Happy Monday!
If you're new - hello! If you're not - welcome back! We’re two queer journalists curating and writing about all things LGBTQIA+, from India and beyond.
First, some corrections in Franken Letter #2. For one, it went out on a Saturday, so the greeting of ‘Happy Thursday!’ made no sense - we’ll put that one down to a scheduling issue. But we also gave the wrong name for Shakuntala Devi’s book, The World of Homosexuals, and that really is unforgivable. It’s an important lesson for us as journalists, and we promise to do better in the future. We hope you enjoyed the rest of the letter, though!
There’s also mostly only one of us writing this week- the other person has suffered a deeply personal bereavement. So send some love their way if you can.
But we just passed Bisexual Visibility Week, and it’s Sexual Health Awareness Month. We’re celebrating these and the community spirit they can foster, to encourage us to look after each other.
On to this week’s stories, then…
And now, the news.
#InDepth: We’ve got a lot of stories surrounding the Hindu Marriage Act ruling.
A major hearing is coming up on October 21st at the Delhi High Court. It’s to see if same-sex marriages can be legalised under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
Most of the headlines ended up being about the fact that India’s Solicitor General said that same-sex marriage cannot be allowed because it’s ‘against our culture.’ People said that it was disappointing, given that it came right on the heels of the second anniversary of overturning the infamous Section 377 and it represents the government’s position, to an extent.
But there are other issues. For one, what about same-sex couple of other religions, or multiple religions, or no religion at all? Then again, Abhijit Iyer-Mitra was one of the petitioners, and clerics from multiple other major religions oppose it as well. And who else does this petition leave behind?
Secondly, while of course, it would be wonderful to get tax benefits while the state recognises a union officially, is marriage equality really the most urgent problem facing the Indian queer community right now? Would our energies be better directed towards alleviating poverty, for example, or workplace harassment, or ensuring individuals have access to inclusive medical insurance? There are so many structural barriers to overcome on an individual level.
We’re not sure if there’s a ‘right’ side of this debate. But it’s something to think about.
Speaking of inclusive insurance, Mondelez, the chocolate-making company, now offers inclusive health insurance for its employees! This includes live-in partners of all genders, from what we understand, as well as adoptive children.
In less cheering news, a couple in Shamli have requested police protection against their family members. They say their family threatened them with violence for living together. The district magistrate said they’re both adults who’re free to live wherever they want.
On the other hand, a senior police officer in Kolkata has been arrested for harassing a trans activist. If found guilty, inspector Abhishek Bhattacharya could be imprisoned for a maximum of three years, and possibly face departmental proceedings.
In other news, the International Emmy nominations are out and Arjun Mathur has got a nod for Best Actor, for his role of gay wedding planner Karan Mehta in the Amazon Prime web series Made in Heaven (LOVE it).
And actor Ayushmann Khurrana was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2020! We’ve talked about his role in the movie Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan before, which is a light-hearted 2020 Bollywood movie about a gay couple. His choice of portraying softer masculinities was one of the reasons he was chosen, said actor Deepika Padukone, who wrote the editorial about him.
Meanwhile in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar, a married man has been booked for ‘hiding’ his sexual orientation. According to his wife, he’s gay. His wife filed a police complaint of breach of trust against him, saying he allegedly threatened to kill her if she revealed his sexuality - in other words, outed him without his consent. The complex tragedies of heteronormativity haunt us every day.
Did you spot the Indian government’s Grindr debacle last week?! The Health department’s started a nutrition awareness programme on Twitter, which is focused on eating food according to colour groups. Except that they called it ‘Eating The Rainbow’.... And posted a video with a chat interface of something that looked suspiciously like Grindr. It went viral within minutes - we were one of the lucky few thousand who watched it happen in real time. Major oops!
Some policy news now. The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to set up a welfare board for trans people, with trans people on the panel. And well-known trans activist Akkai Padmashali has joined the Congress in Karnataka .
There’s good news for trans people in Kerala. The state government has increased the allowance amount that they can claim for gender reassignment surgeries. Beneficiaries can now get up to five lakhs.
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court to seek for specific protections for people of the ‘third gender’ against sexual assault under the Indian Penal Code. This term can refer to multiple non-cis communities.
And have you heard of the Manthithoppu Transgenders Milk Cooperative Society? It’s basically a dairy farm, run entirely by trans people in Tamil Nadu’s Kovilpatti. It might be the first official such co-operative, and reports say it’s doing quite well! The community now has its own village, and each member of the cooperative has a cow whose milk they sell to the state government.
In world news, former American Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died the week before last. The vacancy her death left could be filled by conservative nominee Amy Coney Barrett, and this could have major implications for queer people in the country. Many hard-fought legal battles that depend on specific interpretations of existing laws, rather than entirely new laws, could be under threat now. This includes protection of trans people in places of employment, marriage equality and abortion rights for people with a uterus.
#InDepth: Over in the UK, lots going on about trans rights.
We regret to say that J K Rowling has made yet another appearance in our newsletter. The author’s latest book is about a cis man who dresses as a woman to kill his victims.
