Link to original story.

By Kajal Bhardwaj

“Madam, card dikhaye…”  (“Madam, let me see your id..”) This was the fourth time I was stopped for “checking” on my way into the Delhi high court the morning of July 2. Not that one can blame the security personnel. There was a media circus outside the court compound. Satellite-topped OB vans took up the better part of Sher Shah Road and reporters with cameras and microphones in hand were starting to flood the footpath.

Clearly they too had got the previous night’s exciting news — the judgment on Indian Penal Code’s (IPC) Section 377 was to be delivered.

It is a case that, like so many others, my colleagues and I have followed with great interest. The 377 case, filed way back in 2001, was about gay rights, yes, but also about the broader notions of equality, dignity, “minority” rights and of womens’ rights in challenging legal and social norms that impose a single understanding of sexuality. So July 2 was indeed judgment day.

I sighed and showed my Bar Council card yet again and pushed the door into Court No.1. It was 10.30 am and the room was packed. Gay rights activists, lawyers, several petitioners of the case, reporters and spectators packed the room waiting for the judgment that could change many lives. As judgments in other cases were read out, the rising nervousness was palpable.

The group looked up expectedly as the Bench that had heard the case — Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar — walked in. In keeping with court tradition, the room rose and bowed to the judges in respect and sat down, this time on the edge of their seats. The judges, perhaps keenly aware of the path-breaking judgment they were about to deliver, kept a studiously straight face.

Chief Justice Shah looked out at the packed courtroom and said, almost grimly, that he would read out the conclusion. The front row comprising the lawyers for both sides — Naz Foundation, Voices Against 377, the Government of India, Joint Action Committee, Kunnur (Jack) and B.P. Singhal, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s former Rajya Sabha MP,stood at attention to hear the verdict. Three sentences into the Chief Justice’s reading and, like a wave sweeping a football stadium, one row after the other rose in attention —holding hands, straining to catch every word.

It was expected. Yet when these words were read out, “We declare that Section 377 IPC, insofar it criminalises consensual sexual acts of adults in private, is violative of Articles 21, 14 and 15 of the Constitution”, an audible gasp went around the room. By the time the Chief Justice had finished reading the conclusion of the judgment,people were openly weeping and there were handshakes and hugs all around.

Watching the spectators collapse on each other, overcome by emotion, the guards charged with maintaining decorum in the court room quickly ushered the group out. Out of the court room and down three floors, most walked in a daze, looking around at their friends and colleagues wondering if they had actually heard what they had been waiting to hear for so long. Other lawyers in the Delhi high court gaped at the big troop descending the stairs, one wondering out aloud with unintentional accuracy, “Kahan se release hoke aayen hain ye sab? (Where have all these people been released from?)”

There was little time for the news to really sink in, to truly appreciate the enormity of the moment. As they all stepped out into a beautiful Delhi day, the activists and lawyers were mobbed by the television media asking their favourite and most inane question — “How do you feel?” As one activist put it later in the day, “How can you explain what freedom feels like?”

One-hundred-and-five pages long, the judgment was almost immediately available on the Delhi high court website. The conclusion, having been read out in court, was being quoted in all the news reports. But as a lawyer I couldn’t wait to read the “meat” of the judgment — the reasoning, the leap in our understanding of the law and the Indian Constitution, of the rights of privacy, equality, dignity that the judgment no doubt held.

The judges had a difficult job with this case. Not only were they being asked to determine if the gay community enjoyed the rights of privacy, liberty, health, equality and whether Section 377 in its disproportionate impact on the gay community violated these constitutional principles, they were also confronted with a provision that they could not repeal completely. Something even the petitions did not ask for.

Section 377 is a colonial relic. A provision of the IPC authored by Lord Macaulay, it reflected the most conservative in Victorian values by prohibiting all sexual acts, consensual or not, that did not lead to procreation and punishing “whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal”. This included consensual oral and anal sex, making straight people criminals under this law as much as gay people but the force of the law weighed squarely against the latter. What complicates matters is the emphasis in the IPC on male to female penile-vaginal rape as the primary form of sexual assault; so other forms of non-consensual sexual acts including child sexual abuse against boys that are not covered by a specific provision in the IPC are covered by Section 377.

The judgment grapples with these diverse and complex issues with finesse and inspirational legal acumen. It is first and foremost an equality judgment articulating in unambiguous terms the impact of criminalisation and discrimination — from the inability to access government HIV programmes to extreme harassment and violence. It recognises that discrimination based on sexual orientation is prohibited by the Indian Constitution. It asserts a “constitutional morality” rather than a popular morality as the basis for law and government policy. And on all these counts, the judgment finds that Section 377 fails, insofar as it applies to adult, consensual, private sex.

As requested by the organisations that filed the case, Section 377 continues to be in force for cases of non-consensual sex and sexual abuse of children. In doing so it still requires the attention of Parliament to reform this centuries-old law which, with its limited understanding of sexual violence, denies many full protection of the law.

The 377 judgment has given voice to the ultimate vision of India — a society based on inclusiveness. To quote from the judgment, “Where society can display inclusiveness and understanding, such persons can be assured of a life of dignity and nondiscrimination”. Captured in this one statement is the idea of a country that accords dignity and equal rights to all — regardless of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth and, now, sexual orientation; indeed of any status or identity that becomes a basis for exclusion or ostracisation. It is a call, finally, for an anti-discrimination law that will ensure that government and private actors alike are bound by constitutional morality.

