My coming out journey began about four years ago. The first time was to a few queer men, strangers of course, on a dating app. One of the best decisions of my life was to attend the weekly Thursday meetings of Good As You, a support group for LGBTQIA+ community in Bengaluru, in 2016. It was my gateway to acceptance in many ways. Through the platform I came out to many more people in the queer community. Cupid’s arrow struck me, and so did the desolation of one-sided love! I needed my sisters’ emotional support then and I had to come out to them. I guess they are officially the first straight people I came out to! All that happened in a span of six months. Post- that, my coming-out cruise transcended from being emotional outbursts to a fun ride. I then came out to many of my friends and a few professors in college. There was a phase when my coming out to straight people was to prove to them that being gay is not my sole identity. I realized that the more I beg for sympathy, the more I am looked down upon. I changed my ways to more straightforward ones. Despite this cocky attitude I was not yet prepared to come out to my Amma and Appaji (mother and father)!

I had always shared my deepest and darkest secrets with my mother…yeah…I was that kind of kid; I still am! Until I was 20, my being gay was not an important secret. I enjoyed being unique in the sea of heterosexuals! I thought I would grow old in my bubble with my mother. Things went awry with bad career decisions and loneliness while I was working in Bengaluru. Though being gay was never the root cause of any of my problems, it somehow felt like one. When I was 26, my parents casually informed me of the marriage proposals for me coming their way. I firmly declined, and declared that I would marry a person of my choice and at my own free will. That was not yet the moment to come out! No, I was not prepared.

Falling in love with another man, making many new friends (it is important for a guy who grew up with no friends!), my journey of sculpting a new, confident, and effervescent ‘me’ – I wanted to share all these with my mother. But I quit my job to pursue MBA and that was the next hurdle. I knew many instances of parents disowning their kids when they came out. The emotional blow of being disowned was not what I was set for at that juncture. I postponed the coming-out encounter to the time after I got a job.

Fast forward to 23^rd December 2019… some of my friends in their teens have come out to their parents. The thought of coming out to my parents before officially crossing 30 years of age was now a question of my pride! On a serious note, I had equipped myself with knowledge, morale and love to do that. If not now, when? There was no more waiting. Apparently, dropping hints for the last five years and educating my mother about different aspects of LGBTQIA+ community were not enough for her to realize I am gay! My picture with my poster for Namma Pride 2017 march was printed in a Bangalore daily and my sister-in-law shared that on the family WhatsApp group proudly (not because I am gay, she does not know that yet! She was just excited I made it to the newspaper!). Nope! That didn’t do the job either! My ‘well educated’ and ‘well informed’ parents are too naïve, I guess. I had to come out officially!

I had informed Amma that my visit home this time is strictly for business – “It is to share something with Appaji and you”. She was unimpressed with the gravitas of my concern! She got busy with her preparations to feed her hostel-dwelling, college-mess fed, frail son! I guess I had to set things straight to come out as gay! I insisted that my parents clear their schedules for the next day. I had my playlist of YouTube videos ready to assist me in the process. Like an attorney rehearsing arguments of a case, I ran through the FAQs queer folk are asked when they come out.

On D-Day, my parents and I had a sumptuous breakfast and sat on our couch lollygagging. They were either too preoccupied or too strung out to ask me what I had to share with them. I belled the cat by playing a series of YouTube videos. The first one was about a lesbian couple; a Myntra video, ‘The Visit’, for its Anouk collection. The protagonist has invited her parents to introduce them to her partner! I guess it was too abrupt for my parents to comprehend. But, I had more weapons ready in my arsenal. I then played a Kannada short film, Freedom – a gay man’s partner comes out to his mother in a rather casual way over a phone call. That did it! My mother visibly swallowed the lump in her throat and innocently asked “Andre… en artha?…What does it mean?” Those abstract videos did intimidate my parents.

