Teach India gender and sexuality

Insight, Jun '16
By Shampa Sengupta

“Ma, are there only two kinds of human beings – male and female and no more?” This was the question my daughter Suchetana asked me 14 years ago when she was four. As usual, I pretended to be busy (which I often did whenever she asked me difficult questions) and told her I would explain later.

I had to take help of mythology when I came back to her with explanations – since story telling was part of my daily routine when I was with her, I started telling stories from Mahabharata – so Shikhandi’s story was told and retold a number of times, as also those of Brihannala and Iravan. But I distinctly remember Shikhandi was a favourite with both of us.

Books, comics, films, teaching aids are needed to make
children aware about gender and sexuality diversity.
Photo courtesy: Thoughtshop Foundation, Kolkata

Pehchān conundrum

Insight, May '16

Pehchān, an ambitious civil society-government partnership to provide sexual and reproductive health, HIV, legal aid and social security services to nearly 4,50,000 sexual and gender minority people in India, has drawn to a close. Its scale and implementation attracted both praise and criticism, but the completion of its term will leave behind a vacuum feel Anupam Hazra and Souvik Ghosh of SAATHII, a national NGO that implemented the programme in eastern India

Solidarity event organized by Dinajpur Notun Aalo Society at
Jibonmore, Islampur in Uttar Dinajpur district

Kolkata, May 2016: Even as we write this, West Bengal is counting votes cast for a Legislative Assembly election, and by the end of this month a ‘new’ state government may well be in place. But what will be new about it from the public health perspective? Will the five-year cycle of polls yield fresh hope for some of the most marginalized communities like transgender women, Hijras and men who have sex with men (MSM)? Barring one or two political parties, none seem to have included their socio-economic and associated concerns in the election manifestos. One party fielded two transgender women as candidates from prominent seats in Kolkata, but how respectful was such inclusion is open to debate (the candidates withdrew from the contest in protest against what they felt was tokenism and a publicity stunt).

Inconvenient desires

Insight, From the Archives, Apr '16
Sayan Bhattacharya comes across ‘marriage of convenience’ as an issue reflected in the Counsel Club archives and wonders what such arrangements mean for ‘queerness’, ‘desire’ and ‘identity’. These series of articles intend to create an archive of the queer movement in Bengal and India – not a chronological narrative of the movement, rather anecdotal histories capturing the little voices that are often lost in general historical accounts – voices from thousands of letters received by Counsel Club, one of India’s earliest queer support groups (1993 to 2002), and from the group’s house journal Naya Pravartak.

Graphic credit: Vahista Dastoor

A recent campaign called ‘Come Out Loud’ has been documenting queer narratives across India to forcefully challenge the ‘minuscule minority’ claim made by the Supreme Court of India in its verdict on Section 377, Indian Penal Code in December 2013. Stories of varying degrees of struggle with a hetero-normative economy and violent institutions like the education system, workspace and the family – to establish one’s sense of self, to live on one’s own terms. Perhaps these stories can be an inspiration for those who are discovering their selves or who are struggling with similar situations. Moreover, to be able to say that we are a large number of people and there is no way that the State can deny us our rights, might serve on a strategic level.

Ponnayā – an identity makeover movement in Sri Lanka

Insight, Mar '16

Damith Chandimal believes in reclaiming ‘Ponnayā’, a derogatory term for feminine men and homosexuals in Sinhalese, as a self-reaffirming identity, not just in relation to one’s sexuality but also in questioning ethnic, religious and caste rigidities. Excerpts follow from an article he wrote recently (with editorial support from Kenneth Gunasekera): Giving up Sinhala Identity and Proudly Embracing Ponnayā as a Self-identity.

What does it mean exactly to give up an ethnic identity? Is it possible to erase one’s ethnic identity? Though it may not be possible to erase one’s ethnic roots, giving up identity could be a political decision and a political statement. Furthermore one does not have a singular identity, but multiple identities, all of which are socially constructed. It is easier to define ourselves within frameworks of these existing identities, especially within identities that are assigned at birth such as gender, ethnicity, caste, and so on. But deviating from, refusing to accept assigned identities, or even criticizing these identities is usually punished, stigmatized and discriminated against in our societies.

Buddhist monks clash with military and police officers at a protest held in
front of Homagama Court against the arrest of Gnanasero Thero, General
Secretary of Bodu Balu Sena, an extremist Buddhist organization.
Photo credit: Eshan Fernando 

Some murders ‘more foul’ than others?

