pride Archives - Page 2 of 3 - DU Beat - Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper

Dear Dad, What If You Were Gay?

By Kartik Chauhan June 28, 2019

Dear Dad answers a weirdly unexpected question, “What if your Father was gay?” Read on to find out more.

The movie comes to its objective point very quickly. Its protagonist, a man in his mid-thirties with a teenage son, a little daughter and a facade of a happy family is gay. He has been living a lie for years, closeted and pretending to conform to societal expectations, and the truth fumbles out of him during a road trip with his son.

Debutant director Tanuj Bhramar goes with this unprecedented story where most film makers would dare not. It is a father-son-bonding-on-a-road-trip trope used in an unconventional way.

They meet new people, explore new ideas, travel to picturesque locations, and visit childhood homes. With an impending secret blossoming, that Shivam’s beloved father Nitin is gay, and has finally decided to come out of the closet after living half his life pretending to be someone else, the narrative rushes with emotions.

The story ventures into exploring the idea of shame; how the supposedly modern teenage son cannot digest that his father identifies with the LGBTQ+ community. It takes him the whole journey to realise that his father’s true sexuality does not make him (Nitin) a different person. He is still the same, just a lot happier and comfortable in revealing to the world an essential truth about himself.

The best part is that the film doesn’t focus on questions like ‘why now?’, rather it highlights the reactions and changes in the relationship dynamics this revelation brings about. The interaction between Nitin and his paralysed old father at his childhood home is equal parts emotional and rational.

Arvind Swamy’s performance gives a heart-soaring touch to make Nitin’s character more real and sincere. His trials, tribulations, apprehensions and eventual relief are portrayed in a soft manner by Swamy which brings about a sense of sincerity into the story.

The film is not perfect, it tests your patience at parts and seems too slow, but it is worth watching for what it is trying to say. Bollywood is home to a handful of films that get representation right, and Dear Dad certainly is one of the few. There is nothing stereotypical about this closeted gay and his coming out story. So this pride month, maybe watch it with your friends to get a deeper understanding of what sexuality really means to a person.

Feature Image Credits: Debaangshu Sen for DU Beat

Sakshi Arora

Admissions 2019

Only One Transgender Applicant in 3.6 Lakh Applications to DU

By Kartik Chauhan June 25, 2019

With only one transgender applicant this year and no enrollments for regular courses since 2015, the University has had enough reminders to realise the plight of transgender students. DU Beat explores this decline.

University of Delhi (DU) receives the highest number of applications for various courses in the country, and this year was no different. The University received more than three lakh applications, though there was a decline from last year. 3,67,895 number of applications is no less a number, even as only 2,58,388 proceeded ahead and made payments. In all these applications, women yet again seemed to have become a majority, 84,021 female candidates and 68,457 male candidates applied to the University. Shockingly, only one transgender person has submitted an application this year as compared to last year, or 2017 when the university had 36 applications.

According to the data, the scheduled tribe category saw 4,044 male applicants and 3,056 female applicants. Over 17,000 male candidates and 16,000 female candidates had applied in the SC quota and about 32,926 male candidates and approximately 22,531 female candidates applied for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) non-creamy layer quota.

The newly introduced EWS (Economically Weaker Sections) that has a ten percent quota in the university admissions also had 5,528 male candidates and 3,562 female candidates. This year the varsity has increased its capacity to 62,000 number of seats. It has been stated that there would be a separate cut-off for the EWS category.

The fact that only one transgender student has applied is a huge warning to the varsity. There seems to be very liitle that the university has been able to do to make the college spaces safe for the transgender community. It seems that the stigma attached to the community has not yet gone away and a singular application speaks volumes in this regard. There have been cases of harassments faced by transgenders from other students and staff and that may have been the reason for this decline in approaching the university for admissions.

With incidents of transgender persons being asked, “Since when have you been a transgender person?” by the admission staff. Being subjected to derogatory remarks during the admissions, they tend to take up vocational courses and steer away from the University space.

Even though the TRC (Transgender Resource Centre), established in 2018 had come up with various outreach programs to bring more students to the University fold, they seem to have not yielded substantial results. These outreach programs had begun during the month of April this year.