The third episode of Satyamev Jayate, Season 3, was the next video in my playlist for the occasion. As I watched it with my parents, I was surprised how well it was researched and shot way back in 2014. My parents pretended to be neutral as Gazal narrated her transformation story. I guess I knew what they were thinking. I clarified what gender identity means when my parents asked me about Gazal. They were awed by her parents’ support. It so appeared that Deepak’s casual and funny narration of his life story took the load off of my parents.

I then proceeded to ask them about their first sexual awakening, which was, obviously, met with their immediate raised eyebrows. They are from families that restricted them from such discussions! My mother shared stories of a guy asking her out and how she had run away from the scene and never met him again! To my “He was not wrong. He was bold enough to express his liking for you”, her scornful reply was “Namm kaaldalli adella henge?…These things would not happen in our times”. My father did not have a juicy story to match hers, but he said back then he was too scared of the society to even think of expressing his desires. Right before audience members in the Satyameva Jayate studio raised questions about homosexuality not being natural and why not change ‘sexual preferences’, my mother shot those questions at me! It was surprising, for she seldom asks questions about anything. Dr. Anjali came to my rescue as planned and answered the audience (my parents). My parents were bowled out by the logic that if they (my parents) cannot turn homosexual, there is no possibility of a gay man turning straight. To make sure that they remember stuff from my overdose of gay gyaan, I reiterated the fact that homosexuality is natural and not a disease and that Indian Psychiatric Society has stopped looking at homosexuality as a mental illness too.

It was time to drive the point home. I showed them the short film I had shot with a few of my friends in college a year ago. It was the video in which I come out as queer. I had made sure I maintained a calm demeanor in front of my parents until then. I got a bit jittery as I showed my video. It was a personal account after all!

My narration until then was very scientific and I had struck the emotional chords right too. My father reacted exactly as I expected him to. He was logical. He connected the dots well and was overwhelmed to see my newfound confidence. It was my mother with whom I had been speaking about the LGBTQIA+ community for the last five years, who could not come to terms easily. She bawled “Why did I have to get this curse?” There went my efforts down the drain! I chided her like how she used to teach me when I was a seven year old kid – “My sexuality has got nothing to do with you, nor with the way you have brought me up. It is as natural as my other innate qualities” and asked her to repeat it a couple of times!

I chronicled the judgement of Supreme Court of India scrapping section 377. I briefed them about Dutee Chand, the first Indian athlete to come out as gay in public. I reminded them that Vasudhendra, my favourite Kannada author is also gay. My mother’s sobs interrupted my protest about Indian government being unresponsive about marriage, adoption, surrogacy and other civil rights for queer people. My father was impressed when I questioned the provisions of Transgender Persons Bill 2019. I had never hidden from them about my attending Bangalore Queer Film Festival, Kashish in Mumbai, Pune International Queer Film Festival and Bangalore Pride march every time I’d gone there for the past four years. But until now, to them, these were, ‘just another film festival’ and a ‘yearly rally on social issues’. I had not revealed the queer angle of the events! I could see the glint of happiness in their eyes (even in the tear-glazed eyes of my mother!) when I told them about my queer-themed painting being showcased at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, as part of an exhibition by Pictures Against Prejudice before Mumbai Pride 2019. I rummaged through my Instagram page to show them my posters from the last four years of Bengaluru Namma Pride marches. They did appreciate my efforts to change the stigma in the society through my posters.

It was a role reversal that day! It was for the first time in three decades that my parents sat blinking eyes like ingenuous kids and I shared with them a slice of life, my life! I ensured my parents that they have provided me with a good education and imparted me life skills. I emphasized that I am capable of deciding what I need for my life, and that they should not worry about who would take care of me. Had I been straight and married a woman there would still be no guarantee of that! I confessed that I am in love with a man. I showed them pictures of gay couples who have been together for decades – some of them, my own friends. But I did warn them that my life may not be as rosy as the picture I had painted, and that I am prepared for it. I reiterated that, like my self-acceptance was a journey, they would have to embark on one too, and at their own pace. I offered to help them connect with doctors, psychologists and parents of other gay men.