Insight, Feb '16

Terror attacks in Paris last year set Aude Vincent thinking about the ‘hierarchy’ of genders, races, aggressors and violence in France

Posters in support of Jacqueline Sauvage: "Before rapists and aggressors all
our answers are legitimate!" and "It's never too late to end domestic violence!
We're not alone!" Photo provided by Aude Vincent

In 2015 in France, 147 people were killed in terror attacks by Islamist extremists. In 2014 in France, 134 women were killed by their partners or ex-partners (all males) – numbers for 2015 are yet to be communicated. If you include suicides by victims of domestic violence, you can add around 200 women to the figure for 2014.

The first number of 147 is supposed to be an ‘historical record’, a ‘premiere’ and a ‘shock’, widely reported and commented on by the media. The second number of 134 is just ‘business as usual’. Since as long as these deaths have been counted (at least since 20-30 years), on an average in France a woman is killed by her partner every two or three days. Information about it does exist, and more now than a few years ago, but certainly not as massively as for the terrorist killings.

Queer, Dalit and questioning

Insight, Jan '16
By Dhrubo Jyoti

The author at the '14th Kolkata Rainbow
Pride Walk', December 13, 2015
Photo credit: Pawan Dhall

When Bahujan intellectual Kancha Ilaiah inaugurated the ‘1st Telengana Queer Swabhimana Walk’ last February, little did anyone know that it would spark a deluge of assertion of Dalit identities in queer spaces across the country. The well-known writer’s presence was part of the organiser’s conscious push to reach out to as many struggles and movements across the region – as a result, Dalit and Bahujan contingents marched in the pride walk. Later in July, Dalit feminist author Gogu Shyamala inaugurated Hyderabad’s queer carnival and expressed solidarity with the struggles of LGBTQIA people (an umbrella term for queer communities or people with non-normative genders and sexualities).

Common cause, kiss of freedom in Kolkata pride!

Insight, Clickhappy! Dec '15
By Prosenjit Pal and Pawan Dhall

Photo credits: Prosenjit Pal, unless mentioned otherwise

The ‘14th Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk’ on December 13, 2015 was many things for many people – an expression of not just queer pride but also solidarity with diverse social causes. Demanding intolerance for social exclusion of any kind, it broke new ground with participation by many youth and student groups and a ‘Hok Chumban’ / ‘Kiss of Love’ campaign at the end to protest moral policing anywhere and everywhere. While the walk route took Pawan Dhall down memory lane to 1999 (the year of the ‘1st Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk’), Prosenjit Pal celebrated his very first queer pride walk in his home town with camera in hand.

Gendering the trekking trail

Insight, Travel Travel, Nov '15
By Paramita Banerjee

Kanchanjungha from Sandakphu
Photo credit: Rubina Sen

Even my worst enemies, whoever and wherever they are, would acknowledge that I don’t lack in taking risks. So, past 56 years of age, I decided to resume one of the hobbies I’d loved as a young person – trekking. A trek, by dictionary definition, is a long arduous journey and in India, it certainly involves the mountains. The higher the altitude, the more thrilling is the trek for most Indian trekkers I’ve known.

Perhaps naturally, no trek organiser would readily include anyone of my age, especially after a gap of almost 23 years. Not even when the trek organiser is a friend and a colleague in the social development sector that provides me my bread, butter and jam. I needed to prove my fitness. A 14-kilometre walk across a mountain forest, covering two villages and a viewing point was proof enough for me and I managed to persuade this friend into including me for a Sandakphu trek in May this year. This one is considered a beginners’ trek, after all, and ideal for someone well past her prime seeking to resume trekking after a long gap.

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

Trans-ing the college roll call

Insight, Sep '15
Trans woman activist Santa Khurai tells Pawan Dhall how she pushed hard to help her friend Sandra Nandeibam secure admission in a college stating her gender as ‘TG’. This was possibly the first such instance in Manipur since the Supreme Court verdict on transgender identities and rights in April 2014, and perhaps more such ‘exceptions’ on the ground would propel faster formulation of policies, systems and rules to implement the verdict

Sandra Nandeibam, a picture of confidence
Photo credit: Santa Khurai

Pawan: Santa, congratulations on your and Sandra’s success! How did this come about?

