Using strftime on a django datetime produces a UTC time in the string

I have the following code in one of my models:

def shortDescription(self):
    return self.name + ' ' + self.class_date.strftime("%I:%M")

self.class_date is a timezone aware DateTimeField, self.class_date.is_aware() is True, USE_TZ is True.

The shortDescription returns a string that gives the time in UTC rather than the default timezone, putting {{ aclass.class_date }} in the template displays the time in the correct zone.

Is strftime always working on the base, native time? Or what else is going on here?