Equal rights activist Harish Iyer said that he would be writing to the Chief Minister of Delhi about this issue. “If that one candidate seeks admission to a college of DU, the whole college and especially the teaching and the non-teaching staff have to ensure that the student feels at ease and accepted. The civil society has to come together to address the issue.” he stated.

According to officials, last year there were applications from transgender aspirants but no one enrolled for regular courses. The varsity had introduced the Other category in 2015, but there have been no admissions to the regular course under this category so far.

Rajesh from the Department of Adult Continuing Education and Extension said, “Around 15 transgender students had come to us with queries but they all had queries about School Of Open Learning and Indira Gandhi National Open University. They usually prefer to enrol as male or female in regular courses or for distance learning education.”

The University needs to gear up to make sure that more and more transgender students feel welcome in the college space. This year needs single registration needs to be a stern reminder for the same. It is all of us together who decide for us and others around us. Let us all try to accept each other and build a better future. Marks build your CV, not your character.

Feature Image Credits: The Indian Express

Stephen Mathew

joice.mathew [email protected]

Queer authors and poets to read this pride month

By DU Beat June 10, 2019

The pride month is here! A time where us queer folks gather in solidarity as big corporates indulge in ‘rainbow capitalism’. Here are 8 Asian authors you need to read this pride month.

Hoshang Merchant

Born in 1947 to a Zoroastrian family in Mumbai, Merchant studied in Los Angeles and Purdue. He is known as the first openly gay poet in Modern India. He edited India’s first gay anthology Yaraana: Gay Writing from India. Merchant is the author of 20 books of poetry and 4 critical studies. He even taught poetry and surrealism at the University of Hyderabad for more than two decades.

Akhil Katyal

Katyal is a New Delhi based poet, teacher and translator. His openly queer poetry revolves around cities and the remnants of the past. Katyal was an Asst. Professor at the Department of English of SGTB Khalsa College, Ramjas College and St. Stephens’ College, he even taught at the Shiv Nadar University. He currently teaches at Ambedkar University, Delhi. Katyal is best known for his collection of poems, How Many Countries does the Indus Cross? And his collection Night Charge Extra. He also translated Ravish Kumar’s collection of poems, Ishq Mein Shahar Hona (A city happens in love).

Sara Farizan

Iranian-American Sara Farizan is the author of the 2013 novel If You Could Be Mine, a novel set in Tehran, Iran revolving around two girls who fall in love. The book went on to win the Lamba Literary Award. Farizan wrote the novel after realising her own sexuality and the taboo around it, especially in the Persian Community. She is also the author of Here To Stay and Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel.

Aditi Angiras

Aditi Angiras is the founder of Bring Back The Poets, a spoken word poetry collective. She founded the collective in 2014, after her tryst with music, cinema and rap. Angiras is also a queer activist, intersectional feminist and a TED speaker. One of her notable poems is My Mad Girl’s Love Song based on Sylvia Plath’s poem Mad Girl’s Love Song. Angiras is also the co-editor along with Akhil Katyal of a digital anthology of South Asian queer poetry.

Vikram Seth

Author of A Suitable Boy and Mappings, a poetry collection, Seth is possibly one of the most well-known Indian writers of the English language. He is the author of 3 novels, 8 poetry collections and 1 childrens’ fiction book. In 2007, Seth became one of the voices against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. His mother, Leila Seth also refers to his sexuality in her memoir. In 2017, Seth was awarded the Makwan Prize for his queer activism.

Suniti Namjoshi

Born in 1941, Namjoshi is a poet and fabulist. She is best known for her book Feminist Fables. Her main influences are Virginia Woolf, Adrienne Rich and Kate Millett. She was also an activist for queer rights. Her work explores her lesbian identity and its definitions in a heteronormative world.

Saleem Kidwai

Kidwai is a medieval historian, queer rights activist and a translator. He taught history at Ramjas College, University of Delhi till 1993. He was one of India’s first academics to come out as queer. His work focuses on Urdu literature, the history of desire and courtesan culture. He is the co-editor of the book Same-Sex Love in India: Readings from Literature and History along with scholar Ruth Vanita.

