Odisha awaits transgender welfare board

Happenings, Jun '16
Anupam Hazra reports on the ‘2nd Transgender Day’ event in Bhubaneswar, Odisha

Inauguration of '2nd Transgender Day'  event at
Bhubaneswar. Photo credit: Anupam Hazra

Bhubaneswar, April 25, 2016: Trans women’s community groups in Odisha made an emphatic presentation of their demands at the observation of the state’s ‘2nd Transgender Day’ at Hotel Keshari in Bhubaneswar today. Odisha Law Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo was presented with a charter of demands for the formation of a transgender welfare board in the state, reserved seats in educational institutes, opportunities to participate in the political sphere, separate beds in government hospitals, pension for individuals above 40 years, and access to benefits under a number of social welfare schemes.

Queer readings to remember Rituparno Ghosh

Happenings (Preview), May '16

Varta previews an upcoming event in homage to the late Rituparno Ghosh

Kolkata, May 28, 2016: Three days from today – on May 31, 2016 – art personality Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee will pay homage to Rituparno Ghosh, a queer icon in the world of cinema, through dramatized readings of queer writings from across the globe. The event will take place at the Ahuja Museum for Arts, Lee Road, Bhawanipur, from 7.30-8.30 pm.

Church coalition mulls rainbow inclusion

Happenings, May '16

Pawan Dhall participated in a meeting on gender and sexuality diversity called by the National Council of Churches in India, a forum of Protestant and Orthodox Churches in India

Dr. George Zachariah, Akkai Padmashali and Fr. Philip Kuruvilla
at the launch of Disruptive Faith, Inclusive Communities:
Church and Homophobia. Photo credit: Pawan Dhall

Bangalore, April 20, 2016: “‘I hope you never worship a God who makes you feel that He hates the person you have become. May you never grow up denying every feeling that comes from your heart. May you be able to visit your place of worship without fear that you will be rejected, judged, or have to listen to teachings that call your life wrong. I hope that nobody ever uses the name of their God to let you know that the world's salvation depends on whether you follow a loosely interpreted book or your evil desires.’ These lines reflect the pain of the Key Affected People, and their struggle to find fellowship and solidarity within the church.  Constructing people as ‘other’ who refuse to submit their lives to the dominant Christian norms of what it means to be human is the approach of almost all Christian communities. We are gathered here in the true spirit of repentance and conversion to realize our sin of self-righteousness and to dream together the birthing of a Church – an inclusive community of hospitality, fellowship, and solidarity.”

Does disability need divinity?

Happenings, May '16
Shampa Sengupta reports on a consultation titled ‘From Handicapped to Divyang: Politics of Identity’ held at Jadavpur University, Kolkata earlier this year

Consultation at Jadavpur University. Photo credit: Sruti Disability Rights Centre

Kolkata, March 16, 2016: In December last year, in a radio show named Mann Ki Baat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to persons with disabilities as ‘divyang’ (divine body). This generated much debate in the country, and in light of this, the School of Media, Communication and Culture, Jadavpur University and Sruti Disability Rights Centre teamed up today to organize a consultation on the ‘politics of naming’ persons with disabilities.

Decoding consent

Happenings, Mar '16
Cracking the consent conundrum was the focus of a panel discussion organized by Civilian Welfare Foundation, Kinky Collective and Varta Trust last month in Kolkata. Pompi Banerjee reports

Kolkata, February 20, 2016: Nearly 30% out of 71 people felt that the age of sexual consent in India should be 15 years. Almost 25% agreed that long-term intimate partners need not explicitly seek verbal consent every time they wanted to have sex with each other, another 30% were undecided. Among those who clearly disagreed with this statement, there were far more women than men. Not saying no or not resisting advances implies consent for sex – only 54% of the audience disagreed with this statement. Consent for sex can be withdrawn at any point of time – 79% agreed, but 21% did not or were undecided, which was equally worrying!