And it is, ultimately, a judgment that has served as a great reminder of why, sometimes, we do in fact, love the law.

Kajal Bhardwaj is a Delhi-based lawyer. She works on issues related to HIV, health and human rights.

The temple city is all set to become the 10th Indian city to celebrate LGBT rainbow pride festival aimed in bringing visibility to alternate sexuality and gender identity issues. In India, the first Rainbow Pride March took place in Kolkata in 1999, and currently Pride is celebrated in nine cities and towns of India: Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and Thrissur.

Srishti a LGBTQ group based at Madurai and Coimbatore is organizing “Alan Turing Rainbow Festival” in Madurai, in the month of June 2012. Several events including a film festival, seminars on LGBTQ issues, interactive sessions on gender identity issues and others have been planned as part of the rainbow festival. According to Sarava punniyan, the founder, Srishti aims to build a world based on equality, reciprocity, and interdependence, where people are free to express their sexuality as part of their broader human rights.

These events are supported by filmmaker Leena Manimekalai and Naz foundation’s Anjali Gopalan.

• 28th July, 2012 – Film festival

• 29th July, 2012 4PM to 6 PM – Madurai’s first rainbow pride march (starts at Raja Muthaiah Mandram and ends at  Gandhi museum)

Srishti is requesting volunteers to help with pride events on the ground and is also looking for donations to support this fully community funded event. Donations can be made in the name of

Balaji.V
(State bank of India)
Branch name: Lady doak College
Branch code: 10315
IFSC code: SBIN0010315

Orinam.net wishes Sirshti and Madurai a very happy and successful pride. We will update this page as and when we have more information available about the pride celebrations. You can bookmark this page or visit Srishti’s blog for more details.

If you want to find out a bit more about the calendar and Sahodaran, you need to know a bit about Sunil Menon who set up the organisation. Sunil was one of the first activists to get involved with HIV/AIDS issues with MSM in South India and has kept Sahodaran and its outreach programmes growing, extending it into becoming an advocacy space for gays, kothis, and other MSM, and transgenders.

It was an activity I really appreciated, because when I was growing up in Chennai it seemed like this was one city where no sort of gay activism was likely. Of course, there were lots of gay men, but no one seemed interested in starting formal spaces for queer people to meet and get to know each other, leave alone plan for any kind of activism.

When Sunil set up Sahodaran, he also set up an informal group called Chennai Mitra that aimed to provide this sort of space, meeting at the office that Sahodaran had set up on Sterling Road, which was really a bit of a culture shock for me because that was just a few metres away from the college I had gone to (Loyola), at a time when it seemed like nothing gay would ever happen.

I went for a couple of Chennai Mitra meetings when I went home to Chennai, and it felt remarkable to be able to visit such a space in Chennai (walking up to the office past, if I remember correctly, the TamBrahm uncle on the ground floor who looked suspiciously at people going in, but still rented the space to Sunil. Of course, I might be completely wrong on this, and perhaps the uncle was just dyspeptic).

In time, other groups like Movenpick/Orinam (2003-) and Chennai Dost (2009-) came up, and Sunil was able to focus on Sahodaran – and also his parallel career. One of the most remarkable things about Sunil is that he has managed to build his NGO right alongside a very busy career as a fashion show choreographer, probably the best known one in South India. I’ve seen Sunil talking to his outreach workers about preparing presentations on HIV statistics, while almost in parallel screaming on the phone at designers, lighting people, and stage designers who haven’t got their act together in time!

It is an interesting combination, which has multiple benefits. There have been times, I think, when funding for Sahodaran has got stretched, at which point Sunil was able to get the kothis and aravaanis who do the HIV prevention and outreach work some side employment working backstage on his shows. If course, they LOVED doing this and, as Sunil once told me, it wasn’t just the money, but also the sense of confidence they got from being able to walk into a five star hotel or the other fancy venues where his shows took place.

This sort of sensitisation also works in other ways. The fashion and Page 3 crowd in Chennai who knows Sunil from his stage shows has also got sensitised not just to gay issues, but trans and HIV issues as well, since Sunil has always been quite open about his sexuality, activism and HIV work. That whole crowd is very supportive of him, and one happy consequence of this is that several turn up to support him for events like Chennai Pride, including a number of hunky male models whose presence is certainly appreciated!

The calendar came out of this confluence of Sunil’s careers as well. I think it started because one of his outreach workers was a talented tailor and would make colourful male lingerie as a sideline. Sunil wanted to help, and made a vague suggestion to Kapil Ganesh, one of the fashion photographers he worked with, if he could shoot a few images for a catalogue. Kapil was happy to work at something different, and somehow in the process the idea of doing a calendar came up.

The idea seemed good, but executing it in any decent way was clearly going to be daunting, but this is when Sunil’s network of friends kicked in. Designers lent outfits, models volunteered – after a certain amount of persuasion – to pose, potential customers pledged to buy fixed numbers. A few got even more involved, like Anandaroopa, an American living in Chennai with his male partner. Between them all they made sure that the first calendar came out two years back.

That calendar was really something. Many of the models were sportsmen who had wonderful lean bodies and also classic South Indian looks. One of the best things about Sahodaran’s calendar is how it provides a different picture of Indian male hunkiness from the standard fair North Indian one. The second calendar carried this theme even further, as the images on Kapil’s website show – some of the guys have even kept their chest hair!