Shyam Selvadurai

His name might ring familiar to the English hons students, Selvadurai is the critically-acclaimed author of Funny Boy, a story set in Sri Lanka, building up to the 1983 rights. Selvadurai also released an essay in 1997 titled Coming Out which spoke about the bias and discomfort him and his partner faced in Sri Lanka. He released his fourth novel in 2013, he also has a spider named after him.

Feature Image Credits: Live Mint

Jaishree Kumar

Features

My Brother…Nikhil: Revisiting the AID-less gay romance

By Shaurya Thapa June 7, 2019

Before Sonam Kapoor’s lesbian character in Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, before Dostana brought gay romance in a problematic/not so problematic light, there was Onir’s 2005 classic My Brother…Nikhil.

Written and directed by Onir (that director whose one or two offbeat film you might be knowing, it stars Sanjay Suri (that actor you might have seen in some film or the other but you don’t know his name) as Nikhil, a gay swimmer in Goa growing up in a cosy yet subtly problematic family. However, to his emotional aid, are his sister played by a not-so-fresh Juhi Chawla (that actress in many an SRK film) and his boyfriend Nigel played by a fresh Purab Kohli (that drummer guy in Rock On). My Brother…Nikhil has this and that person involved in it, and it might not be fully mainstream, but still it shouldn’t be seen as ‘that gay film’. It’s more than that.

When Nikhil is suddenly infected with AIDS, the people around him start shunning him. He gets detached from his swimming, his parents, and everything else. He’s basically aidless.

But unlike all the LGBTQ related films in India before (the lesbian drama Fire being a major example), Onir’s drama is not that intense. And the simplicity in its narrative is what makes My Brother…Nikhil a heart-warming watch for the family.

Previously, there were just arthouse films on gay couples that were quite disturbing in the effort to accurately show reality that the oppressed face in India. This U-rated movie is no art film. There aren’t any dramatic ‘Ma, I’m gay’ monologues either. But it still manages to hit the right spots with the subtle realities of the Indian setting in which it’s based.

Nikhil’s father loves his son more with toxic manhood rather than fatherhood. He frowns whenever Nikhil’s mum calls him a ‘little boy’. If Nikhil loses a competition, all he hears is ‘This because of your lafandar friends’. When his sweet mother asks him to marry a woman just because she respects elders, Nikhil sums up the millennial view by saying ‘Typical Indian parents’!

When the AIDS angle is introduced, we see the expected stigmas of people treating Nikhil like how any vile Brahman would treat a Dalit. They stay away from him and his ‘bad touch’. These scenes are shown in a straightforward manner, no rivers of tears flowing and no tragic violin music playing in background.

Simplicity is why the movie shines. That’s why wherever it tries to go a little extra be it with the sentiments or Juhi Chawla’s English accent, it fails. On the other hand, the scenes with the parents and Nikhil’s boyfriends flow smoothly.

Coming to the boyfriend, Onir beautifully shows an ordinary relationship between two men showing that they care for each other. There are no stereotypical tropes of Bollywood romance or any forced ‘special’ aspect to the bond. Onir, who himself came out of the closet a few years back, doesn’t make being gay some sort of special thing, not like other problematic representations which try to gain sympathy and nothing else.

Being gay is just being human, like everyone in society. For this reason, My Brother…Nikhil definitely deserves a watch. You can stream it on Netflix or Hotstar.

Featured Image Credits- My Brother Nikhil

Shaurya Singh Thapa

LQBTQ

An Ode to the Decriminalisation of Section 377

By Prachi Mehra September 24, 2018

Since 1978, the pride flag has undergone many changes in dimensions and hues but its message is still preserved as it flutters with the winds of change. The original rainbow pride flag had eight colours but has now adopted six, not seven, colors from the rainbow as its own. Accommodating different colours from the vibgyor spectrum only strengthens the status of the flag as an epitome of equality.

Violet is a shade which stands for the spirit. The movement wouldn’t have achieved success without an undying spirit of courage and the persistence to move forward.

Blue usually has mellow undertones but in the flag, the colour represents a sense of harmony and peace.

