QAM 2010 - 2
Duration: 00:33:02; Aspect Ratio: 1.785:1; Hue: 293.629; Saturation: 0.042; Lightness: 0.347; Volume: 0.302; Cuts per Minute: 26.969; Words per Minute: 99.009
Summary: On 2 July 2009 the Delhi High Court passed a landmark judgment. Sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex had long been criminalised under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
Many people continue to hate and fear 'queers’. ‘Queer’ stands for all LGBTI people, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex, and for Hijra, Kothi, Panthi – all those who are not accepted by a society that recognises only two genders and considers only heterosexual relationships valid.
Besides, the Delhi High Court’s progressive judgment is being stridently opposed by religious fundamentalists of every hue, who proclaim that the queers lives and desires go against “Indian culture”, that they are “diseased”, and so on. Yet we have always been a part of society, and we have the same rights to equality and dignity that belong to every individual in this democracy.
The Queer wish to place our main demands before our government and our society:
* The 377 case will now be heard in the Supreme Court, hence our demand for this law to be read down continues.
* The Constitution must include provisions to deal with all discrimination on the grounds of sexuality or gender.
*Those amongst us who are transgendered are not recognised by society. Equal citizenship rights and opportunities should be extended to all who do not fit into either of the two categories of male and female.
* The medical establishment must be made aware of the reality of our lives and our needs, and cease all insensitive and cruel attempts to ‘cure’ us.
* Every individual is under tremendous pressure to marry a person of the opposite sex, as marriage is seen as a must in our society. We are launching a campaign against all such forced marriages.
* We call for an end to homophobia, biphobia and transphobia. We want freedom from violence and hate within families, in educational institutions, at places of work and in public spaces. We especially demand that fundamentalist forces stop abusing us and poisoning people’s minds against us.
Girgaum Chowpatty
Mumbai
Chowpatty
Lady in sari - Hello!... Hello!.... Is everyone here? Hello! Hello!
Crowd - Yes!
Lady in sari - I can't hear anything, absolutely nothing all I can hear is some 'pach pach pach pach'. Hello!
Crowd - Yes!
Lady in sari - Hello!
Crowd - Yes!
Lady in sari - Hello!
Crowd - Yes!
Lady in sari - So how did you like it?
Lady in sari - Hello!
Lady in sari - So how many people think it is over? And how many think it is still going on?
Lady in sari - Still going on, still going on!
Crowd - Our fight is still going on!
Lady in sari - Still going on, still going on!
Crowd - Our fight is still going on!
Lady in sari - Still going on, still going on!
Crowd - Our fight is still going on!
Lady in sari - There are a lot of people who are enemies of our love. Does everyone think that? Does anyone feel that way?
Crowd - Yes!
Lady in sari - There is no voice at all, I feel that all...................
Lady in sari - ..... who have gone to the Supreme court and who are against our freedom. And against our rights. Do you all feel that way?
Crowd - Yes!
Lady in sari - Do you feel that way?
Crowd - Yes!
Lady in sari - So then listen now what all is there.
Kaveri - In the Supreme Court there are approximately 19 SLP i.e. Special Leave Petitions, which have been filed against the judgement of the Delhi High Court regarding section 377.
Kaveri - And a lot of other things have been said in these 19 petitions.
Lady in sari - Again I want to tell everyone if everyone pays full attention to me and make today's day really meaningful then this programme can move forward.
Lady in sari - Please! Please! here there are some such voices which "Look at me" and "Not click my photo".........
Kaveri - Ok! Now after this what is said is " Its a disease but there is a way out". Its curable. Woo! and they say that such tendencies can be treated by yoga, pranayam and other meditation techniques.
Kaveri - So everybody Inhale. Exhale.
Lady in sari - Everybody has been told to inhale, from where is not been told. So we can't start it till then.
Lady in sari - Ok! So should we start now? Then Inhale. From your nose please. Ok inhale. No there is no noise of anyone breathing. Now slowly slowly exhale.
Lady in sari - Did you leave? Now we will continue.
Kaveri - Now is everyone better? Otherwise go to the doctor. Ok, so now....
Kaveri - Laxmi is getting ready and coming, last minute preparations.
- Laxmi you don't have get ready.
Laxmi - You correctly said I don't have to get ready and none of you also have to get ready because we have been born ready.