What impacted them most was when I shared with them how happy I am after the self-acceptance phase, and that I do not want any compromises to stay happy in the future. The only difference of opinion we had was about coming out to the rest of my family and of course the prying neighbours and friends! I suggested they ward off marriage proposals from nosy kith and kin by saying that I will be choosing my own spouse (which is true after all! They wouldn’t be lying anyway!). I advised them to take time and be as proud as I am about my being gay and then tell others too. I guess my parents do not trust the others to be sane enough to let me be! I know they will cross that bridge one day.

Despite the momentary denial, weeping, multitude of questions and naysaying, my parents have now made the choice of prioritizing my happiness over what the society thinks of me! My mother’s smile is as warm as before and I am still my father’s ‘Chinnu’ (Gold – his nickname for me in Kannada)! I am proud of them.

All images courtesy the author.

People’s Union for Civil Liberties; Coalition for Sex Workers, Sexual and Sexuality Minorities’ Rights; Payana; ASQ; Swabhava Trust; LesBit; Jeeva; Karnataka Transgender Samiti; Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum; Sarathya; Swatantra; Ondede; Sangama; QAMI and QCI condemn the irresponsible, sensational and salacious reportage by media houses on the issue of LGBTQIA+ rights.

On Wednesday, July 5, Bangalore Mirror published on its front page a news item titled “All hell breaks loose as two women wed in Koramangala”. The news item proceeded to give a one-sided account of the women’s relationship. It published salacious details about how their relationship started and went on to falsely claim that the women had gotten married. Further, the news item mentioned two quotes from lawyers saying that they were in an “unnatural union” and would be “punished”, and only one from a lawyer, who was misidentified, saying that same-sex relationships per se are not criminalized under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code 1860.

At the same time, Public TV, a Kannada news channel, also obtained the contact details of one of the women, and called her to appear on their show. When she refused, stating that she wished to keep her life private, the reporter from Public TV told her to “wait and see”. Subsequently, Public TV uploaded perfunctorily blurred pictures of the women on their Facebook and Twitter feed, with captions insinuating that they were in an incestuous relationship. Public TV continues to harass one of the two women by constantly calling her and demanding that she appear on this show.

In case anyone is doubtful about the repercussions of such irresponsible reportage – one of the women was fired from her employment with immediate effect, within a few hours of the Public TV report.

As civil society organisations that work on the rights of LGBTIA+ individuals, we are horrified at the absolute lack of concern that media organisations demonstrate for the lives of people that they are reporting. We know that this is an incident that involves tremendous amounts of domestic violence and abuse. We are also aware that these women are living in constant fear for their lives. They have endured domestic violence, police harassment, and threats to their lives, and had achieved a semblance of peace for themselves. However, the actions of media houses have shattered this hard-earned respite, and now they are again forced to be on the run.

This is not the first time that media houses in Karnataka have chosen to report in this manner. TV9s reporting on Operation Anandi had devastating impact on the lives of the transgender women involved, some of whom continue to languish in jail. Media houses refuse to acknowledge actual human lives in their reportage, and absolve all responsibility for consequences. Every time a media house publishes a report like this; LGBTQIA+ persons are pushed further into the closet, and are made more vulnerable to violence.

Moreover, we understand that the police themselves have leaked much information to the media. It is disconcerting that in spite of closing all formal proceedings, the police continue to interfere in the lives of these women, and are harassing them using the media.

As a group of civil society organisations concerned for media reportage and its impact on the rights of LGBTQIA+ persons, we are calling for a press conference tomorrow, July 6, 2017, at 1 pm, Bangalore Press Club.