Putting these calendars together is a real job, and after each one has come out Sunil has always moaned about how much effort it is and how he doesn’t think he can do it all again. This year I really wondered if he would, because Anandaroopa has left Chennai, so Sunil would be doing it more on his own. So I was really happy to learn, during a quick trip to Chennai, that Sunil had in fact produced a third calendar, his most ambitious yet, and that it was going to be released when I was in Chennai.

I went for the launch and it was a typical Sunil event. It was at Amethyst, an upmarket shop cum cafe and there were several designers present. Several of the models were there too, body builders this time, but not the overly muscled guys, but guys with really lean and beautifully balanced builds with really great torsos – check out Mr. July! Or Mr. May! The main concept this year is yoga asanas, and the variations on Tadasana these two guys are doing quite perfectly set off their amazing torsos! Sunil told me that the calendar is so well known now that prospective models now really want to be part of it (and all for free).

Along with the fashion crowd there were, of course, Sunil’s outreach workers and the short event to launch the calendars was as much about them and their work. Sunil spoke about the advances that transgenders had made in Chennai, with the government setting up a trans welfare board and setting in place various schemes for them, now including allotting housing for them. One of the transgenders there showed us how she had just got a new PAN card in her new female personality. And the first calendars were released to representatives of the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS), who have been among Sahodaran’s strongest supporters.

It was all so amazing, and the finished calendars so nice looking, that it seems really bad to make one critical comment, but I feel I really have to. The new calendars are really good, well produced, beautifully composed images of the hunks striking yoga asanas in typical South Indian landscapes that are mostly of landscapes showing sea and sand, or also arenas for traditional South Indian exercise forms like kallaripayutu. Apart from the two months mentioned above, I should make special note of Mr. October, who’s not just striking one of the more challenging asanas, Uthitta Hasta Padangusthasana, but also has a more striking and really hot look, dark skinned and shaven headed.

But he’s something of an exception. While all the models are hunky, they are on the whole a bit less distinctively South Indian than the earlier calendars. Sunil explained that they have made this calendar a bit mroe mainstream, because he felt that there were people who might have bought the earlier ones, but felt it was a bit too much for them. He cited one friend who admitted he had bought last year’s calendar, but didn’t dare put it on his desk, but just put it in his desk drawer and looked at it from time to time.

I can understand that Sunil feels its better to sacrifice some of the distinctive quality of the earlier calendars to see a bit more. But I think the guys who don’t dare put it out, aren’t going to dare to put any such calendar out at any time, whereas those who might have bought it because it was so different are going to feel disappointed and the overall more mainstream look of these guys and this calendar. I hope that next year they will strike more of a balance.

But this is really only a minor criticism, and as a whole the calendar is well worth the Rs. 1000 that is the price this year, especially since you know the benefit is going to support Sahodaran’s programmes for HIV/AIDS prevention among men who have sex with men. For those who want to buy it and are in Chennai, it should be easy to get it from Sahodaran and shops like Amethyst and Chamiers. For those who are outside Chennai, it’s going to be a bit harder, especially since Azaad Bazaar in Mumbai, which stocked it, is moving to Goa this week. Sunil says he is trying to find new outlets to stock it, but till then your best bet would be to email Sahodaran directly. Their website http://www.sahodaran.org/ is still under construction, but it contains their basic contact details.

Photos courtesy : Sahodaran

We are pleased to report that this project has been recognized as an international success story in reducing stigma, and has been described in a manual on stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV in Ghana.

“Lotus used a careful process to develop and implement the theatre intervention. They conducted focus group interviews with men having sex with men and panchayat leaders to inform script development and provide baseline data for an evaluation. A member of Lotus wrote the script. Preparations also included organizing training for panchayat leaders about HIV and AIDS, men having sex with men, and transgender populations. Since public drama performances are a visible and important part of day-to-day cultural life in rural India, the project successfully built upon strengths the communities already had thus affirming community identity as valid and valuable. In total, Lotus organized 75 performances, reaching 270 panchayat leaders and approximately 11,250 villagers.”

Read the document 
(The Lotus case study is on pages 35-36.)

Orinam congratulates Muthukumar Natesan and colleagues at Lotus Sangam from Kumbakonam on their Advocacy by Cultural Teams project’s success. We look forward to seeing this initiative undertaken on a wider scale in the country!

For more information contact Muthukumar at muthukumar.news@gmail.com

On Sept 10, 2011, Madurai’s first gay ‘Friendly circle meet’ was conducted, with the purpose of having local community members get to know each other. More than 80 gay and bi guys took part in the meet, held at Eco Park. Participants were predominantly students, but also included some faculty from the local colleges, and working professionals such as lawyers. We named the group Srishti.

We discussed issues such as ‘what is gayness’, ‘what is sexual orientation’, basic sex education, problems faced by the LGBT community. I explained about the LGBT community to all the students there. We had friendly chats. In the near future, we plan to conduct basic awareness programs for college students in Madurai through college National Service Scheme (NSS).

For more details, contact srishti.madurai@gmail.com

–For long now, the lives of sexual minorities have been shadowed by sheer ignorance and bigoted attitudes of the society. As a result, LGBT issues have largely gone unaddressed and unnoticed so far. And the lack of forums and spaces to voice out their issues has only compounded the problem. But now, the scene is all set to change positively with the increase in number of voices and representations from the LGBT community. There are also forums being created in the city to address the issues of LGBT struggle.