Green represents Nature. Mother Nature has created everyone with their unique characteristics and differences and accepting this diversity is exactly what the Pride movement stands for.

Yellow shows that a new dawn, a dawn of change would arrive as the sun rises. It represents sunlight, and in its truest sense, it encourages you to stand out instead of living in the shadows.

Orange is the shade of healing. Psychologists usually deem orange as one of the major colours associated with positivity.

Red is essentially seen as the shade of life. Additionally, it is a common fact that red represents rage, which can be interpreted as indignance against the system.

Shaurya Singh Thapa | [email protected]

DUB Speak

Third gender: A Pseudo-liberal Identity

By Radhika Boruah April 22, 2018

In 2014, Supreme Court birthed a legal identity for the kinnar population in our country — third gender. But, who are these ‘other’ people and how are they different from the rest?

Gender theory tells us that gender is a social construct and it is not binary. Gender can be understood as a continuum with ‘man’ and ‘woman’ on its extreme ends, so when the Supreme Court equates transgender people to ‘third gender’, it becomes problematic.

In calling all transgender people ‘third gender’ the Supreme Court has completely forgotten the right to self determination. While the subsequent NALSA judgement 2014 allowed said right but, the upcoming transgender rights bill is taking it away. Transgender people who prescribe to the binary of being either ‘man’ or ‘woman’ fight their entire lives to be seen as one. To place binary trans people as ‘third gender’ is discriminative and builds a wall of otherness, when they are men and women just as much. Defining gender by bodily functions does the exact opposite of looking forward, it entrenches us back into the patriarchy.

Excluding trans people from the binary resonates with exclusion of their problems from the narrative. While the population rejoices in the ‘apparent’ liberal decision of the supreme court, it is far away from it. Having an identity legally is not enough. Several questions remain unanswered. In what washrooms, security frisking points, hostels, and do the third gender people go – male or female? What if a particular place does not have issued guidelines for the ‘other’ gender people? These are just basic technicalities that remain ignored, not to say that the socio-welfare schemes seem to be luxury for transgender people.

What was the purpose of creating a new political identity? Was it fulfilled?
When the Supreme Court decided that “trans rights are human rights”, it was important to figure out what part of the demography was transgender. Moreover, in case the government decides to help the trans population, they must know how to locate them. In any case, subjugating a separate identity for trans people was not fruitful. Since the government doesn’t believe in self-determination, transgender people are issued certificates by psychiatrists that could have been used to count, locate, and target the concerned population. Moreover, ‘transgender’ could have been created as an OBC category. Apart from creating headlines, this political identity is the best (worst) example of patriarchal understanding of transgender people.

Feature Image Credits: The Hindu

Raabiya Tuteja
[email protected]

10th Delhi Queer Pride Parade in Photos

By DU Beat November 16, 2017

Barakhamba Road at Delhi seemed to have been transformed into a gay wonderland drenched in rainbow flags, colourful balloons, and intelligible slogans along with its cheerful and ‘gay’ crowd, as it witnessed the 10th edition of the Delhi Queer Pride Parade. The parade held on 12th November celebrated the queer community of our country and, more than that, pressed their manifesto demanding equal rights for the community.

Every year, the pride walk provides a platform for the LGBTQ+ community to rejoice in their queerness, while it is an avenue for straight allies to show their solidarity and support. Here are some captivating glimpses from the 10th Delhi Queer Pride Parade.

In dark times, we must stay strong. With this resonation, people across Delhi met to sing, dance, and celebrate in an attempt to create a safe space where voices were raised and freedom was demanded. The pride walk was dedicated to people across all sexualities and genders who face discrimination and violence in their lives.

The LGBTQ+ community majorly fights against the dated colonial laws, in particular Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 2013. Under the effect of this law, any consensual homosexual conduct between two adults is illegal and thus punishable. Being queer is often labelled as a choice and a lifestyle – here, an attendee of the pride walk raises a fitting reply to such schools of thought.

Since pride parades create a safe space for the queer community, they provide a stage for members to dress how they want to with no sort of judgment or enforcement of any gender rules and norms. This helps members of the queer community to raise their voice and be proud of themselves and their identity, especially because they are constantly branded as ‘outlandish’, ‘abnormal’, ‘meetha’, and ‘chhakka’ in their daily lives. To see them take pride in themselves in a stereotypical and orthodox society like ours speaks of the heights of their courage.