- (Crowds clapping).
Laxmi - Ohh! yes today feels so good and I am very sorry that I came so late. I was stuck in traffic, my father health.......
- Seeing you we forgive you.
Laxmi - Arre....... One minute. Press press press press. My kids are not looking at me but I am a young Maduri. Yes!
Laxmi - Today no matter how much we shout, how much we talk, but people are not listening like 19 petitions are there in the supreme court and Anand Grover also has spoken here.
Laxmi - And all the other people....Today we are just trying to say that we should unite and by one single judgement of the Delhi High Court our fight hasn't ended.
Laxmi - Definitely not ended, it has just begun. The Bombay gymkhana which is in front of you, here only I was asked to leave.
Laxmi - Even though in front of the entire media, society I am a celebrity but nothing like that.
Laxmi - I am a eunuch firstly and even before that this society who is looking at us from outside this boundary, we are better than them.
- ( Crowds clapping)
Laxmi - I remember that in the ministry of Arunachal Pradesh it was said that should eunuch be taken into the army?
Laxmi - Wait first at least listen to what I have to say. I said love for the nation, love for the nation is not based on sex.
Laxmi - A gay also has the same amount of love for the nation, a lesbian also has the same amount of love for the nation, a bisexual also has the same amount of love for the nation, a koti also has the same amount of love for the nation, a TG or Kinder.
Laxmi - No matter what we call ourselves first we are Indians and we love our country and the biggest thing we again.....even though we fight a lot within our house this we have seen in QAM.
Laxmi - No matter how much we fight........
Laxmi - Because today there is INFOSEM, ABCOM, Asia Pacific Trans gender is there.HAMSAFAR is there LIBIA is there, Street Sangama is there, Kindiguals are there...
Laxmi - When Bombay Gymkhana had the entire incident with me only 2 people came out to support me in such a big society.
Laxmi - One Aanad Grover and the other is Mr. Vikram Doctor. But I don't feel sorry about that.
Laxmi - Laxmi has sources so she fought but tomorrow if this happens to some eunuch standing on the road or some gay or some koti then we should all stay together.....
Laxmi - Laxmi with my entire capacity will do what ever needed. Tomorrow if you say Laxmi has to get naked and fight here that also I am ready to do because we want our rights.
Laxmi - And that right we will take. Thank you. I love you all.
Kaveri - Thank you Laxmi.... Some of us are not part of only queer rights movement, we take part in other movements also like .....
Kaveri - .... also walk with us and from the past 2 years also they are with us in the queer azadi marches. So some of them also will give us their solidarity statements in front of us.
Kaveri - So first there will be Sanovar. Sanovar is a human rights activist and she is also a feminist and is on the committee for Dr. Vinayak Sen, so would request her to please come.
Sanovar - Dear friends. I have always thought that.....I have gone to a lot of protests from the time I was small but there is so much fun in your community's protests which doesn't come in any other protest.
- ( Crowds clapping)
Sanovar - This is a very happy thing that the Delhi High court has given this decision but going to the supreme court and taking that judgement also is what we are hoping, this is one thing.
Sanovar - But there is another big task in front of us and that is among all the people, every worker, farmer, student,.............................................. mind should change about our community, your community.
Sanovar - And their thinking is old fashioned and they don't know what good people you are which I know because I have been with you for so many years.
Sanovar - So this is a very big task for all of us, you and me. The mindset of the people which belong to the working class needs to change.
Sanovar - Their thinking about us should change so that in our struggle we become one. In their struggles we take part and in our struggles they take part.
Sanovar - And in a proper way we should become a republic nation. ?..........................?
( Crowd clapping)
Kaveri - Thank you Sanovar next will be Franklyn. Franklyn is a member of the Trade Union Solidarity committee....
- Is already removed, Anand Grover has said in front of you when he was giving a speech about our country and its law. I only want that the journey that you have started should be successful and along with it to help you we can increase awareness in the society.
- And really like demistify their misconceptions about our community. Second thing is a lot of people have spoken a lot about love and ..........
- .... to make some more noise.
Kaveri - Thank you Neha.
Kaveri - Now we will...............
- When Jawaharlal Nehru is giving the decisions and the consulting consologist....
- ..... It is not like that. A bisexual is also an identity. The flag which is behind, that is a bisexual type of flag. The bisexuals are also part of the community which is true .........
