Nayan, 22, is from Tezpur, Assam, and is currently pursuing his Master’s degree in Assamese literature. He was inspired to paint this by an image he had once seen in a Youtube video.

Nayan describes himself as ‘proudly gay’, and first shared this work with other members of the Facebook group of Xukia, a queer collective in Assam.

Biswajit Nath was the managing editor at News Next One, an online digital media portal from Assam. In the video, a kinnar (trans woman) is seen outside a wine shop and Biswajit Nath, who is recording the video, confronts her and asks her where she lives, and who “runs her”. He continues to publicly harass her and abuse her. He asks her “real name”. He even asks her to take her clothes off to prove that she is a “real” kinnar. The video ends with him shouting and screaming at her.

The video was brought to the notice of Xukia by concerned citizen/ally Abdul Kalam Azad and queer activist Rafiul Alom Rahman. Together we were able to raise enough outcry on social media.

The news channel initially replied saying that the journalist’s action does not represent the channel’s stand, that they respect everyone’s rights, and that the video did not appear on an official page of the channel. On March 10, the journalist retorted that he had simply “initiated a discussion” and that there were a lot of fake kinnars.

Finally, we sent a written complaint to the channel.

Some reminders later…

…they acted on our messages, and took action, by terminating Nath.

Kudos to News Next One for acknowledging that the practice was unethical, and for taking action against Nath.

This happened because people together raised their voice and ensured that the transphobic journalist and the channel are made accountable for their actions.

Orinam’s note: Taken together with other examples as the multi-city responses to the TV9 debacle of 2011 in Hyderabad, and protests against a homophobic 2013 piece by Mohana Krishnaswamy in The Hindu, Xukia’s incisive intervention in this News Next One episode illustrates the power of community and ally action in opposing queer-/trans-phobic media coverage and demanding accountability. Please let us know of other examples of community interventions such as these. Do check out (and contribute material to) our guidelines for ethical media coverage of LGBTIQ+ issues in India. 

We gather from one of the organizers that participants included LGBT people and allies from Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya, West Bengal and Delhi.

While no one from the southern part of India appears to have been present, we were delighted to see a placard (photo below) with the words “Hues may vary, but humanity does not”. This line, translated from the original வண்ணங்கள் வேற்றுமைப் பட்டால் – அதில் மானுடர் வேற்றுமை இல்லை,  is by Tamil poet, social reformer and freedom fighter Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathi (1882-1921) who campaigned vigorously against the caste system and for the liberation of women. It is also, incidentally, the tagline of Orinam, and has been one of the rallying calls of Chennai Rainbow Pride since its inception in 2009.

Photographs from Guwahati Pride may be viewed at http://photos.orinam.net/tagged/GuwahatiPride. Thanks to Mili Dutta and Randoni Lairikyengbam for sharing these.

Mainstream media coverage includes pieces in the Times of Assam by Partha Prawal Goswami and a front page story in  The Telegraph by Rajiv Konwar.