One such forum was the panel meet organized by Chennai Rainbow Pride in the city, as part of its month long series of events in June that celebrate the diversities of sexuality and gender. LGBT Voices: A Panel Discussion saw members of LGBT community and a committee of experts from healthcare, law and law enforcement, engage in a free-wheeling discussion that examined community concerns and issues faced by lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgenders, kothis and aravanis. The event was held at the Inter-Church Service Organization (ICSA) Centre, Egmore,  one of those rare spaces in Chennai that is completely open to LGBT events.

Panelists from the LGBT community, through their stories, raised some crucial questions to the expert committee. The expert committee in turn put forth its opinions and offered valuable guidance to the gathering.

The LGBT community panel included Sid, Sankari, Kaavya, Jaya, Ajay Gabriel, Vikranth, Srijith Sundaram, Chitra and Angel Glady.

The expert committee had Dr. Suresh Kumar (psychiatrist), Dr. Poorna (anesthesiologist), Mr. Shiva Kumar (community organizer with Sangama), Mr. Sathyanarayanan (retired police official), Poongkuzhali Balasubramaniam (Advocate), Mr. Rohan (representing the corporate sector), Dr. Venkatesan Chakrapani (STI specialist and LGBT health expert) and Magdalene Jayarathnam (counselor with expertise in LGBT issues), responding to the questions that were raised by the LGBT panel.

Sid, Ajay Gabriel and Vikranth raised important issues of workplace discrimination that a gay or lesbian person faces. Sid shared his thoughts on why it is difficult for a gay man to be open about his sexual orientation in a workplace  that does not have any policies against discrimination and harassment towards sexual minorities. He also reflected on the immense pressure that a man faces at the workplace to conform to gender stereotypes, ranging from conservative dressing to conversation, including discussing women and projecting the image of a highly ambitious and a macho male. He wondered if it would possible to create a more accepting and an inclusive atmosphere at the workplace, where a man was less bound by gendered stereotypes, and did not have to speak about girlfriends. Is it possible for an openly gay man to grow in his career without fearing discrimination?

Vikranth, Director of Chennai Dost, highlighted the importance of sensitization of Human Resource departments of businesses to the challenges faced by people with non-normative sexual orientations. He also spoke of the difficulties of living as an openly gay man in the city, even if one is financially stable, primarily due to the lack of support from biological family.

Ajay Gabriel expressed the need for structures and mechanisms to address the issues of harassment and bullying at workplaces. Often, people with sexual orientations outside of the norm are branded as eccentric. This alienates them from society, as it creates a challenge of inability to socialize with people. He concluded by emphasizing on the necessity for bringing in structured policies and adequate support systems to address and acknowledge the problems faced by sexual minorities.–

Angel Glady, a transgender woman working in a private software firm in the city, shared her success story that was inspiring to many in the gathering. She narrated the agony that she had gone through in her initial years as an employee living as a man. Despite having disclosed to the Team Leader about her gender identity, she was forced to come to work in male attire. In addition, she also had to undergo physical discomfort such as using the male restroom. She then made a decision to quit after her failed attempts to make the Team Leader understand her situation. But Glady’s hard work and commitment paid off, when she was offered the same position in the same company again, post her transformation to a woman. The second time she made it clear that she would identify herself only as a woman. And to her surprise, the company acceded without any qualms. However, when she got back to work as a woman, she had to endure uncomfortable and piercing stares from her colleagues. Except for few close friends, the others stayed away from her. It took time for people to realize and accept her. Even now, when a new employee joins, she faces similar discomfort.Through her story she stressed that every company should provide orientation to its new hires highlighting the importance of an inclusive environment for transgender people and those of alternate sexuality.

Chitra, a city professional,  talked about the vexing absence of forums and support groups for lesbian women in Chennai. The focus on alternative sexuality tended to center on gay men and transgender people, and many times, issues regarding lesbian women do not get the necessary attention. Being a lesbian in a traditional city like Chennai, it was quite a long process for Chitra to gain self-awareness: it was only at the age of 25 that she managed come to terms with her sexual orientation. She attributed it to the lack of awareness about lesbian women that looms large in the mainstream society in Chennai. In her discussion, she also brought to notice the smothered lives of many lesbian women who resort to suicide as their last effort to escape the oppression. In a city like Chennai, where patriarchy and misogyny are at play in a pronounced level, being a lesbian is, for sure, a case of double marginalisation. But the Pride March that was held in the city last year had given her the hope and confidence. It had not only made her bolder but had also created a platform to meet many others like her. She concluded by saying that she finds Chennai to be a wonderful place to live, if only it is more accepting and inclusive.

Srijith, a theatre artist and a long time supporter of LGBT rights, spoke of the denigrating way in which print and visual media cover the issues of marginalised people.

Jaya,  a self-identified kothi and employee of Sahodaran, brought to fore the identity crisis that an effeminate MSM faces in the world that lives by staunch notions of masculinity and femininity. Having overcome many struggles and ill treatments in her life, Jaya has a lot of questions that s/he asks hirself. S/he is constantly plagued by the question of who people like hir really are. Why are they effeminate? Like a cat on the wall, s/he feels neither there nor here. Weighed down by indecisiveness and confusion, s/he and others like hir long are plagued by low self esteem. Even if s/he is beaten and ridiculed, s/he only accepts it as hir fate. This results in disregard and neglect of one’s body, wellness and health-seeking behavior. As a non-conformist to the society’s gender stereotypes, s/he undergoes a constant struggle of identity crisis. In the general society, s/he struggles to find his own space and peace.

