At LGBT gala function, every face exudes pain

Aparna Banerji

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 2

About 100 odd members from the LGBT community cheer inside a pink pandal (marquee) while dancing to a peppy Punjabi number at a World AIDS Day function at the office of the Shaan Foundation in Jalandhar.

It is the rare occasion when the members of the community not only dress up, but speak out openly to each other and to the visitors from the other side of the spectrum on what makes them rare, unique and “women” and the discrimination they face for the same, because the world assumes they were born ‘men’.

While the CEO of the Shaan Foundation delivers an address from the microphone, the discourse is clearly addressed keeping in mind the orientation of the members, majority of whom are also sex workers. After lessons on using proper protection and care, as they go about their business, the projector beams the soulful speech of Canada Prime Minister (PM) Justin Trudeau’s legendary apology to the members of the LGBT community in Canada for the discrimination meted out to them and the jobs denied.

As the video ends, Deepak Rana, CEO, Shaan Foundation, remarks, “We can only dream that someday the Indian PM will also offer a similar solace to the members of the community within India.”

With over a 1,000 members of the LGBT community registered with Shaan Foundation’s Jalandhar office, the members in attendance share their joy, pain, achievements and nostalgia at a recent loss of friends to AIDS.

As transgenders and gays take to the podium to narrate the testimonies on their experiences which they have gone through ever since they came out of the closet, what ensues is mostly tales of years of discrimination and pain. The community also shares its tales of victory with members who have made it big at the state or international level.

Seema (name changed), 22, a homosexual sex worker and a dancer, who also performs at the functions, was initiated into this life over a decade ago when she was merely 10. She was assaulted with beer bottles by 18 men at the Jalandhar bus stand a year ago when she refused to oblige them. Leaving her for dead, they later forcibly acquired signatures from her when she was under treatment at the hospital. While a police complaint was made, she says she never got justice.

According to her, she was once raped by a bunch of men who left her unconscious. When she approached the police, she was told not to go out in night hours. Speaking from the podium, she boomed, “I’m a man but I discovered I have the spirit of a woman. I didn’t choose this life for myself, I didn’t want all the discrimination. But wherever we go, we’re made fun of, treated as lesser human beings. Now, I can only hope the world will treat me with dignity for who I am.”

Seema, who recently spent Rs 1 lakh for a breast implant that she got from Delhi, says, she only dreams of leaving her current occupation, a dignified job and having a partner some day. Pawan (17), a gay, also spoke about coming out of the closet recently and about seeking refuge as a make-up artist to garner acceptability among his parents, who, he says, are slowly warming up to him.

In the crowd of gay and MSM members, Kanika (name changed), 20, a transgender also sits with her partner. Both are college students and among the rare girls in the city who have mustered up the courage to announce they are lesbians. However, their families don’t know about it yet. Both intend to marry some day and have also discreetly attended the LGBT pride walk in Chandigarh without telling their families.