Organisations: People’s Union for Civil Liberties; Coalition for Sex Workers, Sexual and Sexuality Minorities’ Rights; Payana; ASQ; Swabhava Trust; LesBit; Jeeva; Karnataka Transgender Samiti; Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum; Sarathya; Swatantra; Ondede; Sangama; QAMI and QCI

Timeline of media coverage (credits Rōmal Lāisram)

Bangalore Mirror published this on July 5: http://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/bangalore/cover-story/all-hell-breaks-loose-as-two-women-wed-in-koramangala/articleshow/59448986.cms

Public TV goes live with the story a few hours later, claiming an incestuous relationship and highly sensationalises the story: http://publictv.in/father-files-complaint-against-homosexual-techie-sisters-in-bengaluru/

News9/Deccan Herald and TheNewsMinute call up activists for directions on how to respond to the story:

News9 responds positively like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5LVfgU6pCQ

TheNewsMinute responds satirically: http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/completely-out-their-depth-bengaluru-cops-counsel-lesbian-couple-instead-helping-them-64710

Deccan Herald decides to avoid the story altogether.

Public TV airs a special (link not yet up, but this smaller package will show you enough how terrible the reportage is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnGBVsHu3p0 | It was also their ‘breaking news’ in the) 10:30pm bulletin)

INTRODUCTION

Pride marches across the world have become important events for the show of strength and solidarity of the queer community. Pride celebrations, especially in India, are more than just a colorful parade. Prides are platforms for protests, for voicing out against oppression, and calling for an equal society. In recent years, Pride marches have embraced the idea of intersectionality – an idea that talks about equality beyond the lines of gender and sexuality. Queer individuals who walk the Pride march have identities beyond their queer identities. When we call for freedom and equality on the lines of gender/sexuality, we ought to recognize the call for equality on the lines of caste, class, region, religion and other divides or inequalities that exist today in the country/society.

Apart from incorporating these intersectionality groups, Namma Pride 2016 (Bangalore Pride 2016), went a step ahead and became India’s first pride to be made accessible to persons with disability.

This document talks about the need for accessibility, key steps taken to build accessibility and the Namma Pride 2016 journey of building accessibility.

WHY SHOULD YOU MAKE PRIDE ACCESSIBLE?

While queer prides should also call out inequities in the society that exist for people with disability from a political and equal rights stand point, there are four more arguments that make the case stronger:

1. Intersections: queer and disabled: Yet another aspect about the identity of a person, queer or otherwise, is ability/disability. There are many people with disability who may be queer (including asexual). And there are many persons who identify as LGBTQ+, who may be living with a visible/invisible disability. The intersections are largely unspoken about because sexuality of a person with disability itself is an unspoken topic. The society looks at persons with disability as largely asexual beings (a feeling  that is sometimes internalized within the persons themselves). So, for a person with disability (who fights with enough battles already), to have explored their sexual identity, and be able to openly come out and say that they do not fall in the mainstream heterosexual cis-gender category is pretty uncommon. This does not mean that persons who are both queer and disabled do not exist.
2. Shades of similarity between both communities: Persons who have worked closely with both queer and disability communities know that there are striking similarities between the two. The situations may be different, but the pain, evolution and introspection that an individual from both communities goes through is similar. The problems of inequity that plague both the communities today are also similar. The coming together of both communities adds more strength to the movement of inclusion.
3.  Accessibility is good for everyone: Like any other case, interventions made to include a particular section of society are largely good for everyone else too. Making Pride accessible for persons with disability has ensured that senior citizens, children, and people who just need a place to sit during the march can also participate. It has helped in reaching out to a larger audience, and enable participation of more individuals, as parents, friends, and colleagues can participate despite their age, and physical abilities they may have. Further, despite the greater visibility of young people in public LGBTQ+ community events, many members of the community are aging as well, and this opens doors to them.

Caveat: The core message of Queer Pride is the need for recognition and inclusion of people of diverse genders and sexualities. Making Pride disability-accessible does not detract from this message.  Rather, by making Pride accessible, you affirm your commitment to include other groups, and your recognition of the intersectional nature of oppressions and identities.

HOW DO YOU MAKE PRIDE ACCESSIBLE?