Though the Queer Pride Parade is held every year, each year it seems fresh and empowering for its people. This year, the march held from Barakhamba Road to Jantar Mantar saw a spree of engendering queer folks who seemed to say a big “screw you” to heteronormativity. While some sang and danced their queerness out, the others appreciated them and captured these liberating glimpses. What was even more delightful was that the police personnel stationed throughout the length of the path also appreciated the queer community.

While the queer community members live in the constant fear of being ostracised and even disowned by society and, moreover, by their own families, for one day, all fears are put aside and courage is mustered to come forward and openly be themselves. Protesting voices raise their claim to live with dignity and security. Love is love, irrespective of gender and sexuality. It should not matter whether it is homosexual, bisexual, transexual, asexual, pansexual, intersex, non-binary, genderqueer, or so on.

The rainbow walk ends in front of Jantar Mantar each year and here, the Delhi Queer Pride manifesto is read out. The true festivities begin with innumerable and lush performances. Attendees go home with aching cheeks from all the smiling and cheering they’ve done throughout the day.

While the LGBTQ+ folks are fighting for legal recognition, it is equally important that our social and cultural spaces are inclusive to the community and that the queer population is embraced as equal children of Mother India. Proper sensitisation and open discussion is necessary to raise knowledge and acceptance. Moreover, heteronormativity needs to be challenged and inclusivity needs to become the norm. Pride is a moment of celebration where the stigma and shame the queer community receives is rejected and everyone exists how they wish to, free of social expectations.

Satrangi Salam!

Image Credits: Ayush Chauhan and P.V. Purnima for DU Beat

Varoon Tuteja
[email protected]

Pride Despite Prejudice – A Look at LGBTQ Pride and Progress

By Vineeta Rana June 30, 2017

On 28 June 1969, LGBTQ people in New York initiated the violent Stonewall Riots to protest against the discrimination they faced as a community. They are often identified as the turning point in LGBTQ history as they led to the start of the gay liberation movement. A year later, on its anniversary, gay pride marches – the first of their kind – took place in four cities across the United States. Eventually, the movement grew and countries all around the world began to organise pride marches towards the end of June to commemorate the riots. Consequently, June came to be known as Pride month, with everyone wanting in on the action.

On 24 June 2016, the area around Stonewall Inn was declared a U.S. national monument, the first to have queer significance. In June of this year, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled the first LGBT Memorial in the U.S. This memorial will be placed in New York’s Hudson River Park and will be designed by Anthony Goicolea, a Brooklyn-based artist. The Governor established the LGBT Memorial Commission last year after the Orlando Pulse shooting which targeted 49 LGBTQ people.

595142031500004b1f9002e7 — Credits: Huffington Post

This is only one example of the way June is celebrated across the globe. Millions of people marched in support of LGBT rights and also held ‘resist’ marches in light of Trump’s actions. There is wide disparity in the actions of leaders around the world – two years ago, Barack Obama took a historic step to legalise same-sex marriage throughout the United States, while the current administration strives to undo all that progress and even refuses to acknowledge Pride month. Today itself, German legislators legalised same-sex marriage, while east European governments threaten their openly gay citizens. Taiwan became the first Asian country to legalise same-sex marriage earlier this year, while Indian political leaders continue to promote archaic ideologies on the matter of equality.

Nevertheless, there is plenty of reason to rejoice. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marched as an ally, the Greek Finance Minister showed his support at the parade in Athens, and Tel Aviv Pride was the biggest event of its kind in West Asia. Over three million people showed up in Sao Paulo, unafraid to be flamboyant and vibrant. People in Serbia and Ukraine marched despite protests and fears of retaliation. Landmarks around the world, such as the Empire State Building in New York, the Madrid City Hall, and the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi lit up in rainbow colours to support the cause.

We may be subject to discrimination all around the year, but this June has certainly been a celebratory month. Happy Pride!

Feature Image Credits: BuzzFeed LGBT

Vineeta Rana
[email protected]