–

Sankari, a staff member of Sangama Chennai, touched upon an issue that is seldom talked about.  There is significant support and guidance available for male to female transsexuals. However, when it comes to the issues of female to male transsexuals, there is complete lack of guidance or support. She brought to the notice of committee that there is no information available regarding the surgical support for female to male transformation. She also highlighted the uncertainty regarding the safety and quality of the surgical procedures that are performed for the transformation from male to female.

Kaavya, a member of Sahodaran’s team, shared stories that are everyday realities for many transgender people. Acceptance of children for who they are is something that is rare among families. Parents often consider children’s alternative gender/sexual orientation as an insult to their family pride or dignity. This has led to the abandonment of many transgender people by their own families. However, she observed that the same families have no hesitation in in receiving the financial support from the children that they have mercilessly abandoned. She concluded by saying that they will be able to lead successful lives, if the families showed some acceptance and acknowledgement.

After the LGBT community shared their experiences and stories, the expert committee set out to respond to many of the question that were raised.

Following the presentations by community members, the Chennai Rainbow Pride coalition’s media release for Pride 2011 was read out in English and Tamil.  The media release encapsulated many of the demands of the community with respect to non-discrimination from healthcare, law, law-enforcement, media, business, family and society.

In the next segment, Dr. Poorna talked about the general attitudes of doctors towards gay men. Many physicians consider homosexuality to be a disease and suggest ‘treatments’ for ‘cure’ to the misinformed parents of gay youth. He wondered if doctors in the country still practice electro-shock therapy [Ed: they do] as a measure to ‘cure’ homosexuality. He also sought legal guidance on the consequences that a doctor would face if he/she performs sex reassignment surgery.

Dr. Suresh Kumar, a well-known Chennai-based psychiatrist, began his speech by reflecting on the journey he had as a psychiatrist in the past three decades. He acknowledged that even in the medical community, there is poor understanding about sexuality and related issues. Many times, the doctors’ perspectives on sexuality do not differ much from those of the general public. He brought to the notice of the group that the five year medical training for doctors does not include sexualities as a part of the curriculum. Even the little references to sexualities in the course are often avoided by the professors in the class room. As a result, a doctor graduates from medical school with absolutely no knowledge and awareness about sexualities. And he averred that it is the same with those who have chosen to specialize in psychiatry following. Till 1970, homosexuality was considered to be a mental disorder. But, later by the large consensus of the medical experts, it was proved not to be a disorder.

He  commented on the general reaction of parents to their children’s sexual orientation. He narrated that his three decades of practice as a psychiatrist, he had come across several mothers and fathers, who plead, force and set deadlines to change the mindset of their sons and daughters.  In general, his first step towards approaching the issue is to make the families understand that homosexuality is not a mental disorder. He made a vivid description of sexualities by comparing it with a rainbow. Like a rainbow, sexuality is a wide spectrum with no stark boundaries of orientation and preference.

–

He then responded to the comments put forward by Kaavya and Sankari about the lack of family acceptance. He reiterated that family acceptance comes a long way in helping sexual minorities to lead better lives. He also brought to the table an important understanding about the society’s attitude. The obnoxious attitude is only the reflection of the mindset of individual families, which are in turn smaller units of the society. And an individual family is under immense pressure from the society to conform to the generalized ideas of sexuality.

Touching upon the issue brought forward by Jaya, Dr. Suresh Kumar made the point that lack of respect for oneself leads to low self esteem. He also made a clarification that low self esteem is not clinical depression, which is a biological disorder, but only a form of demoralization. He also affirmed that one does not have to be administered anti depressants for the demoralization that he or she undergoes. It is only a manifestation of the abuse and discrimination that one had faced from family, friends and society in his or her life; and has to be tackled as such.

He strongly suggested that people of alternative sexual orientation and gender  identities connect with others from the same community. Seeking out support from people with similar experiences will boost the confidence and offer a sense of acceptance, he said. He advised against self victimization, which is very common among sexual minorities. He also made an important point that psychiatrists should recognise self esteem as the first critical issue to be focussed on, when dealing with issues concerning sexual orientation.

He concluded that stories of Angel Glady and Gabriel are signs of hope for LGBT community in Chennai. He mentioned that Chennai and its citizens should be proud of the successful stories shared by Angel Glady and Gabriel. He lauded their employers for their positive treatment of LGBTs.

Shivakumar, an employee of Sangama, offered some thoughts on handling crisis situations faced by lesbians and other sexual minority people at home – typically situations where parents find out about a same-sex partner and try to get their wards married off in a hurry.  Based on his experience as part of Sangama’s crisis intervention team, he pointed out that, during a crisis, many walk out of their homes in an impulse and do not bother to bring along any documents of identity proof. As an example, he narrated the story of a lesbian couple who faced a similar crisis. The father of one of the women had hidden her passport in an effort to stop his daughter from flying out of the country to be with the other woman. On intervention of Sangama and with counseling support from the Center for Counseling, the couple managed to get reconciled with the parents of the Chennai woman, and get back the document successfully. He also added that this is only one of the few success stories. In reality, there are many stories that had bleak endings.