Key decisions to be made

1. Pride team buy in: If you are taking the lead in proposing this idea, make sure that the Pride team signs off on the concept, budget and other requirements. Accessibility is a key component of every activity in Pride and therefore, team agreement is imperative. If majority of the team is bought in, go ahead. Address any questions, comments or thoughts on this in the first meeting itself, before you take it forward.
2. Have a separate team focused on accessibility: It would be good to have accessibility champions right from the start – the team can be 3-4 members, but members who are passionate about the concept. The team should include an expert in accessibility/ disability and preferably a person with disability as well. The responsibilities will be to work closely with other teams (especially logistics), to conduct accessibility audits, to create awareness in both the communities about the other and to plan the march well. Having 10-11 volunteers (as a part of the extended team) would be good during the march.
3. Just for Pride march? Or all events? Ideally, accessibility should be taken care of for all community events, not just for Pride. Making any event fully accessible may be an extension especially if you are doing this for the first time, however you could decide to provide specific assistance to any person with disability who wants to participate.
4. Inclusion towards all disabilities: Like sexualities and genders, disabilities are diverse, including locomotor, speech and hearing, psychosocial, visual disabilities, and beyond. Pride should be accessible for persons with less visible/invisible disabilities as well.
5. Decision on budget: Making Pride accessible does involve a budget. A range of INR 8000-15000 should be kept aside for this effort.

Nine Steps to make Pride accessible

1. All venues for all events should be reasonably accessible: Choose venues that have ramps or two steps and not more to ensure accessibility. If you have videos, having a sign language interpreter or subtitles will ensure one can read.
2. Having a footnote in all your communication: Indicate that the event is accessible for persons with disability. Provide coordinates of go-to people, in case people want to participate and need assistance. Potential participants could reach out in advance and specify the assistance required, so that the team could provide the same. The communication should be kept simple and the website/app accessible for persons with visual impairment.
3. Partnering with an accessible cab service provider: This caters largely to persons with locomotor/mobility disability. For the Pride walk itself, you could tie-up with cab services that provide special cabs equipped with aids such as extensible ramps to accommodate wheelchairs, and/or have seating that is easily accessible for persons with disability to mount/dismount. In Bangalore, we tied up with Kick Start Cabs for Namma Pride 2016 who provide such services.
4. Sign language interpretation, subtitles and basic friendliness:  Interventions to include persons with hearing and speech impairment may be made by providing sign language interpreters at major events such as post/pre-Pride speeches, and by ensuring that videos, and movies at screenings are sub-titled. Be friendly and speak to them – most of them will know how to lip read. Having a small notebook and pen will also help.
5. Assign volunteers to each individual with visual impairment: For persons with visual impairments and disabilities that do not come under the above two categories, inclusion can be done with the help of volunteer assistance. We just need to assign a buddy/volunteer with every individual to walk along and describe the happenings of the pride, and help them navigate tricky terrain (such as potholes).
6. Education on LGBTIQ to persons with disability and vice versa: Do sessions, create videos to educate both the communities about each other. Many persons with disability may never have heard of Pride and many queer persons may never have met a person with disability – so educating both sides is imperative.
7. Volunteer training: Share videos like ‘Awkward No More’ to help volunteers understand what it means to volunteer with persons with disability. Partnering with a disability organization and getting volunteers from there is another idea, where extensive training may not be required.
8. Planning, organizing before the march:
   • It is alright to ask persons with disability to register beforehand for special assistance – to accommodate their need.
   • Make a list of persons who have reached out and shown interest in joining.
   • Talk to each individual about what accommodations are required, how flexible they are for walking short distances for example. Be very clear about what is possible and what is not possible Say NO if you cannot accommodate certain requests (for example pickup from home). Respect persons with disability.
   • They have been navigating their way through an in-accessible world every day, so they can make their decisions on how to participate and would ask for help when required.
9. Accessibility Audit: It would be useful to have step-by-step and turn-by-turn clarity of the pride route beforehand, with distance markers. It will be also good to know from the traffic police about points where traffic will be halted, cross-overs and one-ways. Ideally, an accessibility audit should be done by members of the accessibility team to walk the entire route of the pride to assess bottlenecks and challenge point for accessibility. Document hard to walk or wheelchair inaccessible terrains. Ensure police permission is also taken for the cabs/vehicles. Note specific places where cabs/vehicles cannot pass along the pride (one-ways, small lanes etc.). Create an alternate divergent route for the vehicles to take and join back. Note halt points for water and refreshments – they could be kept same as where persons with disability choose to mount/dismount cabs to walk the pride.