Santa: In June this year, Sandra Nandeibam (earlier Nandeibam Sandeep Singh) succeeded in securing admission in the Dhanamanjuri College of Arts, Imphal as a trans woman, probably the first trans person in Manipur to have managed in breaking a social barrier that does not recognize any gender beyond male and female.

Going by a University Grants Commission directive (based on last year’s Supreme Court verdict on transgender identities and rights), the college had expanded the gender options in the college admission form to include ‘TG’ (or transgender). Sandra opted for ‘TG’, and also submitted the legal documents for gender change (court affidavit, newspaper declarations, gazette notification and other papers) to support her option.

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.

Intimacy, family and violence in queer lives

Insight, Policy Matters, Jul '15
By Pawan Dhall

Intimate partner violence or family violence, not quite alien facts of life, with news headlines and television serials full of one or the other! Victims of intimate partner violence are often women, sometimes men; while family violence seems to affect inter-racial, inter-caste or inter-religious couples at an alarming frequency. But this is only part of the reality around intimate partner and family violence.

What if the violence is between two males in an intimate relationship, or between a Hijra and her male lover? What if the family violence is directed at a son who would rather be a daughter? Or how do you help trans women who face relentless physical and emotional abuse at home because of their gender non-conformity, and then face it also from male intimate partners to whom they turn to for solace and love? Equally importantly, why does such violence happen, what is its impact and how can it be reduced, if not eliminated?

Challenging queer ‘cures’

Insight, Jun '15
Psychiatrist Dr. Ujjaini Srimani, advocate Kaushik Gupta and social activist Bappaditya Mukherjee on how to tackle grievous, illegal and unethical attempts to ‘cure’ queer persons

Reshma is 19 and lives in Tangra, Kolkata (some markers of identity changed to maintain confidentiality). Reshma is a trans woman affected by relentless family violence because of her non-conforming sense of gender and attire – so much so that she has started contemplating suicide. Matters came to a serious head recently when she was beaten up by her brother and parents and threatened with eviction from home. This time she mustered the courage to report the matter to the local police station with assistance from Kolkata Rista, a Kolkata-based support forum for trans women. But she was in for a shock when the sub-inspector at the police station sided with her family members instead (though he did record a General Diary based on her complaint), and exhorted them to get her ‘treated’ for the ‘disease’ she was suffering from, even if force was required. If any doctor refused to treat her, he promised to speak to the doctor to ensure that Reshma got the ‘treatment’ she required to become ‘normal’ (euphemism for ‘heterosexual man’).

Engendering change – bit by bit

Insight, May '15
By Biswa Bhusan Pattanayak, Randhoni Lairikyengbam, L. Ramakrishnan

On May 15, 2015, a group of 36 transgender people from Angul district of Odisha obtained their gender identity change affidavits with support from local lawyers. Thirty-four chose to identify as transgender and two as women. What is the context and significance of this event, and what does it mean for the future of transgender rights in India? Members of Solidarity and Action Against The HIV Infection in India (SAATHII), a national NGO that facilitated this process in Odisha, share their experiences.

Signature campaign in Manipur for a transgender welfare board.
All photo credits: SAATHII 

In response to a 2012 petition filed by the National Legal Services Authority concerning transgender rights, the Honourable Supreme Court of India delivered the landmark NALSA judgement on April 15, 2014. The apex court recognized the need for granting full citizenship, regardless of gender assigned at birth, protecting rights and making provision of social entitlements for transgender individuals. Following the judgement, the central and state governments were directed by the apex court to implement its recommendations within six months, that is, by October 15, 2014. See inset below for excerpts on the key recommendations made by the Supreme Court.

Trans-ing health

Insight, Policy Matters, Apr '15
One year on since the Supreme Court of India’s judgement on transgender identities and rights, implementation of the verdict in right earnest is still awaited. But the momentum is gradually building on trans health issues internationally. Excerpts from a paper by Debjyoti Ghosh comparing the health status of transgender people across the three IBSA countries – India, Brazil and South Africa. The paper titled Transing Health: A Step towards Examining the Right to Health for Trans* People in India, Brazil and South Africa is a work in progress.