This would be problematic at the best of times - think of how even cis drag queens would be perceived following such a book. But it becomes so much worse when you realise that most people, especially feminists, who object to the existence of trans women, actually think of them as cis men in dresses, as this tweet points out. They also refuse to believe that trans men can know their own mind and assert their own agency to self-identify as men.
This is because trans-exclusionary feminists and their allies tend to believe that trans identities in general, especially binary trans identities, are externally imposed through cosmetic measures, as opposed to being internal journeys of self-realisation.
This is a fundamental misunderstanding of what being trans or genderqueer or non-binary means, and there is plenty of literature out there to discuss this.
Instead of looking at this literature, and listening to the very people she is spouting opinions about, who are trying to explain this misunderstanding - Rowling has chosen to go ahead and write a book that could directly result in the demonisation of an already vulnerable group whose human rights are under attack, and then to profit off it.
This article does a great job of explaining why the book can directly endanger trans people’s lives. And we had reported before that a US Senator quoted her to block protections for trans people and other queer people; even Indian right-wing mouthpieces such as Op India have directly quoted her to drum up hate against trans people (we won’t link to it but you can google it).
The book has topped charts, by the way, helped no doubt by the controversy; so much for ‘cancel culture.’
Also in GB - the government has blocked a proposal to allow people to self-identify as trans. It’s after the British Medical Association backed the trans community to be able to self-identify as their preferred gender instead of having to medically transition. There’s more protection to the enby (non-binary) community though. An employment tribunal said that the UK’s Equality Act extends discrimination protections to non-binary and gender fluid people. It was in a ruling against Jaguar Land Rover in a case of employee harassment!
What We’re Into:
📣 This one’s for the writers - we’ve got a call for papers for a BOOK! It’s called Transgender India: Understanding Third Gender Identities and Experiences through the Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities. The deadline is to send in an abstract is October 1st, so hurry!
📣 A fellowship opportunity for Dalit queer people! The total stipend is Rs 30,000 and the last date to apply is October 15th.
📣 Want to make sure the job you’re heading into is inclusive? Check out this job board from Feminism in India, packed with opportunities.
📣 On a similar note, UK LGBTQIA charity Stonewall has released its annual global list of the most and the least queer-friendly employers of 2020! Check it out here.
👓 Want to brush up on your Indian queer history? Check out the Kolkata-based Dr Anindya Kar’s Instagram page, @lgbthistoryindia. There’s also @queerbrownhistory!
🎥 Ratched is the latest film from the Ryan Murphy queer-people’s-messed-up-backstories universe. We’ve heard mixed reviews and neither of us have managed to finish it yet, but maybe you’ll be more into it than us? Let us know!
🎥 We saw this review of the American small-town coming-of-age lesbian love story, The Half Of It, and it reminded us of how much we loved the movie. Beautiful shots, heart-rending music and solid acting!
🎥 This trailer of Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth’s new film called Supernova. It’s about a gay couple dealing with dementia.
♫ An album called Love Duets, that MTV says is India’s first album of love songs by the LGBTQIA+ community. Our absolute favourite is Jashnn-e-Bahaar. SO BEAUTIFUL.
♫ This v cute song called I Am Who I Am, featuring queer people from across India ;_;
📖 Need to cleanse yourself of She Who Must Not Be Named? Why not read this wonderful interview of the inimitable Judith Butler, author of the iconic treatise Gender Trouble, Maxine Elliot Professor of Comparative Literature at Berkeley. “My wager is that most feminists support trans rights and oppose all forms of transphobia. So I find it worrisome that suddenly the trans-exclusionary radical feminist position is understood as commonly accepted or even mainstream,” she says. We could honestly cry.
📖 This tribute to Betu Singh, a lesbian activist who created Sangini Trust, a queer NGO.
📖 This personal essay about body image issues among gay men in India.
📖 This essay about managing mental health while being a Dalit queer person.
📖 And this lovely National Geographic story about how queer people in rural America form their own networks to survive.
Rest in Power
This is in memory of those who lost their lives to hate, and also dedicated to those whose passing goes unreported by the media.
Vikram Singh Mewada and Dev Kuwar. (TW for link: repeated possible misgendering.) We’ve not been able to independently verify the content of this report and its language is problematic, but it suggests that Vikram and Dev were a queer couple in Madhya Pradesh. It adds that Dev tried to take their own life and Vikram attempted to save them, following which they both passed. It further suggests that the police refused to investigate because they’re ‘both dead.’
Mental Health Resources:
Sahaya Help Line: 080-223 0959
Operates: Only on Tuesdays and Fridays, 7 pm - 9 pm
Sappho Helpline: +91-9831518320
Operates: 10 am – 9 pm
Space: (toll-free tele-counselling helpline) 1800111015
Operates: 10 am - 6 pm every day.
A list of other places to call if you need help, clarity, or just someone to talk to.
A non-exhaustive list of queer+ve therapists in India bought out by Gaysi Family.
Amrutam is an Ayurvedic wellness community that also has a list of LGBTQIA+ therapists.
Donate to the community
Nazariya: A Queer Feminist Resource Group, an NGO by Delhi-based queer feminist activists, is raising funds to find safe homes for queer women and trans* persons. You can donate here.
Queer Quote of the Week:
Thank you for reading, and see you for our next letter!
Send in tips and stay in touch: queeringabout@gmail.com.