The findings of her study are available here. The abstract of her study is presented below, from genderdiversityandschools.in/research-design/

“I present the results of a first of its kind qualitative study to understand the experiences of queer students during their K-12 education in India. “Queer” signifies various counter-heteronormative identities apart only from lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender (Narrain and Bhan, 2005; Menon, 2008). Using semi-structured interviews with self- identified queer persons of <=25 years of age, focus group discussions and expert interviews, I develop a coding scheme based in grounded theory and guided by Olweus’ (1993) definition of bullying.

I find that: 1. Gender non-conforming students are labelled as gay, lesbian or transgender and are bullied verbally, physically, sexually and relationally by students, teachers and administrators, regardless of their actual sexual orientation. 2. Perhaps, due to the androcentricism and invisibility of female sexuality, gender non-conforming PAGFB are subjected to less bullying than gender non-conforming PAGMB, up to a certain point. 3. Schools are sex negative with little or no sexuality education, and no policies prohibiting bullying. Complaints are either trivialized or bullied students are blamed for bringing this upon themselves by being gender non-conforming. Bullied participants report isolation, depression, fall in grades and educational aspiration, suicidal ideation and increased absenteeism but many also excel academically and in co-curriculars. Some love school as it is the only place that they can be themselves. Participants and experts suggest that comprehensive sexuality education and inculcating equal respect through effective school and state based policies may create more inclusive school climates.”

I attempt a model “Anti-Discrimination and Sexual Rights” policy based on my findings, legal decisions and suggestions from participants and experts.

Click here, or on the image below to go to the website:

Editors’ note: This post has been added to Orinam’s compilation of resources for educational institutions in India, at https://new2.orinam.net/resources-for/educational-institutions/

The report shows that the transgender community continues to face harassment, abuse and violence, despite advances in transgender rights as articulated in the Supreme Court NALSA judgement (2014), anticipated in Rajya Sabha MP Tiruchi Siva’s Transgender Rights Bill, and heralded in individual successes such as those of Manabi Bandopadhyay, Madhu Bai Kinnar and C. Anu.

Ondede (“convergence” in Kannada) is a collective that recognizes and endeavours to link existing movements such as child rights, women’s’ rights, sexual minority rights and other vulnerable sections through dialogue, research and action on Dignity-Voice-Sexuality.

Orinam thanks Ondede for sharing this report.

Click here to download the report.

I. Self

It started thus for me:

During school days, my teachers perceived extra grace in my dance movements and selected me to play the role of the female consort of a male deity in a stage play. They also spared me, as they did with girls, the corporal punishment they freely employed on boys.

Ever since, a series of unconnected events have kept reinforcing that I am different.

Some of these are,

Observing me walk in front of him, my uncle cautioned me to change my gait, lest people call me a ‘lady’.

Classmates started walking beside me mimicking my walk, accompanied with claps and catchy movie songs that described the gait of a young woman, “nadaiya… ithu nadaiya…” and “aiyo … mella nada mella nada … meni ennagum?”

I got called by different female nicknames. And one that tweaked the spelling of my name, Shankari.

Boys in class would re-enact movie sequences treating me as a woman and holding me in an endearing clasp or brutal grip, depending on whether they were playing hero or villain.

While removing stains in my hand, a maternal aunt wondered out loud why my palms were unusually soft.

A boy seated next to me in one of our crowded classrooms called out friends to touch me and feel the softness of my skin. I was touched and rubbed by a number of boys who vehemently agreed with the first one.

Two of my neighbours were irritated with my soft nature, and started hitting me regularly, till I broke down inconsolably one day.

A classmate started interacting with me in an overtly physical manner; nuzzling and teasing my face with his fingers and winking at me. I reacted with ignorance at first, followed by shock, and then with curiosity at what new things he might do. Finally, when I began to like the attention, he pulled away scolding me for not resisting him all these days. That left me thoroughly confused, and thereafter suspicious of the intentions of anyone who showed any signs of intimacy towards me. I was only able to speak to my mother about this twenty-five years after the incident.

My cousins suggested that I join ‘people like me’ who live in groups in some huts nearby.

A male teacher sent shivers down my spine when he subjected to me a sudden unwanted bad touch, and kiss.

The list goes on, but now all these other people have moved on in their lives leaving an indelible mark on me. Strangers still point at me on the road. Recently, a group of boys let out a peculiar sound on seeing me walk by. After the usual shock, I decided I should not let this affect me anymore. I went briskly and sat next to them, as if daring them to touch! You know what happened next?

They all fell silent.

Part II. Incident on a Train

It was a day  I regretted I being at that precise location: the upper berth of an unreserved compartment of Jolarpet Express heading towards Chennai. A vantage point from where I could observe the behavior of those around me.

I was engrossed in a book, as I usually am during train journeys, when I became aware of  intermittent laughter, hustle and bustle around me. The tone of mockery in the voices was all too familiar, and my senses alerted me that something was amiss.

On the floor of the compartment, standing below me, was a short, bulky and dark-complexioned man in his twenties, wearing pants and a shirt, the fingernails on one hand painted a dark red. He was being smothered on all sides by a  group of laughing, jeering men, who addressed him as ‘Bajji’. One of the men said something in his ears in a seemingly endearing tone. Bajji rebuked the man in a way that suggested the man was known to him, and tried to push him away. Only to end up entangled in the arms  and gropes of more men.