Photo credit: Arunabha Hazra

Homophobia has no place in Sikhism

Happenings, Feb '16
We share excerpts from a thought-provoking article by Sukhdeep Singh that first appeared in Gaylaxy webzine on February 4, 2016

Personal bias should not be passed off as Sikh ethics by SGPC

On 26th January, India’s first transgender band launched their second song along with Sonu Nigam. The song titled Sab Rab De Bande was derived from a famous shabad from Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of Sikhs, also worshipped as the living Guru by the Sikh community. Written by Saint Kabir, it has been included in Guru Granth Sahib and signifies the amount of importance Sikh Gurus placed on the fact that all human beings are a creation of God and are equal.

Golden Temple, Amritsar. Photo credit: Sukhdeep Singh

A letter from queer India, supporters and allies

Happenings, Jan '16 (Update 1)

'377 No Going Back' campaign is organizing vigils across the country ahead of February 2, 2016, the day the Honourable Supreme Court of India is likely to hear the curative petition in the matter of Section 377, Indian Penal Code

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuWzkzmLyro

Dear Reader

A court does not confer Fundamental Rights; it confirms their existence. The right to dignity, liberty and equality is ours, as per the Constitution of India. But a law that is currently in our statute books prevents its citizens, in particular lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender Indians, from realising these rights.

Sustainable enough?

Happenings, Policy Matters, Dec '15
Sarika Kar warns that the ambitious Global Goals for Sustainable Development (2016-30) mandated by the United Nations may well miss out on addressing crucial sexual and reproductive health concerns

Kolkata, November 17, 2015: With 2016 knocking on the door, where do we stand as women? Sometimes one feels no less removed in time from that of one’s mother’s. Many women these days are financially independent and may be single, but the world around has not changed much. One is still surrounded by walls of fear and apprehensions – walking alone after 9 pm in most cities is a challenge, uncomfortable questions about one’s single status never seem to end, trying doubly hard to prove our intelligent worth at the workplace – the list is a long one and of course, also includes more direct or physical forms of discrimination and violence – rape, molestation, domestic violence, female foeticide . . . we still need to make advances on a lot many crucial fronts, never mind the technological leaps forward!

Graphic source: www.ids.ac.uk

Walking with pride! Walking for equality, love, solidarity!

Happenings, Nov '15 (update 1)

The 14th edition of the 'Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk', the oldest of its kind in South Asia, is planned for December 13, 2015. Excerpts from a leaflet developed by the organizers of the walk shared here

Backdrop

The movement for equal rights for people of diverse genders, gender expressions and sexual identities has seen some very contrasting developments in the past couple of years in India. The historic judgment by the Delhi High Court on 2 July 2009 held that treating consensual sex of any kind, including homosexual sex, between adults as a crime is a violation of the Fundamental Rights protected by India's Constitution. The verdict resulted in the decriminalisation of homosexual acts involving consenting adults in the jurisdiction of the Delhi High court. This verdict was later overturned by the Supreme Court of India on 11 December 2013, with the Court holding that amending or repealing Section 377 should be a matter left to Parliament, not the judiciary. The legal battle for equal rights of all citizens immaterial to their sexual orientation or gender identity suffered a definite setback with the judgment. Nevertheless the voices against such discrimination became stronger than ever. The same apex court, in the National Legal Services Authority Vs. Union of India and Others case, delivered a landmark judgment affirming that the Fundamental Rights granted under the Constitution of India would be equally applicable to transgender people, and gave every citizen the right to self-identification of their gender as male, female or third gender.

Freedom fair and square

Insight, Happenings, Oct '15
Sukhdeep Singh recounts how 19-year-old trans man Shivy, a student of neurobiology, won an emotional and legal battle against his parents’ transphobia and trickery to marry him off forcibly

Delhi, October 5, 2015: When Shivy (born Shivani Bhat) came to India from USA with his mother in July this year, little did he realize that his own family would turn against him and make him a ‘prisoner’ in the country. What followed was a riveting story of exemplary courage shown by Shivy and a number of queer activists in Delhi who helped him escape his family’s clutches. The story culminated today in an equally brave verdict by the Delhi High Court, which directed the police to ensure that Shivy got back his identity and travel documents from his family and was able to return to USA.

