Hopes go up for LGBT people

The LGBT community in Bengaluru is closely following the newly re-constituted Constitution bench of the Supreme Court which began hearing petitions seeking the repealing of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The section criminalises "carnal inter­course against the order of nature" and thereby sexual relationships between persons of same sex.

Metrolife puts together the stories of five people from the LGBT community who say that they face discrimination at every step.

Treated like trash
Antara Pal, DJ and biker

"I am open about my lesbianism and I am lucky that my family has come to terms with it and stood by me. It took time, of course. The most challenging thing for me has been to face people at work. In the past, I would always get that hate vibe. I was always treated like trash. I was always the second option. I have been DJing for 10 years and I am open about my sexuality. I must say I have never buckled under pressure. I ask people to respect me for my work and not my personal life. I have worked in a corporate setup and faced discrimination where I was not invited to colleague hangouts. These actions may appear small, but they aren’t because you spend a lot of time with them. I hold biking events too. I know that my jobs will always be a challenge to carry forward. The fear of extortion looms large. Narrow-minded people want to scare you. I still remember when Section 377 was upheld in 2013, I was scared to go to a place that I used to visit every day. A good support system has helped me fight back."

Gave up studying
Yash Sharma, gay activist and co-founder member of Payana.

"I discovered my sexual orientation in Class 9. I am from a conservative family and they didn’t accept this. My point of humiliation was when close friends from school began teasing me. This created a lot of confusion in me. It disturbed me. My classmates started avoiding me. The most devastating moment was in my pre-university years. One of my friends got access to my diary and read it. He spread the word and openly mocked me. I couldn’t face my classmates and I had to discontinue my education because of the humiliation. On another occasion, I couldn’t apply for a job. I then joined an NGO that supports members of the LGBT community and I have been with them since."

Masked identity, why?
Anirudh Gupta, Co-founder of The Queer and Ally Network.

"Despite enjoying a certain degree of privilege, I am vulnerable to discrimination and ridicule. Family acceptance is not something that I can even conceive of, let alone strive towards. However, in my workplace, I like to be treated as an individual employee, free from the stigma of gender and sexual biases. That has unfortunately not always been the case. I used to work as a teacher in a private school. I was made to engage in a conversation with my principal about the way that I presented myself. I was asked to remove certain elements of my expression, such as eyeliner and nail polish, and cut my hair. The explanation was that as a man, I needed to present myself in a more stereotypically male fashion. I was deeply uncomfortable I had to choose between my gender expression and my profession. On another occasion, I was walking near my house past midnight and was stopped by the cops. They subjected me to verbal and slight physical harassment. Their questioning started with why I was walking about at that hour, and soon turned to my sexuality. At one point, fearing for my safety, when asked if I was gay, I told l them I wasn't. This was an incident when I had to lie about my identity. Why do I have to fear to disclose my identity?"

Stop discrimination
L Romal M Singh, Founder of QAMI

"I've naturalised differential treatment meted out to me so successfully that I need to think like a privileged straight man to even remember these situations. But I'm always painted as the person too weak to protect himself, to do any sort of manual labour, and as someone whose opinions don't matter. I'm happy I stopped being the gay man the world wanted me to be. That sadly is not the happy story for half the queer people I know. Most of them succumb to these daily discriminations, insults and jibes and live lives ridden with self-doubt and low self-esteem. Many also commit suicide. This has to stop. Nobody deserves this."

It’s a basic right
Sayantika Majumder, Queer spoken word poet

"I am not a cookie-cutter lesbian appearance stereotype. Whenever I come out as a lesbian to people, I am invariably told I have not met the "right man yet" and it’s "just a phase". Men even take it upon themselves to assure me they can "convert" me. Extremists go so far as to call me a sinner and cite Section 377 to call me a criminal. In college, a classmate refused to work on a project with me because her mother told her not to go to a lesbian’s house. Personally, I am very comfortable with PDA but whenever I go out with my girlfriend, our displays of affection are either met with a frown or with lecherous glances from men who sexualise lesbian intimacy to suit their fantasy. The lack of legal rights means I can’t marry my girlfriend who I intend to spend the rest of my life with. I always wanted to be a mother but the legal system denies us the right to co-parent. She says that she and her partner can't even open a joint bank account. “A bank recently told us we should fill the form as "sisters" if we wanted a joint account. Everytime we meet relatives or neighbours we have to pretend to be straight. Hiding such a major part of our identity takes a toll on self-esteem and mental health. I don’t want to live a lie. My sexual orientation should be my basic right.”

(As told to Nina C George)