- .. And I see people who are celebrating an independent Judicatory who have returned to us the right to live and to love people who ever we want to irrespective of their gender.
- Ok. Right here in this crowd is a true sense of equality is barely continued.........
- Ok. Now there will be one more person who will speak. So, some people from our community who live with HIV.
- And there is such a group whose name is PLHIV i.e. People Living With HIV. From that there is someone from a group called Sanjevani and he will also share somethings with us. So lets hear person from Sanjevani.
- Till now we heard a lot. We have come here for our rights. We have come here to fight. We have put this petition and we want to do more for our community.
- In our community LGBT's are one group but in that if I am gay, this is a difference right from the start....
- ..... That this person is gay from the beginning and over that he has HIV means he has definitely done something (wrong). He has done something because of which he has HIV.
- .........I came to know that in HAMSAFAR trust there is a male HIV group also then i started working in that.
- Today we have come here to fight for our rights. From the past 2 years we are walking together in the rally on 16th August. All the groups of Sanjevani, not only LGBT's but also those who are from the......................................... community they also are with us.
- They are not understood. For this I would like to thank the LGBT community a lot that they have given us this platform even though ........ with regard to us being HIV positive, firstly I am an MSM. I am part of the LGBT community and over that I am HIV positive.
- A lot of peoples thinking changes. The way they look at us changes but today I am proud to be HIV positive.
- Today I am very happy........... There are so many people here but can anyone look at me and say that I am HIV positive.
- No. But this negative and wrong thinking is still there in the community that every gay person...... their weight is less and they don't have any physique, so they have HIV.
- No, there are a lot of people like me who have come here. They have given me a lot of encouragement in my group so that we can stand in front of you, in front of our community, in front of the media, in front of the society.
-....... We also have the same issues as the common man.So I would only like ......... because you would like to see that from when I am saying that I am not alone.
- So along with me my group is also there. So I would like that you welcome them with a big round of applause.
- One big round of applause please.
- Thank you, Thank you.
- Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello!..
- A theme show whose name is 'Laga Chunri Me Dag'.
- Is everyone here? Please welcome them with a round of applause.
- Hello, for the elder I touch their feet and for the youngsters Salam Malekum. Ok.
- Ehh! Kiner Kasuri and Shan Boje. Kiner Kasuri and Shan Boje presents a theme show of eunuchs, ' Laga Chuneri Me Dag ','Laga Chuneri Me Dag.'
- Who am I? What is my identity? Who am I? What is my identity? I kept walking on this journey and the storms of sadness kept coming in this valley. Still I didn't lose courage and kept walking on this journey.
- I am a human being. I am a life. I am life and sacrifice. I am a curse. I am a curse and I am only a blessing.
- Hello! I am a eunuch but if my family, friends and society support me then I can become a mother.
- Smiling after troubles is life. Smiling after troubles is life. Smiling in sadness is also life. Smiling after troubles is life. Smiling in sadness is also life.In happiness what life have we lived.
- In happiness what life have we lived. Arre! in happiness what life have we lived? Celebrating forgetting sadness is also life. Jai ho!
- (Crowds cheering)
Man - .....Forcibly they have put me on stage. This is a very historic day for us and I am very happy that we have come here in such large numbers which is a very positive thing.
Man - Today only Vikram Doctor, where is Vikram Doctor? He has made a very nice article about which I would like to tell you.
Shalini - So Ehh! people this is the last bit and so here goes. Raise your hands and clap today and we want all of you to join in.
Shalini - Raise your hands and clap today friends, fellow queers, comrades. Let us raise our hands and clap today like we have never clapped before.
Shalini - Let us raise our arms and clap for the year it has been.
Shalini - Let us join our hands today for the year to come.
Crowd - (clapping)
Shalini - Let us clap today for the years of sorrow that have gone before us.
Crowd - (clapping)
Shalini - And the years that are going to come after and lets us clap the loudest for the joy within us and here.
Crowd - (Clapping and cheering).
Lady 1 - Come on lets us raise our hands and clap today like we have never clapped before. For this great year let us clap.For the years to come let us clap.
Lady 1 - For the struggle of the past few years and for the struggle of the coming years let us clap.
Crowd - (Clapping and cheering)
Shalini - Lets raise our hands and clap. Lets lift our arms and clap.