Shivy (second from left) at a media conference in Delhi, September 25, 2015
Photo credit: Nazariya Queer Feminist Resource Group

On wings of desire!

Insight, Happenings, Aug '15
Pawan Dhall, Kaustav Manna and Drake Fort take a look at some out-of-the-box initiatives to promote greater understanding of transgender identities and rights

An artist from Amitie' Trust interacts with children during the
art workshop in Peyarabagan. Photo credit: CWF

Kolkata / New Delhi, April-June 2015: Childhood is supposed to be full of happy, carefree moments. But most children in the Peyarabagan slums of northern Kolkata learn to deal with the harsh realities of earning their daily bread early on in life. The morning of April 25, 2015 though might have been pleasantly different for them, when NGOs Civilian Welfare Foundation (CWF) and Child Relief and You (CRY) joined hands with transgender members of Amitie’ Trust to organize an event called ‘Ichchedana – Wings of Desire’ in Peyarabagan. About 150 children participated in the event, many of them school drop-outs; also involved were 20 school teachers with whom CWF aimed to link up the drop-outs.

Calm goes queer in Shillong

Happenings, Jun '15
Rebina Subba reports on the queer happenings at the ‘4th Shillong Creative Arts Literature & Music Festival’ held from May 13-16, 2015

Shillong, May 17, 2015: The ‘4th Shillong Creative Arts Literature & Music Festival’ that concluded at the State Central Library here yesterday broke new ground by including issues of HIV, substance abuse and diversity in gender and sexuality. An entire day on May 15 was devoted to the literary, legal and activist dimensions of the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other queer people in India.

Hijras as home guards?

Happenings, Nov '14

Hijra community leaders advocate for livelihood options with the police in Bhubaneswar. Pawan Dhall reports

Bhubaneswar, October 18, 2014: “If we don’t get jobs, what other option do we have to earn our bread and butter?” Hijra and other trans women's community leaders posed this question to Dr. R. P. Sharma, Police Commissioner for Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, at a meeting in Bhubaneswar today. A key representative of SAKHA, a support forum for trans women in Odisha, informed Varta that the police officials had expressed concerns about a month earlier that several trans women broke the law and operated as sex workers on different roads of Bhubaneswar at night. In the process, they attracted drunken men who created a nuisance and disturbed other residents in neighbouring localities. Today’s meeting was organized to address the concerns of both sides.

Men and boys – gender justice calling

Insight, Happenings, Oct '14
Pawan Dhall and Madhuja Nandi report on a symposium organized in Kolkata on engaging men and boys in gender justice

Kolkata, September 19-20, 2014: “Our education system can no longer afford to be gender blind”; “Let us change the symbolism of god as male”; “Why should giving pain to one’s body be manly or glorious?” Snapshots of some thought provoking comments made by speakers at a two-day symposium titled ‘Men and Boys for Gender Justice’ organized at Seva Kendra by NGOs Swayam, Kolkata Rista, Ebong Alap, Sanjog and FEM Jharkhand. The symposium was a prelude to the ‘2nd MenEngage Global Symposium 2014’ to be organized in New Delhi in November 2014 by the Centre for Health and Social Justice and MenEngage, a global alliance of organizations working with men and boys for gender equality.

Transferring judgment into action!

