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http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47877

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Q&A: "Every Work Form You Fill Asks Your Marital Status"

Q&A: "Every Work Form You Fill Asks Your Marital Status"
Ann Ninan interviews LESLEY ESTEVES, a queer activist

NEW DELHI, Jul 29 (IPS) - When the New Delhi High Court amended Article 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a colonial-era law which was used to criminalise consensual homosexual relationships, on Jul. 2, it was a "life-changing moment for me," says Lesley Esteves, a journalist and queer activist based in New Delhi.

For the first time, a constitutional authority spoke up "so forcefully for my community," she asserts.

The ruling applies to New Delhi, but it sets a precedent for the legal establishment across the country. Already, there are attempts being made by the religious right-wing and political parties to scuttle it.

IPS interviewed Esteves about being a queer woman, the judgement and heterosexuality in India.

IPS: The judgement on Article 377 is a victory for basic rights to privacy, non discrimination and liberty.

LESLEY ESTEVES: My community has lived under the shadow of criminalisation for 150 years. The only ‘crimes’ (we) committed were refusing to adhere to gender norms laid down by one section of our society - be it in dress, speech, behaviour or choice of sexual partner.

These norms were for long claimed to be sanctified by religion, the basis of their enforcement in law. These norms are nothing but prejudices, which ultimately aim to create unequal societies.

The writers of the Constitution of India hoped to prevent the prejudices of one set of the Indian people from oppressing another set of people, and they wrote the protections into law through the Fundamental Rights available to all Indians. The Delhi High Court upheld that spirit of inclusiveness and tolerance for diversity, by effectively agreeing that Section 377 could no longer be used as a tool of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

IPS: What would you say about patriarchy and being queer in India?

LE: A queer person is quite simply defined as any person who falls outside of, and foul of, the patriarchal notions of family and gender roles.

That's why we use the word 'queer', which is a much broader term than gay or LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender). This challenge marginalises not only gay and transgender people, but also single women, single men, straight couples who want to live together and not get married, straight people who reject unequal marriage laws, straight people who reject conventional gender roles, etc.

The way that conventional marriage operates, especially in the Indian context, seems to be more about resource preservation and applying privileges of citizenship to only one set of people, than about a relationship.

This is seen in how most faiths, law and government regulations recognise only one family system. Only a marriage involving one man with one woman can be sanctified and accorded protection from social or economic discrimination.

The queer struggle is to end this hegemony, and to enable equality for all kinds of consensual relationships, family structures and gender behaviours. It is a struggle closely reflected in the issues the women's movement also grapples with. Therefore, in metro cities like Delhi, Bombay, Lucknow and Calcutta, you notice partnerships between queer rights and women's rights groups.

IPS: Can you tell me a little about yourself.

LE: I have been open about my sexual identity since the age of 15, when my parents discovered I was gay. In the workplace, I wish I could have chosen otherwise, but I never wanted to be counted as heterosexual.

It’s not evident to most how much heterosexuality hegemonises the discourse in the workplace. Every work form you fill asks your marital status; every colleague you meet asks the same question.

And of course, some colleagues have access to facilities that I don’t. I can’t claim medical benefits for my partner under company schemes, the way they do for their spouses.

One of my very first jobs was that of a sales person for email in Bombay. Those were the days when email was a product to be sold! They asked me to leave after a couple of weeks because I refused to change the way I dress. They wanted me to dress ‘more like a woman’. My mother told me, let nobody ever tell you how you can and can’t dress. So I chose to quit instead.

IPS: Will the ruling open a small window even for queer women outside metro India, in less anonymous towns and smaller cities.

LE: Women from all social contexts and classes in India have been trying to carve out queer existences, whether in the village or by migrating towards the big cities where there are greater chances of community support.

In Delhi and Mumbai, often we have had to support couples escaping family pressure in interior Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana. We fully expect such cases to rise, now that the court has sent a message to queer Indians that the courts can and will uphold their rights. (END/2009)

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Monday, July 27, 2009

Low response expected for Aug 16 Mumbai gay parade

Low response expected for Aug 16 gay parade

By: Varun Singh

Date: 2009-07-26

Place: Mumbai

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2009/jul/260709-August-16th-gay-pride-parade-low-response-Mumbai-news.htm

Activists say that the Gay parade scheduled for August 16 will not see a surge in response despite the recent Delhi High Court ruling. About 1,000 gays including supporters, activists and people from other metros like Bangalore, Delhi and Kolkata are expected to participate. Others will stay indoors because of the perceived stigma attached to the word gay.

Celebrations in Bombay just after the HC ruling Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

About 600 people from the gay community and their supporters gathered to be a part of last year's gay parade.

