Resisting Stigma and Homophobia: Munishri Dharmesh Kumar's Response to the Experts, Bangalore Panchayat
Director: Jeevanandhan Rajendran
Duration: 00:08:08; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 356.698; Saturation: 0.074; Lightness: 0.236; Volume: 0.180; Cuts per Minute: 0.123; Words per Minute: 76.690
Summary: Action Plus, a network of 14 organisations working on HIV/AIDS in India, conducted a series of People’s Panchayats in 2009, which sought to understand people's battles against Stigma and Homophobia through the voices of survivors and resistors. The Panchayats sought to address the devaluation of livelihoods and life systems of entire communities of people who practice alternate sexualities, and the erosion of rights or dignity.
This series of People’s Panchayats was held in five cities in India. The first one was in Bangalore on January 28, 2009, the second in Hyderabad on February 6, 2009, the third in Chennai on March 21, 2009 and the fourth on April 11, 2009 in Pune. The fifth and final one was held in New Delhi on April 24, 2009.
Each of the Panchayats followed a similar structure. The interactive meetings were structured to have affected members from sexual minority communities share their personal experiences of living with stigma and homophobia. These were the deposers. Then the two-member expert panel shared their thoughts and ideas based on their experience in the field. The audience comprising of the general public, NGOs, media, opinion leaders and religious communities made their queries and comments at the end of the deposition. There was a brief audience interaction following which the jury or the panch gave its ‘verdict’.
In this video, Munishri Dharmesh Kumar, a member of the Bangalore Panch, shares his response to the testimonials of the experts. He covers several different topics in his response, including his views on sex, self-exploration and Indian culture. In addition, he complicates traditional understandings of transgender persons by addressing both the positive and negative ways in which they are viewed by society.
Bangalore
I am reminded of an incident which took place in the Ramayan. On an ocassion, King Dasharath sends a special gift for his wives but Kausalya received that gift a bit late. As it reached her late, she started thinking as to why she was being neglected. But the gift was sent with a Eunuch. She was happy that an exceptional gift was sent with an exceptional person. This means that even in those days, they had their own respect in society. Even today in India, it's not like as you all think. In many Indian communities, even today, they are considered a good omen. When a child birth takes place in a home, it is they who are honored first. It's not that all in the society look at them in the same way. But the problems need to be looked at from a different angle too. That's the biological perspective which is more important. Then comes the question of religion and society. Before getting to understand this, we need to understand the Indian culture. Unless we understand the perspective of religion, we may not be able to get what we expect from this society. We might be over assuming things. As far as the question of honor, there's no doubt about it. Now the question of authority. More than getting an education, getting it with honor is more important. You need to live with respect in your own family. These are the bigger issues which need to be tackled now.
People's Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Munishri Dharmesh Kumar, a member of the Bangalore Panch, shares his response to the testimonials of the experts. He covers several different topics in his response, including his views on sex, self-exploration and Indian culture. In addition, he complicates traditional understandings of transgender persons by addressing both the positive and negative ways in which they are viewed by society.
action plus
aids
bangalore;response
care
coalition
dharma
education
hiv
homophobia
kama
moksha
munishri dharmesh kumar
panchayat
people
resistance
rights
salvation
samaj
society
stigma
verdict
Bangalore, India
Bangalore
People's Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Munishri Dharmesh Kumar, a member of the Bangalore Panch, shares his response to the testimonials of the experts. He covers several different topics in his response, including his views on sex, self-exploration and Indian culture. In addition, he complicates traditional understandings of transgender persons by addressing both the positive and negative ways in which they are viewed by society.
Sex is not taboo in Indian culture. Sex is considered as one of the four basic things required for mankind. Everything has its own set of teachings behind it. Everything has been analyzed and preached in detail. All of that which looks taboo today was not so then. In those days, everything had been discussed frankly. First, we need to see why talking about sex has become so secretive now.
action plus
aids
bangalore;response
care
coalition
dharma
education
hiv
homophobia
kama
moksha
munishri dharmesh kumar
panchayat
people
resistance
rights
salvation
samaj
society
stigma
verdict
action plus
aids
bangalore;response
care
coalition
dharma
education
hiv
homophobia
kama
moksha
munishri dharmesh kumar
panchayat
people
resistance
rights
salvation
samaj
society
stigma
verdict
Bangalore
People's Panchayats on Resisting Stigma and Homophobia; Action Plus - a Coalition for Rights, Education and Care in HIV and AIDS. Munishri Dharmesh Kumar, a member of the Bangalore Panch, shares his response to the testimonials of the experts. He covers several different topics in his response, including his views on sex, self-exploration and Indian culture. In addition, he complicates traditional understandings of transgender persons by addressing both the positive and negative ways in which they are viewed by society.
What was considered most important in Indian culture was Self-Exploration. We're beyond the body that we carry. Our life does not end with this physical body. The body we have today will not be there after our death later. What lives beyond our death is our Soul which is shapeless. It's the quality of the Soul that we need to identify. We say that we have sex but what for, it's to enjoy. Why is sex given importance? Because its only through that development can happen. Sex is required for reproduction. But we need to understand the materialistic as well as the spiritual life. If you want to understand religion, then its the spiritualistic view that you take. When man tries to explore and understand himself, he gets so much of happiness inside him that there is no necessity of sex. He finds so much of happiness and contentment inside him that he does not want sex for himself to satisfy him. So this is the philosophy behind it. If you concentrate on the Indian tradition, its goal is to discover self. You need to identify yourself for enlightenment. One who has the complete inner development is the one who himself becomes God. Just like he understands himself, he understands the other too. Neither does he harass anyone nor does he do any sort of injustice. This is what is behind the Hindu religion and tradition. One should treat all the others equal. Jainism does not believe that someone created us from above and sent us here. Jainism believes that we are all part of a Universal system. If there's a deficiency in that system, it can be physical, mental or emotional. When deviating from normality, should look at it from multiple perspectives. We can solve many problems by doing so.
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