What I saw after that was too much to bear. A tall man kept grinding  against Bajji from behind, while holding the latter’s shoulders and simultaneously engaging him in conversation. A few others made comments  that were not  audible in the noise of the moving train. At the next station, a passenger seated below got down, leaving his place vacant. Bajji’s ‘peers’ generously offered the seat to our Bajji. But wait, it was not the vacant seat they offered, but the lap of another man who had occupied it by then. The man behind him firmly  clasped Bajji by his waist, while the man who was nuzzling him called in a man with curly hair to join in the action. This curly-haired man took his position in front of Bajji. Now Bajji was captive, positioned in a such a way that he was imprisoned by male bodies—for I would not like to call them human beings, after witnessing what they next did to him. The man who had Bajji on his lap, tightened his grip around Bajji’s waist. The curly-haired man began squeezing Bajji’s chest. Bajji tried to push those fingers away but his hands were then promptly restrained by another man. It was neither affection nor curiosity. It was utterly cruel abuse!

My own prior experiences of harassment made me feel that Bajji needed help, but multiple thoughts held me back. What if I had misunderstood the situation? How could I, on my own, confront a group of passengers? What if these people were an organized gang of traffickers?

I looked at the co-passengers seated around me. Most were sleeping or completely unconcerned by what was happening.

As I hesitated, mustering the courage to intervene, I waited for a cry from Bajji, an audible confirmation of his distress, so I could also cry out loud and alert people to his predicament. But to my surprise, Bajji mustered a wan smile every time some atrocity was committed on his person. Now and then he would wipe his eyes, as if to prevent tears from rolling down. Perhaps he had learned that crying would only provoke further abuse.

The worst part was yet to come. A loud-voiced bystander asked the men surrounding Bajji what they were doing. One of them replied that they were auctioning Bajji off. A few quoted prices on him, much to the merriment of the group. One of them remarked that the auctioneer could earn a fortune through Bajji. I looked helplessly at Bajji. I noticed that he forced himself to join in the laughter, as if wanting to belong to the group! Perhaps he had been socialized to be manly and face the abuse without shrinking or running away.

The train then reached Arakkonam junction and he asked one of his ‘friends’ to help him get his bag from the luggage rack. A tall man pulled down the bag and handed it over to Bajji who then scurried away.

I am still struck by the violence of the episode.

Do such incidents happen every day? How long will Bajji, and others like him, survive these attacks and insults?

Or, was I over-reacting about something over which no other co-passenger worried?

Why did circumstances place me so close to such a harrowing event?

How should I respond if I were to find myself in such a situation again?

The film festival is curated by the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) India, and has travelled across India since November 2012. It is part of the One Billion Rising (OBR) campaign in India.

On Friday, Feb 22, a session from 4 pm –  7 pm will focus on gender, sexuality and violence, with the screening of three films and a panel discussion from 6pm – 7pm. The panel discussion will feature
L Ramakrishnan (facilitator), Aniruddhan Vasudevan and Revathi Radhakrishnan.

Admission is free and open to the public.

For more information, and to view the full list of films being screened during the film festival, visit Prajnya’s site here or look up the event’s Facebook page.

UN Report calls on governments to combat discrimination and violence against LGBTI people

Orinam joins queer communities and human rights organizations around the world in welcoming the release of the first ever United Nations report on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity. The report documents widespread discrimination and violence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people worldwide, and calls on countries to apply the international legal framework to end these human rights violations.

The mandate for the report came from the UN Human Rights Council, after South Africa took leadership on the issue by coordinating a resolution at the world human rights body in June. The call was supported by a majority of the Council, including countries from all UN regions.

The resolution itself built upon decades of unshakable advocacy by LGBT human rights defenders. It could not have materialized without the legacy of people claiming the right to be free from violence, discrimination and persecution, and the right to have voice and to organize without threats to security.

Whilst the publication of the report and the increased support for LGBT rights at the UN marks significant progress on these issues, human rights defenders also underlined the need for urgent action to stop the rapes, killings and everyday exclusion and ostracism occurring the world over, and highlighted in the report.

“The brutalities and indignities suffered by LGBT persons have finally been recognized as violations of the core principle of the UN Charter namely the universality of human rights”, said Arvind Narrain of the Alternative Law Forum in Bangalore. “The UN report reaffirms the decision of the Delhi High Court that criminal laws against consensual same-sex conduct are incompatible with international human rights norms.”

The report calls on all governments to implement their commitments and obligations under international law, by protecting the rights of all persons, regardless of their sexuality, gender identity or expression. As UN human rights chief Navanetham Pillay highlights in the report, this includes protection and recognition of the self-identified gender of trans persons. It also includes protection from violence, killings, torture and abuse, including at the hands of family and community-members. The report calls for decriminalization of same-sex relations between consenting adults, and granting asylum to LGBTI individuals at risk, while also emphasizing the importance of freedom of expression and assembly, and non-discrimination in accessing employment, health care and education.

“As a human rights challenge, countering discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity should be non-controversial”, the High Commissioner has stated. “We are not trying to create new rights or extend human rights into new, uncharted territory. What we are doing is insisting that all people are entitled to the same rights and to the equal protection of international human rights law.”

Video: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanetham Pillay speaks on the origins of LGBT debates in the UN

Pillay is expected to present the report to the Human Rights Council at its next scheduled meeting in March 2012.

For more information, contact us

Other useful contacts:

Fred Kirungi (Public Information Officer, OHCHR New York): kirungi@un.org. Tel. +1 917 367 3431

Rupert Colville (Public Information Officer, OHCHR Geneva): rcolville@ohchr.org. Tel. +41 22 917 9767

The report (document number A/HRC/19/41) is available to view here or download as pdf here.