Useful references

1. Education on disability for LGBTQIA members (used to create awareness) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NwbgwwUrsE
2. Education on LGBTQIA+ for persons with disability (used to create awareness) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy-AaJ98yM8
3. Suggested note on disability in all the communication on the event (translate as needed): “If you are a person with a disability and/or would need special accommodation to participate in this event, please write to us at xyz@abc.com, providing details about your requirements. We work with you to make your participation possible.”

EXPERIENCE AT NAMMA PRIDE 2016 AS A DISABILITY-ACCESSIBLE PRIDE

Namma Pride 2016, held on November 20, was the first Pride in India to be made accessible for persons with disability. The core accessibility team implemented all of the above steps to ensure that it was made accessible. There was also extensive campaigning done in advance to ensure participation of persons with disability in this celebration.

Outcome: Approximately 40 persons with disability participated in the Namma Pride 2016 march and associated events. This included persons with visual impairment, speech and hearing, and locomotor impairment. There were about four people who identified themselves as queer persons with disability. The feedback was extensively positive with many of the persons with disability having this experience for the first time.

Overall, it was a wonderful foray and was much appreciated by all. As always, any new initiative is a journey of progressive realization, and this was no different. There were a few key learning points, which we are sharing so that you can keep this in mind as you build an accessible Pride.

Key learning: 1) Maintain and buffer additional time to assemble and organize the persons with disability contingent (we already had but it tended to spill over). 2) Keep the cabs in the middle of the Pride march, both led and followed by people. If the cabs lead, the cops tended to speed up the whole march by asking cabs to move faster. 3) It is very important to have the Pride route decided well in advance – changes to the route can lead to a lot of chaos.

The team that made this happen

Core Team: Madhumitha Venkataraman, Ritesh Rajani, Naveen Joshi, Vishnu Soman, Vidushi Jayaswal, Vishnu Soman, Ajmal Muheed, Manas Modi, Manisha Shastri

Partnering Organizations: Enable Community, Kick Start Cabs, GiftAbled Foundation, Adarsh College, YUVA

Extended support from: Romal Liasram Singh, Priyank Asha Sukanand, Nakul Sharma

Volunteers: Madhumitha Venkataraman, Ritesh Rajani, Naveen Joshi, Naren Pai, Rishika, Noah D’Mello, Jason Jacob, Dharam Veer, Ranjitha K, Rohan, Vishwajit Singh, Kamlesh Singh

Email madhumitha.venkataraman@gmail.com for more information on this initiative

CONCLUSION

Building accessibility is a journey of progressive realization, so starting small is good and building on it every year, essential. The objective is not necessarily to have hundreds of persons with disability to participate, but to create a Pride where they are welcome to participate. It is very much like when we create an LGBTQ+ inclusive society, the objective is not for everyone to come out but have a safe/welcoming environment where they can choose to be out. Start by reaching out to small circles in the disability community and invite them to the accessible Pride. It is alright to take small steps in the right direction of full inclusion. Let’s create a more inclusive and accessible Pride for everyone. Happy Pride!

At first, Tushar thought that the note slipped under his hostel room door on Oct 11, 2015, was some sort of prank by a fellow student. The next one read: “I am not joking… this is important for both of us as I need the money and your secret won’t get out. If your secret is leaked you will be hated by everyone and your career will be ruined in IISc”.

The notes kept coming. Nine in all, over the course of five days.

