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This July 2nd we celebrated queer pride keralam and walked the streets of Thrissur with joyfulness. There were placards, balloons, rain bow flags, color masks, slogans; more over there was an enthusiasm among the community like never before. As Anil, a fellow activist put it “I am wearing a mask today. But I am no longer going to use this. I am throwing my mask away, and I hope you do too. Come out of your masks and come together”. This statement was reflected in the march though many in the LGBT community here still prefer to live in closet.
When I write this it brings back memories of Kerala. Manju and Ragini the two queer women, who had to end their lives because of constant pressure, stigma and physical violence for being queer. They had campaigned in their neighborhood, house to house, with a popular Malayalam magazine’s medical advice column that mentioned in passing that ‘homosexuality is okay’. They were desperately trying to have some ‘legitimate’ proof for their right to existence, they were showing that it is not only them but there are others, using such material from everyday life to campaign for their rights. Did they succeed? Yes, they did. Kerala’s queer community remembers them and is in the path of a struggle, a movement for no discrimination and rights to all. It is not without sacrifices that queer movement in Keralam has reached this juncture. People paid for being different and asserting the right to be different. Many become silent, many went abroad or to other Indian cities, many lead the double life of heterosexual marriage and denial.
In our correspondence in the early years of this decade, poet Jayan.K.C and I had often agreed that it would not be possible for a gay person to live out and be proud being gay in Keralam in the near future. Gladly, we have been proved wrong. People are living their lives with a determination that Keralam has not seen before.
New Democratic Movement, a progressive collective From Kerala proclaimed solidarity to the pride march. Panchami Dalit Women’s Collective and VIBGYOR film collective were the few other non community groups joined hands with the march. Today the queer community has started actively engaging in dialogue with the other new social movements in Kerala. ‘Queers of the world unite’, ‘from silence to celebration’, ‘if I am a queer, so what?’, ‘my mind is burning for equal rights’ the slogans echoed the aspirations of a community no longer asking for acceptance or tolerance, but demanding equal rights. Queer people in Kerala are not asking merely for acceptance any more. They are in the process of a change, of accepting what they are and what they want, making alliances, creating resources, learning and unlearning their own histories and other histories.
There had also been private gatherings of people who could not make it to the pride march. We have received phone calls from many in the community expressing their solidarity and congratulations with apologies for not being able to make it. It is understandable since the majority of queer people are living a double life and there is a resistance from some quarters against visibility. But the young generation is not ready to accept a second class citizenship. The post 377 situation in Keralam is witnessing these emerging unapologetic voices of difference. They echo that freedom is not far and away, but here and now.
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July 17th, 2010 at 10:13 PM
Hi,
I think we should collect photographs of the Malayali queer men and women who had no option but to kill themselves. They should be considered as martyrs of our cause.. and we should organize memorial services… to remind ourselves and the rest of the world that many more of us would have ended like that.. but had narrow escapes, thanks to the efforts of the few who fought for us.
The hetro-patriarchal society did not give then a chance to live; now, it is our duty to make sure that they are not forgotten… They should continue to live, though us…
July 18th, 2010 at 7:44 PM
More power to love!
July 20th, 2010 at 10:13 AM
What a beautiful article. and very well written.
Congratulations on Gay Pride March for 2010. It seems obvious; but let us remember that THE WORD PRIDE IS THE OPPOSITE OF SHAME. As gay people we have all had enough shame in our lives. Let’s get rid of that shame and only live with PRIDE. It has been a long time comming; this gay/queer liberation for India. Indeed for the whole world. But it has come and it will continue to come. As we know; alot of homophobia is generational. Younger people have an easier time understanding gay people. They don’t have all of the “negative attitudes” regarding gay people that people over 25 can have. AND MANY TIMES DO HAVE.
I was in the first Gay Pride March in the world. In San Francisco, California, USA on the 29th of June of 1970. Their were less than 1,000 of us. (in 2010 their were almost 2 million people at the Gay Pride March in San Francisco) In 1970 their were FBI agents and San Francisco police , hidden on the roofs of buildings as we walked down Market Street. They had rifles and guns aimed at us. Ready to shoot. We did not care. We were honoring (and indeed all Gay Pride Marches honor) the gay men and lesbians that had been beaten up and killed at the Stonewall Gay Bar in Greenwich Village on the 29th of June, 1969. That is the day that the modern Gay Movement was started around the world.
I am an American who lives in Barcelona, Spain. I have been to India a couple of times. I love India. I remember when I first went to India with the actress and cookbook author, Madur Jaffrey. It was about 1975. Wonderful experience. But I could see the fear in gay mens eyes. Real fear for their lives.
So, we, all gay men and lesbians from all over the world must support our Indian brothers and sisters in their struggle and fight for equality. No more people should die because of their sexual preference. Not in India and not anywhere in the world.
“OUT OF THE CLOSETS AND INTO THE STREETS”. That is what Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician in San Francisco and in the world, said.
Fear is the worst enemy of gay people. Our own fear. The fear that straight and ignorant people have of us is easy to see. But what many straight people love seeing is our own fear Fear of ourselves and fear of them. It is like a drug for them.
But the fear that lies within us (as gay/queer people) we must get rid of that before straight people and our families and friends can accept us as whole , functioning and happy people.
My blessings and best wishes to all of you in Kerala and in all of India.
Remember; OUT OF THE CLOSETS AND INTO THE STREETS. It is the only way to live.
much love,
Billy Cross
Barcelona, Spain