Poongkhulali Balasubramanian, an advocate, addressed the gathering in detail regarding the intricacies of crisis situations. She said that her past experiences in handling crisis situations had helped her learn many important lessons. In a crisis situation, it is often difficult to create awareness about sexuality and its diversity to the people involved. She took the same story narrated by Shivakumar as an example to explain her point in detail. She explained as to how parents go to the extent of seeking the help of henchmen to gain custody of their sons/daughters who had made an informed decision of staying with their chosen partners. In such a situation, when Kuzhali and other members of the organization need police protection, they need to deal with another challenge, that is, lack of understanding about sexuality among the police force. And a ten minute crash course on sexuality rarely makes a difference to the police personnel. This only complicates the situation further.

She also highlighted the important issue of how parents often never get the space and time to deal with their children’s sexual orientation before in hand. Like, how one needs space and time to come to terms with his/her own sexuality, parents too need support and guidance. Therefore, in her view, parents cannot be blamed entirely, as in many cases they are kept in dark till the last minute. This makes it even more difficult to handle the situation.

She strongly drove the message home that it is very important for sexual minorities to enlighten their parents on sexuality issues even before any such crisis situations unfold.

She concluded by emphasizing the importance of the legislature in the matter of amendment of laws. She said how there is a common notion among people that courts are the ultimate decision makers regarding any law or policy. She commented that Parliament has the power to bring any amendment to the existing laws. However, she acknowledged that it may turn out to be a lengthy and time consuming process. The recent verdict of Delhi High Court on IPC Section 377 is only a reading down and not a repealing of the entire provision. She stressed that IPC 377 can only be read down and not entirely repealed, as it also deals with child sexual abuse, that no other current laws address..

There was another important point that Khulali touched upon in her discussion, which is a subject of serious concern for women rights activists across the country. The narrow definition of sexual assault on women in the Indian Penal Code has been a limiting factor in gaining legal justice for many victims of sexual abuse. She referred to a pending draft bill that aims to redefine the sexual assault on women, which currently acknowledges only vaginal and penile intercourse as abuse. She also observed that there are not many voices of support for such amendment from the LGBT community.

She also added to the points brought forward by Mr. Shivakumar by highlighting the need for sensitization of people and various officers on the necessity of identity documents.

To Dr. Poorna’s queries on the legal hassles that a doctor performing sex reassignment surgery may face, she answered that there is no such explicit prohibition or recognition in IPC. She said that Indian law is ambiguous and there is no provision that defines such a surgery to be offence. If it is done out of good will and consent, it is not considered as an offence.

Mr. Sathyanarayanan, a retired Superintendent of Police, spoke about the importance of financial independence for a person with alternative sexual orientation. He stressed that only financial stability will be able to restore security and confidence in a person belonging to the community of sexual minorities.

Dr. Venkatesan Chakrapani shared many interesting perspectives on the awareness of medical community regarding human sexualities. In his experiences, he had seen many MSM suffering from identity crisis. He echoed Dr. Suresh Kumar’s point that many doctors do not understand sexuality. He talked about how doctors commonly understand feminine behaviour in men as a proxy for homosexuality. And doctors do not often bring about the issue of homosexuality with masculine-looking men, thereby entirely ruling out the possibility of a homosexual or bisexual orientation among them. As a result, doctors miss out opportunities to discuss about the issues concerning sexualities when they come across patients with diseases pertaining to sexual practices.  The same is the case with married men, as it is a common notion among doctors and general public that married men are always exclusively heterosexual.

He also said that transsexual women face a lot of problems like denial of admission into the female wards in the hospitals. Although the situation is gradually changing these days, he observed that there is a long way to go in terms of society’s attitude towards people with different sexual orientations and gender identities.

In the medical field, the identity crisis faced by transgender people is considered to be a medical condition and goes by the name ‘gender disorder’. Although he suggested that there should be a neutral term that has to be coined, he opined that considering it as a medical condition will only help people to get health insurance for the surgeries and other medical processes involved in sex reassignment. He also said that transsexual is only a term of activists and not the one that is commonly used among medical experts.

He brought to notice an important challenge that, as a doctor, he generally faces when dealing with health concerns regarding sexuality. The patients, in general, do not come forward to share their sexual history or sexual orientation in fear of discrimination. This only compounds the challenge faced by some of the doctors like him who are forthcoming in offering medical advice for the issues faced by LGBT people. He encouraged people to open up to doctors regarding their sexual issues and behaviour.

Regarding the sex reassignment surgeries for female to male transformation, he commented that it should be really challenging as he is not aware of any government hospitals that perform such surgeries. According to him, this is reason enough to formulate medical guidelines for both the patients and doctors in order to ensure the safety and hygiene of such surgical procedures.

Magdalene Jeyarathnam concluded the panel discussion meet by sharing her experiences and views that she had acquired as a counsellor working with the LGBT community. She reiterated the opinions put forward by Khulali regarding the need of time and space for parents to understand their children’s sexuality. She stressed that eventually parents try and accept their children for who they are. And in the event of parents’ acceptance, a fair share of responsibility lies with the children to give them the needed support. It is imperative that they have a support system through which they meet other parents of sexual minorities.