And they got nastier. On Oct 16,  when the blackmailer realized that Tushar wasn’t about to yield to his demands, he pinned a homophobic note on the hostel notice board outing him.

Says Tushar: “[t]he notice was first seen by one of my friends and removed by him. He brought it over to my room asking me if I was fine and talked with me for a while. Subsequently, sometime during the night, a similar notice was put up with a terse handwritten note at the end “YOU CAN KEEP REMOVING IT. I WILL PRINT MORE“.

Thus outed to the entire hostel, Tushar, who had only been out to his closest friends until then, chose to respond with the following note on the same notice board:

Tushar, who describes himself as ‘shy and a bit introverted’ said he felt relieved upon writing the note. Classmates and fellow-hostelites came up to him to express their support. In the weeks since the incident, he, with the support of friends, lodged a complaint with the university administration. At the time of publishing this note, he is still awaiting formal action in response.

Episodes such as these suggest that even large, supposedly progressive, campuses with support groups and allies, are not immune to bullying and harassment of LGBT students. It raises questions about the ability and willingness of the campus administration to respond swiftly and effectively to complaints received.

The familiarity of the perpetrator with the campus, hostel and locations where he asked the money to be placed, strongly suggests that he is a student, causing his actions to fall within the purview of ragging. The 1998 amendment of the Karnataka Education Act includes in its definition of ragging “causing, inducing, compelling or forcing a student… to do any act which detracts from human dignity or violates his person or exposes him to ridicule or to forbear from doing any lawful act, by intimidating., wrongfully restraining, wrongfully confining, or injuring him or by using criminal force to him or by holding out to him any threat of such intimidation, wrongful restraint, wrongful confinement, injury or the use of criminal force” [1].

Further, the University Grants Commission regulations on ragging, released in 2009, include extortion within their definition [2]. Such anti-ragging policies need to be made explicitly inclusive of homophobic and transphobic bullying, as well.

Finally, while the current Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Act [3] is limited to redressal for ciswomen, we urgently need measures to address sexual harassment, including blackmail and outing threats, of queer and trans individuals who are not ciswomen.

Some Orinam resources to make educational institutions more LGBTIQ* inclusive are here [4], and a list of campus LGBT initiatives including Queer IISc collective is here [5].

We at Orinam are aware that coming out [6] is not a universal or readily available prophylactic for such expressions of homophobia as blackmail and extortion [7], and recognise that such forced outing can have disastrous consequences for many. We also realise that for some of us who are visibly different in our gender expression, being in the closet is not even an option.

The caveats notwithstanding, we applaud Tushar for his courageous response, and stand in solidarity with him and the queer/trans and ally communities at IISc in their efforts to obtain justice.

Tushar is also planning to speak out to his peers on sexuality issues, and hopes that other queer students will find this to be a source of support. He eventually plans to come out to his parents, a rite of passage that – while considered before – hasn’t happened yet.

A shout-out to the friends who have supported him at this time. In the words of Anubhav, a member of the campus LGBT support group Queer IISc who accompanied Tushar to the university administration, “Our friends supported us irrespective of orientation, because a crime is a crime, and victims are our friends, relatives, people who we care for, not ‘gays’, ‘lesbians’ or ‘transgenders’“.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Tushar and Anubhav for their input, and Advocate Amba Salelkar for pointing out that extortion is covered within the UGC definition if ragging.

References

[1] The Karnataka Education Act, 1983. (with amendments). Online at https://test.orinam.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Karnataka_Ed_Act.pdf

[2] University Grants Commission, 2009. UGC Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging In Higher Educational Institutions. Online at https://test.orinam.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/anti_ragging_UGC_20091.pdf

[3] Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. 2013. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, Online at http://www.lawyerscollective.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Sexual-Harassment-at-Workplace-Act.pdf

[4] Orinam, 2009. Resources for Educational Institutions. Online at https://new2.orinam.net/resources-for/educational-institutions/

[5] Orinam 2009, updated through 2015. Campus Initiatives. https://new2.orinam.net/resources-for/lgbt/campus-initiatives/

