greyson created A Moffie Called Simon (1986) while a member of the Simon Nkoli Anti-Apartheid Committee in Canada.^[252] The short film covers Nkoli's imprisonment^[253] and the activism of gay Canadians in solidarity with him. It includes news footage and Nkoli's prison letters with his then-partner Roy Shepherd^[254] and Tim McCaskell.^[255] Nkoli and three other "murdered" South African AIDS activists are featured in Fig Trees (2009), Greyson's hybrid documentary-opera about the AIDS activism of Zackie Achmat and McCaskell.^[256] Alexander Chapman, as Nkoli, criticizes Bill Clinton and Bill Gates from his hospital bed with the line: "iPods and cell phones won’t lure me till you cure me now, Bill."^[257]

Melanie Chait's Out in Africa (1989), South Africa's first film about the gay rights movement, is about Nkoli and another gay anti-apartheid activist named Ivan Toms.^[258] Beverley Ditsie's Simon & I (2002) is a documentary about her friendship and activism with Nkoli.^{[259][233][260]} It includes interviews with people who knew him and footage from GLOW events, including the first pride march.^[135]

In 2017, gay Xhosa musician Majola released a song called "Nkoli" on his album Boet/Sissy,^[261][130] Athi-Patra Ruga created a sculpture called Proposed Model for Tseko Simon Nkoli Memorial.^{[262][263][264]}

At least two theater productions have been created in honor of Nkoli. Robert Colman's Your Loving Simon (2003) focused on Nkoli's imprisonment and the hundreds of letters he wrote during that time.^[265] The production featured two actors—one in the role of Nkoli and the other as a fictional co-defendant.^[266][267] In November 2023, Nkoli: The Vogue Opera premiered at Johannesburg's Market Theatre.^[268][269] Developed as GLOW: The Life and Trials of Simon Nkoli, the production began in 2020 as a workshopped collaboration between South African composer Phillip Miller, the cast members, and various consultants who had known Nkoli (including his mother, fellow activist Beverly Ditsie, and defence lawyer Caroline Heaton-Nicholls).^[270] The final product incorporated opera, voguing and other aspects of Ballroom culture, hip-hop, rap, anti-Apartheid protest songs, and other elements.^[271] It was written by Miller and South African musician Gyre, and directed by British actor Rikki Beadle-Blair.^[272]

During Nkoli's post-acquittal speaking tour in 1989, several US cities declared Simon Nkoli Days, including San Francisco,^[156][12] Atlanta,^[273] and Manhattan.^[274] The following year, Nkoli spoke at the opening ceremony for Gay Games III in Vancouver, Canada.^[275][276] Along with Morris Kight, Nkoli served as Grand Marshal of the 1994 San Diego Pride.^[277] In October 1995, Nkoli and Phumzile Mtetwa were given an Equality Award for their gay rights activism at Stonewall's annual fundraising gala at the Royal Albert Hall.^{[278][6][279]} Posthumously, Nkoli was given the Felipa de Souza Award by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.^{[280][281][282]}

As the ILGA board member for the African region,^[143] Nkoli advocated for the annual conference to be held in South Africa and was a member of the 1999 conference planning committee.^{[198][197][283]} The 1999 conference was held in Johannesburg in the year after his death and closed with the 10th annual edition of the pride march that he had founded.^[284][285] The march was attended by thousands of participants^[286][287] and included a ceremony to name a street corner in Hillbrow after Nkoli.^[207][288]

In the 2010s, the Simon Nkoli Centre for Men's Health provided HIV services at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto.^{[289][290][291]} On World AIDS Day 2017, Stellenbosch University renamed the building housing their Equality and Disability offices after Nkoli.^[292][293] Two years later, the university's museum held an exhibit about Nkoli entitled: "Black Queer Visibility: Finding Simon".^{[134][130][294]} The exhibit was co-hosted by the Simon Nkoli Collective^[134] which also regularly sponsors a memorial lecture in Nkoli's name.^[199][295] The annual Feather Awards bestows a Simon Nkoli Award to recognize an individual for their contributions to the LGBTQ community.^[296][297] Winners have included David Tlale, Thandiswa Mazwai, Edwin Cameron, and Gloria Bosman.^[296][298] A monument to the Delmas 22 was erected at the Delmas Magistrates' Court in 2012.^[299]

• "An Open Letter to Nelson Mandela," Village Voice 35, no. 26 (26 June 1990): 29-30.
• "Wardrobes: Coming out as a black gay activist in South Africa". In Cameron, Edwin; Gevisser, Mark (eds.). Defiant Desire: Gay and Lesbian Lives in South Africa. New York: Routledge, 1995.
• "This Strange Feeling." In Krouse, Matthew; Berman, Kim (eds.). The Invisible Ghetto: Lesbian & Gay Writing from South Africa. London: Gay Men's Press, 1995.
• de Waal, Shaun; Martin, Karen (eds.). Till the time of Trial: The prison letters of Simon Nkoli. GALA Queer Archive, 2007.
• "August 1987 A Letter from South Africa". In Ridinger, Robert B. (ed.). Speaking for Our Lives. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2014.

• Internal resistance to apartheid
• HIV/AIDS in South Africa
• LGBTQ rights in South Africa

• Transcript of Nkoli's testimony in the Delmas Treason Trial (1987-06-24)
• Coming Out! - Interviews with Simon Nkoli and Ken Delisle (1989-03-10)
• Recording of Nkoli called "being gay in South Africa" (1989-09-09)
• Simon & I documentary by Beverly Ditsie (2002)