Lady 1 - For this struggle, effort, life, for equality lets us clap hands.
Shalini - And for freedom let us clap.
Lady 1 - And let us clap for all who are present here and also for those who are not here today.
( Crowd clapping).
Shalini - Let our claps today be claps for joy. Let us clap today, we clap for the anger. Let us clap, we clap for sorrow. Let us clap, we clap for struggle. Let us clap, we clap for expectations.
( Crowds cheering).
Lady 1 - Our claps are for happiness, for anger, for sorrow, for struggle, for our foundation and for our rebellion. Let us all clap our hands today in this joy that we are here today.
(Crowds clapping).
Shalini - Lets clap for all the lesbians.
Lady 1 - Lets clap for all the people who are present here today.
Shalini - Lets clap for all the lesbians.
Lady 1 - Lets clap for all the transgenders.
Shalini - Lets clap for all the gays.
Lady 1 - Lets clap for all the bisexual people.
Shalini - Lets clap for all the eunuchs.
Lady 1 - Lets clap for all inter-sex people.
Shalini - Lets clap for all the gender queers.
Lady 1 - Lets clap for all the queers.
Shalini - Lets clap for all the straight supporter friends.
Lady 1 - Lets clap for the families who support us.
Lady 1 - Lets clap for all the people who are present here today who believe in justice.
Shalini - Lets clap for each and every person who is come here.
Lady 1 - Lets clap for the support. Lets clap for love and strength. Lets clap for unity in our struggles.
Shalini - Lets clap for all those people today who couldn't come here today.
Shalini - Those friends who even though they wanted to couldn't come, lets clap for them also.
Lady 1 - Lets also clap for all of those people who can't recognize themselves.
Lady 1 - For those women who know within themselves and who think that they are different from everyone else.
Lady 1 - And lets clap for all those people. Come on people, we are proud to be gay.
Lady 1 - Lets clap in that anger that now we will stop this. Our freedom is guaranteed and we will win.
Shalini - Let us clap in protest. We will not be forced into marriages. We will not be named against our wills. We will not be..........
Lady 1 - Yes!
Shalini - Come lets clap in sadness for those people whose families killed them just because they dared to fall in love.
Shalini - For those who were forcibly put into hospitals just because they were different.
Shalini - And let us clap in solidarity. Let us clap in solidarity .........
Lady 1 - Lets clap louder. Lets clap with equality and let us clap with energy. Let us clap with strength.
Shalini - Let us clap so that the world hears this sound.
Lady 1 - Let us clap such that it resounds in every heart. Lets clap such that it is heard in every corner of the city............
Shalini - Friends, queer friends, comrades let us all clap.
Lady 1 - Freedom, freedom, queer freedom.
Shalini - Queer freedom, Zindabad!
Crowd - Zindabad! Zindabad!
Lady 1 - Zindabad! Zindabad!
Girl in white - Zindabad! Zindabad!
Man - 377 was a law which criminalized 2 consenting adults...
Reporter - I know you're trying to get out of here.
Lady - Ya!
Reporter - Tell us about the event. What the event was.
Shalini - Ok! I am Shalini from LIBIA which is a queer feminist collective, Bombay based since 1995....we've been in this city.
Shalini - And today we were here to celebrate one year of the judgement, 365 days without 377.
Shalini - So it is a celebration of the judgement of this one year and also a protest because the judgement is one step, its a very important step but there are many more things that we are fighting for and so we were doing both here today.
Reporter - And what do you think this means for India like, 10 years ago it wasn't like.....
Shalini - Things have changed and I don't think ten years ago we would have seen a celebration or protest like this.
Shalini - I think for so many people to be out here just, whether with mask or without was not such an easy proposition.
Shalini - There were some of us on the streets and fighting but you know that was just a small group of people but this is large and big and it is important and it is people from all walks of life.
Shalini - Not just people who are parts of groups but also individuals, people working in different things also people took a leave from their offices and were here so I think it was quite incredible.
Shalini - And what you find here is... what is also incredible is that you have the diversity of people from you know a diversity of genders, class, caste, you know all of that which is also important.
Reporter - And what does it mean for women, straight, gay, bisexual, queer, something like this to have happened in terms of us opening up to other sexuality and just being more spoken about......
Shalini - I think it is always important to have more and more space and any space to talk about sexuality......
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