September 6 will mark the second anniversary of the decriminalising of Section 377 by the Supreme Court. Chahak Mittal speaks to some activists to find out how, even though there’s still a lot to achieve, the LGBTQIA+ community has found freedom from humiliation, workplace opportunities and a new identity. And above all, it has found hope
We often use body language to judge and label people. And over time, we’ve stereotyped transgenders with their hand gestures, particularly a swaying, loud clap. This pejorative implication was first questioned and opposed by Indian transgender activist, Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi, who discouraged the use of this clap as an identity marker.
However, newer perceptions are transforming such negative connotations into something beautiful. A recent viral video on social media talked about the LGBTQ community and how it should not be ostracised. One of the lines in the documentary said, “Taali toh sab bajate hain par jab kinnar bajaye toh galat kyun?” There have been several campaigns, poetry, films and even performing arts which are now normalising transgenders in mainstream discourse but #ChangeTheClap has caught on like wildfire.
Activists believe that such a change has come about after the landmark judgement by the Supreme Court on Section 377, which decriminalised homosexuality. On September 6, the verdict will turn two years old.
Harish Iyer, Gay Rights Activist, appreciates the wider conversations on the subject. He says, “I come from a time when there weren’t many voices to raise awareness. The LGBTQ community never saw so much media attention around that time. We often saw the same faces circling again and again. When we’d go to colleges or schools for awareness and to speak about issues, there was only a bunch of common faces I saw. Now, I see a lot of new voices coming up, and they create awareness through many different ways — poetry, writings and performing arts. And that’s important.”
LGBTQ rights activist Mohnish Malhotra recalls that it was in 2009, when the Delhi High Court first struck down Section 377, that its draconian status began to diminish by a quantum leap. He says, “Up until then, this law was used by the authorities to blackmail, bully and extort the LGBTQIA+ community. After 2009 verdict, things began to change. Dr Ramachandran Siras’ case from Aligarh Muslim University is an excellent example. Since then, many individual stories have come out in the public eye and our LGBTQIA+ brothers and sisters found the courage to come out of the shadows and have chosen to ask for their due rights. The NALSA Judgment, that recognised the trans community as the third gender, also laid the foundation for a more inclusive future. Popular culture, cinema and television have also started to portray the community differently over the last few years.”
Mr Gay India 2014 and singer Sushant Divgikar feels that a surge of LGBT-friendly content on OTT platforms, films and television is a huge recognition. He feels that digital content is increasingly helping this acceptability and hence, his recent song, in collaboration with MTV Beats, Love-Duet, tries to normalise same-sex love and relationships. “I have stepped out of my comfort zone and created this song, which furthers the idea of oneness and equity.”
While looking at what has changed, one of the first things one should notice is the number of people who walked the pride marches without a mask on. Well, the verdict certainly made the community stop walking under the fear of being judged or looked at as a criminal. Since time immemorial, loving for them has just been a criminal activity and rights had no meaning for them. But now, they can fall in love freely. While the Bills and proceedings in the Parliament were pledging protection, the community was sighting freedom.
However, even though there have been many baby steps taken towards ensuring the community’s inclusion and recognition in the public sphere, a lot still needs to be done, point out experts.
“The verdict actually put the onus on the Government to ensure that the judgement is known by everybody and there is less discrimination. However, very little has moved towards that direction. I think there needs to be a widespread awareness and, especially, students need to be educated in schools and colleges about the LGBTQ community and the years of humiliation they’ve faced. There needs to be a psychological counselling for both the bullies and those who get bullied,” says Iyer.
Where did the phobia come from?
Sushant points out that homophobia and transphobia are still existing terms. “Section 377 was first introduced by the Britishers during the colonial period to further their divisive politics and break us down into smaller fragments of marginalised communities, which, unfortunately, we inherited and decided to keep long after we achieved Independence. It was a draconian piece of legislation showcasing the extremely narrow-minded thought process of the Britishers. So when the people of India say that homosexuality is a foreign import, I’d like to correct them and state this fact. I would like to tell them that Homophobia, in fact, is a foreign import! We have always celebrated sexual diversity until the Britishers came in and rained on our parade,” says he.
Work to be done on workplace
After the Transgender Protection Act 2019, many work opportunities have opened for the community. Mohnish says, “Certain state governments and corporates have opened up offers for employment to the members of the trans community,” mentioning the Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), which have been established to support LGBTQIA+ communities.
Amid the increasing workplace inclusivity, however, lies another major challenge — discrimination. LGBTQIA+ activist and writer Maya Sharma says, “Actually, workplaces are changing but these are formal sectors where the employer-employee relationship is visible and exists directly. But among working classes, the queer community mostly is employed in the informal sector, where discrimination widely exists. And it exists differently for different identities. Not to forget, the school drop-outs lack higher education. There are these small but many problems, which act as the barriers to growth. But I also believe, positive judgments strengthen one’s ability to survive if not live a fuller life as a legitimate citizen.”
For Iyer, “Every organisation should have a non-discriminatory clause. And its workplace harassment policy should include all genders, including the transgenders. That’s the need of the hour because trans people face the brunt of this everytime. There are trans men and women who get harassed and are asked for sexual favours by their bosses or seniors. And there is a whole range of transphobic and homophobic comments that are made regularly.”
Finding light at the end of the tunnel
Maya talks about the campaign, ‘Hum agar uthhe nahin toh... (If we do not rise),’ which is aimed at uniting voices against the targetted attacks on the Constitutional rights of the people of India. Women’s groups, LGBTQIA+ communities and human rights organisations are, today, organising this day of resistance to safeguard the Indian Constitution and its values, which will include a range of recent subjects — Expediting transgender inclusion in Gujarat, the new
National Education Policy, etc.
“We must realise that this is a process and to unlearn what we have been force-fed for more than a century, and have been conditioned to falsely accept, will take time to undo. We are in this together. When we say we are part of the society, we need to work ‘with’ the society and not against it. People are changing their rigid fallacies to actually understand queer people and respect us, which is a positive sign. I would only say, education is key,” says Sushant.
Mohnish is “an eternal optimist.” He says, “Having witnessed the 2009 Delhi High Court verdict and then losing that victory in 2013, I say we should start to cherish what we have at the moment. Many lives have been lost to homophobia, bullying and stigma — at the very least, the apex court has removed the criminal status quo of the LGBTQIA+ community. This is a first step to the long process of ensuring equal rights to all citizens granted by our Constitution. That said, the community is preparing the future road map to appeal the court again for more demands.”
Well, even though we can’t say how long this will take, however, the way 2018 verdict was delivered, it does indicate light at the end of this tunnel.