Magdalene also advised that one has to make an informed decision by weighing the pros and cons of the situation at home, before coming out to parents. One should enable a smooth process for opening up to his/her parents. To a certain extent, this will reduce the emotional upheavals  that parents are likely to undergo.

She pointed out that gay, lesbian and bisexual people are highly vulnerable to blackmail in a society where homosexuality is stigmatized, especially when they have not disclosed their orientation to family members and employers.  To avoid such untoward situations, it is important for LGBT people to gain the support of their families. Commenting on the point made by Sathyanarayanan that financial stability is important for a person of different sexual orientation, she opined that many of the people from LGBT community do not get a supportive environment that is needed to focus on their education. This puts their career prospects in jeopardy and affects their chances of gaining financial independence.  Also, the self esteem of a person depends on his/her relationship with the parents. Hence, LGBT people should consider family as an important unit that offers the necessary support system for the smooth functioning of their lives. Urgent work is need to sensitize parents on LGBT issues.

She also observed, to a loud round of applause, that reading down of IPC 377 has brought in a positive change to the lives of sexual minorities. It has encouraged many to come out to their family and friends. In her concluding note, Magdalene talked about the guilt that many people foment in themselves for being different. But the decriminalization of homosexuality had given them confidence and, most of all, hope to live without guilt and fear!

Media Coverage of the event

Taking a stand with pride , Kamini Mathai, Times of India, June 12, 2011

Fight of the Rainbow Coalition , Edwina Shaddick, NXG (Hindu youth section), June 16, 2011

While some issues such as access to health insurance and tax benefits for married couples discussed in the article are more pertinent to citizens of the US;  the authors’ points regarding coping with stress of being lesbian, gay or bisexual, and psychological/health benefits of being in a relationship; are probably relevant to non-US contexts as well.

An important issue that is not addressed in this article is the stress  and health implications of keeping a same-sex relationship secret, or dealing with family/social rejection because of being in a same-sex relationship. Given the numerous instances we hear about; of same-sex couples being ostracised, separated and stigmatized; one wonders if the stress faced by same-sex couples who are known to be in a relationship. is more than the stress faced by people who are single and queer in a largely homophobic society.  Of course this would not be an argument against same-sex relationships, but for simultaneously undoing society’s homophobia – something that can’t just be legislated away. It would be interesting to get responses from you, the readers, on this.

Public Health Implications of Same-Sex Marriage
–

William C. Buffie, MD. William C. Buffie is with St. Francis Hospital, Indianapolis, IN, and Indiana Internal Medicine Consultants, Indianapolis.

American Journal of Public Health, 10.2105/AJPH.2010.300112
June 2011, Vol 101, No. 6 | American Journal of Public Health 986-990
2011 American Public Health Association
—

ABSTRACT
—

Significantly compromised health care delivery and adverse health outcomes are well documented for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in the United States compared with the population at large. LGBT individuals subject to societal prejudice in a heterosexist world also suffer from the phenomenon known as “minority stress,” with its attendant negative mental and physical health effects.

Reports in the medical and social science literature suggest that legal and social recognition of same-sex marriage has had positive effects on the health status of this at-risk community.

Improved outcomes are to be expected because of the improved access to health care conferred by marriage benefits under federal or state law and as a result of attenuating the effects of institutionalized stigma on a sexual minority group.

Full text is available to subscribers at http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/content/full/101/6/986

Correspondence should be sent to William C. Buffie, MD, 7550 Singleton St, Indianapolis, IN 46227 (e-mail: wcbuffie@aol.com). Reprints can be ordered at http://www.ajph.org by clicking the “Reprints/Eprints” link.–

எங்களுக்கு தேவை அங்கீகாரம்!

Other coverage includes:

Sangeetha Neeraja, New Indian Express, July 6, 2011
Shame on you, Health Minister

Kounteya Sinha, Times of India, July 6, 2011
‘Disease’ was in reference to HIV: comment sparks protests

Bijoy Bharathan, Times of India, July 6, 2011
Azad’s comments evoke outrage

Gautam Sunder and Madhulike Gautama, Deccan Chronicle July 8, 2011
Azad faces backlash: protests planned

Scientific evidence shows that homosexuality is a natural variant of human sexuality and is not a mental disorder or disease. Homosexuality as a specific diagnostic category was removed from the World Health Organisation’s ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders published in 1992 and from the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-IV Guidelines in 1973.

In the course of our professional lives, we have interacted with hundreds of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons across the country, and it is a complete misconception that homosexuality is “western”. We feel that the Delhi High Court’s 2009 judgment decriminalizing homosexuality removed a major source of stigma and discrimination faced by LGBT persons in India and was rooted in a concrete understanding of the mental and psychological harm that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code inflicts on LGBT persons.

The unscientific claims made by the Union Health Minister, if left unchallenged, will lead to irreparable harm to LGBT persons. His subsequent denial has not helped matters either. We call upon Mr. Azad to retract his statements and issue an unambiguous clarification.