Pallav Patankar, one of the organisers and the trustee of Humsafar Trust, said that this year's crowd would be 1,000-strong. "There are fears that they might be targeted and that religious groups might create a problem," said Patankar.

People from the gay community say that the Delhi gay parade was threatened by a right wing group; this might have an adverse affect on Mumbaikars.

Jasmeer Thakur of Samabhawana Society argues that media mostly talk about gays and lesbians in a sexual content. "Most gays stay away because they are portrayed as transgender. A gay is also a regular 9 to 5 man who will soon come out after everyone behaves sensibly, including the media and religious gurus. If all this is tackled, the parades will see a surge."

However, activists like Geeta Kumana of Aanchal, that works with lesbians, even thousand is a good number.

Vikram Phukan, editor of Bombay Dost, claims the numbers will be larger. "We still have three weeks and if it is publicised properly, there will be a good count."

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Alternative sexuality is latest literary subject: Neel Mukherjee

Alternative sexuality is latest literary subject: Neel Mukherjee 2009-07-26 12:31:00

Writer-reviewer Neel Mukherjee, the joint winner of the Vodafone-Crossword Books Award 2008 along with novelist Amitav Ghosh, feels that writings on alternative sexuality are gradually coming out of the closet in India.

'I would like to believe it (writing freely about alternative sexuality) is a trend in India. The English-educated urban centres are seeing liberalism. It's a good thing. I consciously wanted to have a gay protagonist in my novel,' Mukherjee told IANS on phone from Mumbai.

His book 'Past Continuous' -- the saga of a lonely young gay man who flees a miserable life in Kolkata to the freedom of Britain -- won the Vodafone-Crossword award in the best English fiction category along with Ghosh's 'Sea of Poppies' Thursday.

The London-based author, who has made Britain his home for the last 17 years, feels that a lot has been written about alternative sexuality in India, but society is still not comfortable with such relationships.

'Gay activist Salim Kidwai has written an important book ('Same Sex Love in India'), though it is not fiction. Penguin has published its anthologies of gay and lesbian writings and publishers like Kali and Zubaan will soon take the lead in lesbian writing. A lot of things are going on in India about rights, equality and Article 377, which was so long in the background.

'But personally, England kind of liberated me into writing so openly about homosexuality. In India, there is still the cultural air (conventions) that you breathe,' Mukherjee said.

The 38-year old writer, who has been educated in Kolkata (Jadavpur University) , Oxford and Cambridge, shot to fame as a fiction reviewer for The Times, London, and Time Magazine-Asia. He is also a contributing editor for The Boston Review.

'The fiction reviews keep me going though I have cut down on the numbers. It is difficult to describe a book in 400 words these days. It just becomes soundbytes,' says Mukherjee.

His novel is about an orphan called Ritwik Ghosh, who grows up in the bylanes of south Kolkata amid a crowd of suspicious and nosy relatives.

He escapes to Oxford on a scholarship, but grows up suddenly as he discovers his true self and chooses to be an illegal gay wanderer on the streets of London and in its public toilets.

Mukherjee also touches upon issues of illegal immigrants, corporal punishment and aggressive mother and child bonds -- and brings Ritwik in contact with a senile old Englishwoman, Anne Cameron, who journeys to India to delve into the shared colonial legacy of India and Britain.

'I poured my heart into creating Anne Cameron. She has suffered so much and the character Ritwik has a lot of me in him. I love imagining other people's lives and stepping into their minds. I wanted a lot of outsiders and loners in my book -- who are alienated,' said Mukherjee, who also lost his parents like his protagonist.

Mukherjee started writing the book in 2001 after a course in creative writing at the University of East Anglia.

'But it took a long time for the book to be published. In 2003-2004, Shruti Devi of Picador India picked up the book and it was finally released in January 2008. The book, however, sold quite late last year,' Mukherjee said.

His British publishers Constable & Robinson will bring out the book in early 2010 under a new title 'A Life Apart'.

Although the protagonist of his novel is a Bengali from Kolkata, Mukherjee himself is an unlikely Bengali.

'I don't feel like going back to Kolkata -- it's too crowded. The only thing I miss are Satyajit Ray's books ('Feluda' and 'Professor Shanku' series). He was probably one of the greatest writers of our childhood,' says Mukherjee.

He insists that his only connect with Bengal 'is the proficiency in Bengali language and its cuisine' but his next novel is also set in Kolkata.

'I can cook almost all kinds of Bengali food. I think Bengali food is international,' says the writer, whose hobbies are cooking and reading.

Mukherjee's favourite authors are 'lesser known, like American writers James Salter, Richard Yates and William Maxwell; Mohammed Hanif of Pakistan and the Norwegian writer Per Petterson'.

(Madhusree Chatterjee can be contacted at madhu.c@ians.in)

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