We at Orinam grieve the loss of Deepu, a transman, who took his life on Thursday, July 26, 2012, in Kerala.

Deepu was part of the LesBiT theatre group that performed at Nirangal, ChennaiPride’s cultural festival, in 2010. Most recently, he was brought to the screen in Gee Ameena Suleiman’s film Kalvettukal (2012),  a moving docu-fiction on transmen in southern India that screened at Chennai’s Queer Film Festival in June this year.

A condolence meeting will be held in Chennai at 6:30 pm on Saturday Aug 4, 2012 at Spaces, Besant Nagar.

At the meeting,

• we will screen Kalvettukal in tribute to Deepu, and Charu from LesBiT Bangalore will  facilitate a discussion on the issues faced by transmen.
• we will raise funds to help defray some of Deepu’s funeral expenses, based on a request from his family for assistance.
• we also hope to generate a community dialogue on peer support for individuals coping with depression associated with living and loving in an LGBT-phobic society; and on resources available to our communities to prevent more such losses.

The event is being organized by Orinam together with Nirangal and The Shakti Resource Center. For more information on the event or to make a donation, please contact us. 

Click here to listen to an excerpt of the song Teri Diwani rendered by Deepu, that he had posted on his Facebook wall in June 2011.