1.     Dr. A. K. Kala, Clinical Director, North India Psychiatry Centre, Ludhiana

2.     Dr. Alok Sarin, Sitaram Bhatia Institute of Research, Delhi

3.     Dr. Debashis Chatterjee, Founder Ishwar Sankalpa and Member, Indian Psychiatric Society, Kolkata

4.     Jolly Laha, Psychotherapist, Kolkata

5.     Dr. K. S. Jacob, Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Christian Medical College, Vellore

6.     Dr. Kaustubh Joag, Psychiatrist and Associate Member, Indian Psychiatry Society, Pune

7.     Dr. Pratap Kumar Rath, Coordinator, Centre of Advanced Study in Psychology, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar

8.     Magdalene Jeyarathnam, Founder-Director, Centre for Counselling, Chennai

9.     Radhika Chandiramani, Clinical Psychologist, New Delhi

10.  Ratnaboli Ray, Co-founder National Alliance of Access to Justice for People with Mental Illness (NAJMI) and Founder, Managing Trustee, Anjali Mental Health Rights Organization

11.  Sarbani Das Roy, Honorary Secretary, Ishwar Sankalpa, Kolkata

12.  Dr. Soumitra Pathare, Psychiatrist, Pune

13.  Dr. Subir Kumar Hajra Chaudhuri, Institute of Psychiatry, Kolkata

14.  Dr. Vikram Patel, Sangath, Goa

Contact: Pawan Dhall, 98312 88023, Kunal Chowdhury, 98746 53141, Coalition of Rights Based Groups, West Bengal

The calls and emails began to trickle in on the evening of Monday, July 4. First it was an email from a member of MP mailing list, based in the US. Then it was an ally from NDTV who had covered LGBT issues at a previous Pride. By Monday night, LGBT folks and supporters in Chennai, and elsewhere in India and abroad, were fuming at the news that India’s Union Minister for Health, Ghulam Nabi Azad, speaking at a national conference for zilla parishad leaders, had declared male-male sexual behavior to be a disease, unnatural, and a western import. This not only reflected the Honorable Minister’s ignorance and homophobia, but was a serious setback to India’s National AIDS Control Programme (NACP-III) that has been working hard to create safe and supportive environments for sexual minorities so as to facilitate their access to health, especially HIV, services. NACP-III is a programme of the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), a unit of Azad’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Irony?

By 7 am Tuesday morning, the mobile networks were abuzz with calls among local community members, supporters, and activists in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore. The conclusion was unanimous: we needed to protest, soon, and in a concerted manner across the country. Individuals wrote to mailing lists, contacted NGO friends and their media allies. A request for police permission for the protest in Chennai was rejected. Nevertheless we decided to go ahead, with the NGO Sangama (a sexual minority rights and sexual health organization with offices in Chennai and Bangalore) taking the lead in the protest. Members of the Chennai Rainbow Coalition – a collective of LGBT individuals, supporters and NGOs – who had barely set down their placards and banners after the recent Chennai and Thrissur Pride marches, were mobilized through text messages, phone calls, Twitter and Facebook. A media release was developed (see below).

About 100 people showed up at the protest, and a subset made it to the press conference following it, while the others were asked by the police to disperse. Not bad for less than half a day of mobilization. The police were very polite: no arrests or bullying. The sensitization of police to queer issues in Tamil Nadu over the years has worked remarkably well!

The press conference was very powerful. Coalition members had thoughtfully brought in placards and a rainbow banner. We rehearsed what we were going to say – two people – one for English and one for Tamil – on each of the ‘disease’, ‘unnatural’ and ‘Western import’ issues. Some more folks to address the issue of invisibility, and some straight allies to point out why this was not only an LGBT community issue, and why all of society needed to support the cause.

Emotions raged high, but speakers were eloquent and forceful. The Chennai Rainbow Coalition was represented by individuals and groups including Sangama, Sahodaran, Social Welfare Association for Men (SWAM), Chennai Dost, Trans Media, MP/Orinam.net, The Shakti Resource Center, South India AIDS Action Programme (SIAAP), Pacifica Radio, and  Solidarity and Action Against The HIV Infection in India (SAATHII).

About seven media houses showed up and a few stragglers were duly provided with sound bytes and photos. See pics and media release below. For more pics please check out Preeti Shekar’s album

Media Release: For Immediate Release

July 5, 2011

Protest organized by Sangama: 3 pm outside Press Club, Chepauk, today
Press Meet: 4 pm at Press Club, today

Chennai Rainbow Coalition, a diverse group of LGBT individuals, heterosexual allies, and organizations working on human rights and public health, strongly protests Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s public statement that male-to-male sexual behavior is a disease, unnatural and a western import. We demand an apology and immediate resignation of the Minister.

The Honorable Minister’s statement reveals his abject ignorance of international medical and scientific opinion that homosexuality is not a disease. No less an organization than the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) in 1990. India’s most prominent psychiatrists and mental health professionals have also stated that it is not a disease in their affidavit supporting the upholding of Delhi High Court’s historic ruling on Section 377.

Research in behavioral ecology has documented the existence of homosexual behavior in over 450 species of animals; a rebuttal to those who claim homosexuality is unnatural, to bolster their prejudiced beliefs.

Finally, there is a vast body of scholarship that has documented the existence of homosexuality in the Indian sub-continent through history, across communities and cultures: effectively refuting the notion that it is a ‘Western import’.

The honorable Minister needs to educate himself on public health and scientific opinion grounded in evidence before airing his views or continuing in his position.  We also express our grave concern that the Minister is damaging the efforts of India’s National AIDS Control Organization Programme (NACP-III), an initiative of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s National AIDS Control Organization (NACO),  that has been working to create enabling environments for men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people, so they can fully exercise their right to healthcare.

For more information: Call Sankari 97909-90622 (Tamil) or Lavanya  98842-35188 (English)