Insight, Happenings, Aug '14
A quick round-up by Pawan Dhall on developments related to transgender and Hijra welfare in eastern India in the month gone by

Purulia / Bhubaneswar / Kolkata / Patna, July-August 2014: The run-up to the first birthday of Varta blog couldn’t have been better! The entire month of July saw a number of happenings in eastern India that took the path-breaking Supreme Court April 15, 2014 judgment on transgender identities and rights that much closer to reality on the ground. This was welcome relief from a slowly building up anxiety about when and how the court’s judgment would be implemented. Not that the question of an apex national body to oversee and coordinate the implementation systematically was answered. But it was good to see both civil society and state government initiatives catch the ball lobbed in the air by the Supreme Court and run with it!

Kolkata queer pride roots for 365 without 377

Happenings, Clickhappy! Jul '14 (update 1)
Pawan Dhall and Kaushik Gupta on the ‘13th Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk’, July 13, 2014, which protested the piecemeal granting of rights to queer people by the Supreme Court of India

The run-up to the '13th Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk' began with a poster making
and slogan writing workshop at WBVHA Towers on June 15, 2014.
Photo credit (above and below): Kolkata Rainbow Pride Festival

Next stop: Kolkata Rainbow Pride Festival fund raiser party
for the walk at Hotel Blue Moon, July 5, 2014.
Photo credit: Pawan Dhall

Bangla music against violence

Happenings, Jul '14
Drake Fort reports on the launch of a Bengali music video that talks about the violence faced by queer people

Team Bindubot at the music video shooting site
Photo credit: Bindubot

Kolkata, July 6, 2014: A large part of the struggle of Indian lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other queer people has found its voice mainly in English. However, the non-English speaking queer populace is also now speaking louder, fuelled by the many legal developments around Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and transgender rights and identities. This is also reflected in the birth and growth of queer support groups all over India beyond the metro cities, as also in the start of Hindi publications like Gaylaxy Hindi (see A Rainbow in Hindi in the February 2014 issue of Varta). And now comes along a music video in Bengali that talks about the violence faced by queer people day in and day out. Lending support to the effort are Bengali musical stalwarts like Srikanto Acharya, Susmit Bose and Pratul Mukhopadhyay.

Male, female and more

Happenings, Apr '14 (update 2)

Pawan Dhall and Madhuja Nandi report on the historic Supreme Court verdict on transgender identities and rights, and happenings around the verdict

Kolkata, April 16, 2014: Bengali New Year day on April 15, 2014 lived up to its ‘new’ factor in true spirit of the word when the Supreme Court of India declared that every citizen of India had the right to determine and express their gender, even if it was beyond the binary of man and woman. According to a media release issued by human rights agency Lawyers Collective, in a path-breaking judgment, the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutional rights and freedoms of transgender persons, that is, those who identify with a gender different from their biological sex (for example, a person assigned male at birth who identifies as a woman or vice versa) as well as those who do not identify as either man or woman but as ‘third gender’ (for example, a Hijra person).

Call for Submission: ‘My Queer Space’

Happenings, Apr '14 (update 1)
My Queer Space (working title): An anthology exploring the changing queer landscape of urban India in the context of the Indian queer movement

Note: This initiative has undergone several changes. Further information can be seen on the Anthologies page. If you have any queries, please write to us at vartablog@gmail.com.

OpenWord (publisher), Varta (non-profit agency focused on gender and sexuality education through publishing) and Queer Ink (publisher) have partnered to publish an anthology that will boldly visit, highlight and examine how Indian urban realities have shaped and facilitated the queer movement. We will recall synergies that have emerged from the gender and sexuality communities that have changed urban spaces in tone and texture and tell individual stories of success and failure behind the larger story of the Indian queer movement in the cities and towns.

Father-daughter stories

Happenings, Mar '14 (update 1)

Debasmita Dasgupta invites inspiring father-daughter stories, which she promises to illustrate for a series called mY FaTHer Illustrations dedicated to all fathers who stand as pillars of strength for their children

It all started with a TED Talk by an Afghani woman, Shabana Basij-Rasikh, in 2013. She shared the story of how her father helped her to continue with her studies against all odds during the Taliban regime. She quoted her father: “We will let nothing stop your education, even if we have to sell our blood for it.”