©2015 Feminist Formations, Vol. 27 No. 1 (Spring) pp. 91–117 Transgender Invisibility in Namibian and South African LGBT Organizing Ashley Currier The meanings of transgender invisibility in Namibian and South African lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements differ from those in LGBT movements in the United States. LGBT activists in Namibia and South Africa voluntarily included transgender rights and persons in the movement beginning in the mid-1990s, yet few constituents identiied as transgender. Transgender invisibility in these movements indicates the discrepancy between collective and lived personal identities. Drawing on ethnographic observation of Namibian and South African LGBT activist organizations in 2005–06 and ifty-six interviews with LGBT activ- ists, the article analyzes the contours of transgender invisibility within the Namibian and South African LGBT movements. A focus on transgender invisibility in LGBT movement organizations in Namibia and South Africa illuminates the uneven reception of identity terms and the identity work that LGBT activists in southern Africa perform to encourage constituents to align personal identities with prevailing collective-identity terms. Keywords: collective identity / invisibility / LGBT movements / Namibia / South Africa / transgender Understanding transgender invisibility and inclusion in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements requires acknowledging how collective- identity processes within LGBT movements diverge in the global North and South. 1 For instance, lesbian and gay activists in Namibia and South Africa voluntarily included transgender rights and persons in the LGBT movements beginning in the mid-1990s. Transgender activists in Namibia and South Africa did not mobilize publicly to demand incorporation into lesbian and gay move- ment organizations at this time. Lesbian and gay activists in Namibia and South 5-27_1 Currier (91-117).indd 91 2/11/15 9:14 AM