Madras Week 2024: Queer in the city!

As we celebrate Madras Week, focussing on the city’s past, its present and its future, there is also a need to put the spotlight on communities that are as much a part of the city, but often discriminated or marginalised. One such community is the LGBTQAI+. With an aim to highlight the ways the LGBTQAI+ communities have succeeded in carving out spaces and identities in the city, Madras Musings is presenting Queering Madras, where prominent names like Meera Sundarajan, social development professional, L Ramakrishnan, advocate for queer and trans rights, Fred Rogers, volunteer with Orinam Collective, and Jaya, a trans activist and General Manager of Sahodaran, will be discussing the changes they have seen the city go through in terms of embracing/accepting the community and the challenges and work that lie ahead.

Meera Sundarajan, Social development professional

Chennai, as I see it, is an inclusive city, which is for men, women, and LGBTQAI+, and towards this end, we are further working upon. The government of Tamil Nadu has got two policies —one for transgenders and one for LGBTQ because their needs are different. The policies are a work in progress, where LGBTQAI+ and the others have been having a lot of stakeholder consultation. I have heard from the people involved in the policy making and friends in the queer community that discussions are on. So this is a very progressive step in terms of any government doing something like this because it means that you’re acknowledging that these are people who have needs, which the current policy space is not able to meet, and you’re working towards that.

Also, recently some members of the LGBTQAI+ community had put a request to the Corporation of Chennai, where I work, asking that on June 30 — Pride March, a building be lit up in the pride colours. On the face of it, it’s a very simple, straightforward request. But internally, there were some hesitation. However, the then GCC Commissioner and the Mayor jointly took a call on this, and for the first time in the country, a public building was lit up in pride colours! I see this as a very positive step.

At the event, I’m going to be talking about making the city an inclusive space. Chennai or Madras is a conservative city, but it’s very ironical that it has got a very forward thinking government in terms of policy making. So I would say that we are coming out of the shell, and I think going by the overall social movements in the state, we are probably more likely to accept these kind of marginalised groups into the fold.

L Ramakrishnan, Advocate for queer and trans rights

I bring the perspective of somebody who’s working in the NGO space. I work for a health and rights NGO called SAATHII, and we’ve been working on making healthcare providers understand about LGBTQIA healthcare and how the systems can be more inclusive.

Also, on one hand, there is probably greater visibility and awareness towards the LGBTQAI+ community, but there’s also more backlash happening, especially from social media. So some of those issues will be discussed. We will bring a variety of perspectives. Chennai has a reputation of being a cultural capital, and also of being very conservative. There’s a bit of truth to both of those. But despite that, it has been a city which has seen a lot of very progressive, probably more progressive than other parts of India, legal judgments, in terms of Tamil Nadu being the first state in the country that actually, way back in 2008, established a welfare board for the transgender people. So we question the idea of conservatism, and we will broaden our understanding of culture to include not just your Margazhi season and dance and cuisine and culinary diversity, but also diversity in terms of queer communities in the city.

Fred Rogers, Volunteer with Orinam Collective

I’m a man of trans experience, and I came out after birthing two kids. My ex spouse and I cited gender dysphoria as the reason for mutual consent divorce. And now we are co parenting. When it comes to queering spaces and how we as LGBTQAI community are in the city, I want to share my experience.  There are organisations and collectives like Orinam that have played a very pivotal role. While there is little bit of knowledge about trans people in general, there is very minimal knowledge about transmasculine persons. With the help of Orinam, we have sensitised a lot of people. We have spoken to medical professionals, and we have taken the route of advocacy, thereby leading to at least a few professionals being sensitive to the needs of trans masculine persons. I’ll be basically speaking about my journey and how we are co-parenting, and how educational institutions, for example, my children’s school is being inclusive, and a little bit about how much I struggled when I was living alone with my children and was seen as a perpetrator. I will also be speaking about my experiences with house hunting, and I would as well be covering about trans masculine persons and the violence faced by them.

Jaya, Trans activist and General Manager of Sahodaran

Sahodaran, one of the oldest LGBTQI organisation in Chennai was formed in the late 90s, and started by Sunil Menon, who’s a well known fashion designer and choreographer. I will be speaking about my journey working in this field over the years, and some of the trends I have seen. Such an event as Queering Madras is very important because even today, in this age and time, where we are exposed to so much, there are still misconceptions about the LGBTQAI+ community, more so about transmen. Most people know about lesbians, thanks to films like Fire, but they know nothing about transmen. They have these wrong ideas that gay men are paedophiles. Also, at school level, students who identify as gay or trans face a lot of abuse and bullying. So, there needs to be a lot more discussions, conversations and awareness regarding the community, their rights and about inclusivity.

August 21, 5.30 pm to 7 pm.

At Residency Towers, T Nagar.

Email: rupam@newindianexpress.com

X: @rupsjain