LGBTQ community protests discrimination

JHINUK MAZUMDAR, TT, 04 Jan 2020, Calcutta: Hundreds of transgender and queer people, joined by hundreds of women of all ages, walked in the heart of Calcutta on Friday to protest against the way minorities were being treated in the country.

The carnival-like march drew as much attention for Rainbow flags and colourful outfits as it did for poignant posters and powerful slogans against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens.

A sense of being discriminated against or marginalised in an increasingly majoritarian society united the members of the LGBTQ {lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (or queer)}community and women from many walks of life and the rally surmounted several social barriers. A college teacher walked shoulder to shoulder with a sex worker, a home-maker, a student. The list would go on.

Roshana Karim, a 60-year old homemaker from Taltala, had never walked in protest in her life until a few days ago. But Friday's rally was her third in the past month. "This law not only harasses Muslims but is anti-women and anti-poor. This is what happens when (Nathuram) Godse worshippers are in the seat of power. It is our duty to protest," she said. With her walked another woman, about her age and with the same steely resolve against discrimination.

They carried the poster that said "your divisive policies have united usAmong those who walked were many who did not have a conventional family. If searching old family documents were difficult for any Indian, it would be doubly difficult for people like these, pointed out a rights activist. "Marginalised women -- sex workers, trafficked women, women with physical and cognitive disabilities, incarcerated women and landless women -- have taken to the streets. Many of them experienced severe trauma and violation by family members. Now, to prove citizenship through family lineage is so problematic," said Ratnaboli Ray.

"Many have survived through informal network, support and kinship. This whole CAA challenges that informality and kinship and puts the normative understanding of the family at centre," she added.

Anindya Hajra, founder of Pratyay Gender Trust and a transgender herself, was dismayed at the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill into a law in Parliament by ignoring the reservations of so many like her.

"So many transgenders were excluded from the NRC in Assam. We had made so many submissions about our reservations on the draft of the bill (CAB) which has been completely disregarded. People who decided on our lives and on our fate were not us. Someone else came and decided on behalf of us. So we reject this act completely," she told Metro, half soaked in the showers.

At least 19 lakh people have been excluded in the final NRC list in Assam. Around 2,000 of them are transgenders. Braving a gloomy sky, persistent drizzle and slush, the rally started from Shahid Minar around 4pm and walked till Hedua on Bidhan Sarani via Central Avenue.

As the rally walked, occupying one flank of Government Place East, slogans like Mohabbat Zindabad (Long hive love) and Jaan Qubool, Inquilab (My life to revolution) rent the evening air. Giant banners reading "we will resist" and "no human being is illegal" were held aloft.

A sex worker from Nadia, who keeps coming to Calcutta for work, said she was walking because the future of her children was at stake. "It is another thing that we, discarded by our families, will not be able to produce our documents. But our children are defined by their mothers' identity. Will they grow up in detention centres? I will fight this act till my last breathe," said the 47-year old woman..