“Oh! You have got a nice new wig and high heel shoes. You totally look like a star,” comments one of her friends as Sana walks into the Hassan Marikkar Hall here on Saturday evening.
She sashays around the group for a while, greets her friends and settles down. The Queer Pride Keralam march has just arrived here from Manaveeyam Veedhi, after dipping the city in rainbow.
Sana, who hails from Poonthura, juggles several things in her packed schedule. In the morning, she takes tuition classes in zoology, botany and mathematics.
In the later part of the day, she works as a field officer for a transgender rights organisation. Most weekends, she travels to different parts of the State to organise and participate in cultural programmes for transgender people.
“I realised I am a transgender back when I was 13 or 14. Thankfully, my family was ready to accept me as I am. But, the conservative society in the coastal area kept me away from everything. But, much has changed in the past seven years, since I became involved with the larger community of transgenders. Now, people in my locality respect me for what I do. They even send their children to me for tuition classes,” says Sana.
When she is not participating in such events, she dresses in men’s clothing and goes by the name Suni.
“I got married last year. It was an arranged marriage. She agreed to it after knowing my whole story,” she says.
The sixth edition of the Queer Pride Keralam march witnessed several members of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community coming together to make a loud proclamation of their rights. Among those who gathered in solidarity were film-makers, writers, activists, and people from all walks of life.
Jayan Cherian, director of the film Papilio Buddha , travelled all the way from New York to participate in the rally. He is working on a new film KaBodyscapes, which deals with LGBT issues.
“It is a shame that none of the mainstream parties have come out in a major way supporting the rights of sexual minorities. With the kind of conservative leadership at the top of even supposedly liberal parties, such support would not go beyond a mention in the manifesto,” he says.
A group of 35 from Chennai under the banner of ‘Chennai Dosth’ added much colour and vigour to the rally. Also in support was gaybombay.org, a gay support group from Mumbai. J.W. Prakash, a priest at the LMS Church, who works closely with the community, was another presence at the march.
Reservation sought
Smiley Vidya, a transgender activist from Karnataka and author of I am Vidya put forward the idea of reservation for transgenders.
“I can’t stand the term third gender. Who is the first gender then?” she asks.
Sabriye Tenberken, founder of Kanthari International, said that Kerala which boasted 100 per cent literacy should have been a trailblazer in showing the world how important it was to be tolerant, just and equal.
Much more than loud slogans, the Queer Pride March was a happy get-together, with singing, dancing and merrymaking, where boundaries of gender and colour vanished, into the all encompassing rainbow.
