Famous SA men's tales of coming out of closet

Muhsin Hendricks was a respected leader in the Muslim community, a husband and father of three. But his world fell apart when he announced that he was gay.

He was shunned when, after six years of marriage, he went public in 1988. In the same year, award-winning author Jonny Steinberg had unprotected sex with a man and went for his first HIV test.

Their recollections are included in a new book, Yes I am , which chronicles how 44 gay South African men grapple with their sexuality. The book features HIV-positive Constitutional Court Judge Edwin Cameron, actor Sir Anthony Sher, arts journalist Shaun de Waal, retired dean of Cape Town at St George's Cathedral Rowan Smith and the late author K Sello Duiker.

Hendricks, 42, who studied the Koran at the University of Karachi in Pakistan, caused an outcry when he claimed that the Islamic scripture did not condemn loving homosexual relationships.

He was renounced as an imam - an Islamic spiritual leader - and asked to quit teaching at mosques in Cape Town. But he persevered in his beliefs and, in 2002, founded the gay support group Inner Circle.

"I wanted to show courage for the other people in my community who are gay," Hendricks said this week. "Even today, to come out as gay in Muslim communities is not easy. There are still large pockets of orthodoxy, and the mosques are run by orthodox Muslims."

Steinberg, 40, describes his angst when, at 18, he was tested for HIV at the University of the Witwatersrand clinic: "Why had I not insisted at the time that we use condoms? Why was I now bathed in sweat, the thought of my impending illness and death drawing me close to tears. South Africa in the late 1980s was hardly the best place to be dealing with the prospect of HIV infection."

Compiled by playwright Ashraf Johaardien and education and theatre veteran Robin Malan, Yes I am will be launched at the Franschhoek Literary Festival on May 15, in Johannesburg on May 22 and in Durban on May 25.