[6] Orinam. 2009. Coming Out Stories. Online at https://new2.orinam.net/resources-for/lgbt/coming-out-2/coming-out-stories/

[7] Orinam, 2009. Dealing with Extortion. Online at https://new2.orinam.net/resources-for/lgbt/legal-resources/dealing-with-extortion/

Bangalore, Nov 26, 2014: Over the past two days, approximately 167 members of the transgender community have been taken away by the police and kept at the Beggars’ colony. These detentions have been entirely arbitrary, and we are apprehending more detentions in the coming days. We are greatly concerned by this mass detention and violations of human rights.

Most detenues were not on the streets begging or doing any act that is prohibited under the Karnataka Prohibition of Beggary Act, 1975. Most of them were going about their daily chores when they were arbitrarily picked up by police officers and taken away to the Beggar’s colony in Hoysalas. The police even walked into the homes of the hijras and dragged them out. It is to be noted that even those hijras who went to the police station because they were called by other arrested hijras were also arrested. Clearly the objective of the police was not merely to pick up those who were begging, but in effect all persons who answered to the description of being hijra.

The reason for this mass detention is unknown to us but there is information suggesting that this is retaliation for the misbehaviour of one of the members of the community. Even if this were true, collective punishment inflicted on the entire hijra community for the wrongdoing of just one person is not appropriate. It is unconscionable that the entire transgender women community should be punished for the alleged wrongs of some members of the community

The detainees were not released even on an undertaking given by organizations working on sexuality rights. This is tantamount to arbitrary detention as the majority of those arrested have not committed any offence under the Beggary Act. This is violative of the fundamental freedom of movement which all citizens enjoy under Article 19 of the Constitution. This state action has taken on the character of a purge of hijras from the city of Bangalore violating guaranteed constitutional rights.

The Supreme Court of India in the judgment of National Legal Services Authority v Union of India has upheld the rights of the transgender community. The apex court has held that, “We, therefore, conclude that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity includes any discrimination, exclusion, restriction or preference, which has the effect of nullifying or transposing equality by the law or the equal protection of laws guaranteed under our Constitution, and hence we are inclined to give various directions to safeguard the constitutional rights of the members of the TG community. Hijras, Eunuchs, apart from binary gender, be treated as ‘third gender’ for the purpose of safeguarding their rights under Part III of our Constitution and the laws made by the Parliament and the State Legislature.”

In furtherance of the said judgment, the Karnataka State Government has formulated a policy for Transgenders in Karnataka. The Preamble to the policy states that “steps to create public awareness should be taken so that TGs feel that they are also part of the society, regain their respect and are not to be treated as untouchables. The solution to their problems requires concerted efforts to mainstream them and adoption of an inclusive approach in all spheres of life.” The policy then goes on to provide for a range of measures to create an enabling environment for the transgender community, amongst which include protection from harassment and abuse at multiple levels. The arbitrary mass detention of members of the transgender community is in violation of the Supreme Court’s judgment and the policy by the Karnataka State Government.

Therefore, we demand the State Government immediately fulfill the following demands:

1. Direct the release of the members of transgender community immediately;

2. Direct that there be no further detention of members of the transgender community;

3. Initiate departmental inquiry into this arbitrary detention by police officers under whose direction the purge of hijras from the city was carried out.

4. Compensation for the wrongful arrest and consequent mental trauma suffered by those arrested.

Please attend the protest today, the 26th of November, at Town Hall, from 4 pm, against the illegality of police action against transgenders.

Supported by : Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum, Alternative Law Forum, People’s Union for Civil Liberties,Karnataka Janshakthi

Coverage by the Bangalore Mirror is here.

• Bring together such people for the first time in the country
• Present our pilot projects to the community and have others share theirs too
• Enable a discussion on the nature of such LGBT archives – content, form, etc, and share experiences and ideas
• Start initiatives for future projects across the country
• Build a community of people who would nucleate such activities where they live