Voices from the margins

KOCHI: Around 25 activists took part in the seminar on the ‘Mapping and Building Solidarity of Sexual Minorities Issues’. It was jointly organised by Sangama and Pehchan Project at Kochi. “We have to work together,” says S Arul Durai of Sangama. “We will discuss our achievements and the challenges that we are facing.” Lawyer R Sandhya says, “As an individual, we have a lot of rights. But these rights are deliberately ignored by the police when it comes to sexual minorities. Many people have suffered harassment because of this. Attitudinal barriers can be crossed through sensitisation from the grassroots level to the judiciary.” Interestingly, apart from Section 377, which criminalises sexual activity between same-sex people and has been repealed by the Delhi High Court on July 2, 2009, “there is nothing in the Indian laws which promotes discrimination against sexual minorities,” says Sandhya. Deepa Vasudevan, of Sahayatrika, which works for lesbians and transgenders, says, “Kerala is a difficult place for transgenders, because there are no historical transgender communities. Sexual minorities live in a state of fear.  Unfortunately, in Kerala, there are strong views of gender. “You are either a man or a woman. Anybody in-between is not accepted.” Others who spoke included Manu J Krishnan, Project Officer of Marvel, a community-based organisation based in Kochi, Nagaraj, Dilfaraz, Manohar Elavarthi, Dilfaraz from Sangama, Bangalore and all members of sexual minority groups. A day earlier, there were sensitisation programmes staged for the auto-rickshaw drivers of Kochi and Pathnamthitta. “We are hoping to change their attitude over time,” says Durai.The seminar ended with the participants expressing the need to establish a platform for sexual minority rights in Kerala.