On the outskirts of Cape Town, in the the township of Khayelitsha, lesbians who dare to come out are being violently hauled off the streets and raped by cloaked men in order to "correct" their behavior.

Earlier this year, Eudy Simelane, former star of South Africa's acclaimed Banyana Banyana national female football squad, was found dead in a creek outside of Johannesburg. The lesbian equal rights activist had been gang-raped, brutally beaten and then stabbed 25 times in the face, chest and legs. The murder of Simelane sparked a tide of violence against women who have come out as lesbians in South Africa. Human rights leaders are calling these acts of violence "corrective rape." These heinous acts of brutality against lesbians are committed by men who are trying to "cure" these women of their sexual orientation.

Recently, the UK publication Sky News interviewed Funeka Solidaat, a Khayelitsha resident who had been attacked twice and raped during the second incident. The woman admitted to being threatened with rape on several occasions for living her open lifestyle. When Solidaat tried to file a complaint with local police, she said she was ridiculed and humiliated. Law enforcement did not even finish taking down her statement.

You would think that in Soweto, the largest South African township,residents would follow a more contemporary set of ideologies. After all, there is a progressive black middle class in the township. Yet, according to a Sky interview of local male residents, the views of lesbianism are far too skewed. According to the publication, "One man roared with laughter as he said, 'Lesbians should be whipped. There is no mention of lesbians in the Bible.' They said they approved of lesbians being raped to 'correct' them and to 'teach them a lesson.' The men also said, 'Women should behave like women,' and this was a way of 'teaching' them that."

ActionAid International, a global anti-poverty agency, reported the shocking rise of corrective rape in South Africa. Support groups in Cape Town say they see at least 10 new cases of corrective rape every week, and it's even more widespread throughout other townships.

There have been 31 lesbian deaths since 1998 and only one conviction. ActionAid reports that for every 25 men who are accused of rape, 24 walk free. Tsidi, a hate crime survivor from Cape Town, said in the ActionAid report: "Here, in South Africa, you have judges sending women to jail for stealing a loaf of bread to feed her baby, but men who gang rape women, who murder lesbians... they walk the streets as free men."

In the country's legal books, gay and lesbian rights are recognized, but violence against these groups is still not considered a hate crime. The police are reluctant to investigate hate crimes against lesbian women, and there is inadequate support for the survivors.

Zanele Twala, director of ActionAid South Africa, sums up the horrors of this issue: "It is clear that the South African government must put a stop to these crimes against women and fulfill the promises of the constitution. Worldwide, it is utterly unacceptable that millions of women and girls live daily in fear of their lives. The international community has a duty to address violence against women as the most serious threat to security in the world today."