“Those of like habits and temperament form friendships” – Panchatantra

Queer case for economic inclusion

Insight, Policy Matters, Mar '15
By Pawan Dhall

The case study is visually supplemented by a photographic
documentation exercise undertaken by the queer community
groups involved in the study. Photo credit: AMaNA 

In February this year, the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK published a case study titled Livelihood, Exclusion, and Opportunity: Socioeconomic Welfare among Gender and Sexuality Non-normative People in India. Authored by Pawan Dhall of Varta Trust and Dr. Paul Boyce of the Department of Anthropology, School of Global Studies, University of Sussex, the case study was published as part of the ‘Sexuality, Poverty and Law’ programme of the Institute of Development Studies with funding support from the Department for International Development – UK. In particular, the case study looked at the situation in Manipur and Odisha states, where All Manipur Nupi Maanbi Association (AMaNA), Imphal and SAKHA, Bhubaneswar, both state-level queer support forums, facilitated the data collection.

This case study explores the socio-economic experiences of queer individuals and communities in India, especially their access to social security measures. Even as the debate on the compatibility between economic growth and economic redistribution continues, prevalence of gender inequity and contradictions in the legal environment in relation to gender and sexuality non-normativity complicate the scenario further. A plethora of government poverty alleviation programmes notwithstanding, hetero-normative definitions of gender, marriage and family at the policy level, and legal stigma (criminalization) continue to exclude people with non-normative genders and sexualities from economic benefits. Specific community, civil society, donor and government responses to economic exclusion do hold some promise. The case study outlines immediate and long-term recommendations for all stakeholders to ensure large-scale economic inclusion becomes a reality for gender and sexuality non-conforming people in India. Extracts on key findings from the case study follow.

A thought for Ma and Baba

Insight, Feb '15
By Pawan Dhall

“When I first came out to my family, it wasn’t the easiest of journeys – as is generally the case with many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. However, the basic difference that I found in my journey with so many others’ is that my mother, to whom I came out initially, never felt as if her dreams had been thwarted,” says Debjyoti Ghosh, a young advocate from Kolkata currently studying human rights in Budapest, Hungary.

Was it celebration or protest?

Insight, My Story, Jan '15
Drake Fort on a fun-filled yet poignant anti-patriarchy, anti-Section 377 gathering outside Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata on New Year’s Eve

It was the perfect way to end a New Year’s Eve, with a loud, resounding and cheering “No” to patriarchy! This was the theme that resonated throughout an event titled ‘Call against Patriarchy – Defying Edition 377!’ held on a cold 31st night around a small open-air stage outside the Academy of Fine Arts in Kolkata.  Despite the chill, no one felt the slightest bit frosty. There was fire in our hearts and it burnt brighter as one performance after another furthered our resolve to keep fighting the injustices of a world that militates against anyone who is ‘not male, not heterosexual, not able-bodied, not normative in terms of class, caste, race or religion’.

Media warriors of ‘Khabar Lahariya’

Insight, Dec '14
Soma Roy Karmakar in conversation with Kavita, Executive Editor, Khabar Lahariya, a weekly newspaper written, edited, illustrated, produced and marketed by 40 rural women journalists from six districts in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar – half the districts lie in the infamous Bundelkhand region. Thirty years old Kavita from Kunjanpurva in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh is a post-graduate in political science

Photo credit: Yashas Chandra

Soma: One of the key issues on which Khabar Lahariya reports is violence against women. You have also undertaken such reporting. What was your motivation behind it?

Kavita: Survivors of violence open up easily to us. They believe that we will understand the pathos and pain of their suffering more than any other journalist as we belong to the same region, caste and gender as well. Our strong will power to print the actual truth behind the stories, ignoring the glare of powerful political and community leaders helps us to take up and publish such burning issues of the regions we work in.

If women gain, men don't lose

Insight, Nov '14
By Pawan Dhall

Only men with 56 inch chests welcome! When this becomes the criteria for the top job in the political leadership of a country, where is the space for the sentiment behind a statement like “When women gain, men don’t lose”? Are men pre-occupied with large chest sizes and other aggressive forms of manhood likely to let go off power, share it and invest in women and children’s gains? Are they likely to do so for supposed ‘social misfits’ like transgender, gay, lesbian or bisexual people; or people not from their religion, race, class or caste? Maybe they will, provided they are honoured with larger-than-life and hero-like adjectives such as ‘protectors’ and ‘providers’. But protectors and providers also tend to be ‘controllers’ of freedoms and choices!
So back to square one?