THE STATE OF LGBTQ+

Authored By – Ramneek Kaur

The state of LGBTQ

Introduction

Its 2024, LGBTQ+ is now widely accepted but still some countries and people are lacking their acceptance. If we specifically talk about India , we every time talk and taught about equality but still we choose to discriminate the LGBTQ+, not all but most of the people did not have tolerance and acceptance towards this community and not only in the society but these people are discriminated in their family only, their parents do not want them to see as the way they are born. The prejudice this community face once they are recognized as lesbian, gay, transgender led them to commit crime or involvement of themselves into illegal activities. This Article below provides a full study about LGBTQ+ community including all the good and bad these people go through and some standards of their Fidel acceptance.

What is LGBTQ+?

LGBTQ+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual ,transgender, homosexuals or queer identities. LGBTQ+ are people having different sexual attraction and desires than heterosexuals. These people have a disparate behavior to their appearance, with a personal perspective and divergent demeanor. In India LGBTQ+ are regarded as a distinct community known as Hijras, they are neither considered as men nor women , basically they do not have any specific gender , they describe themselves with pronouns and are considered as a third gender. LGBTQ+ is not an exhaustive community, it evolves with time , in regard with prevalent time we often can came across terms like intersection and asexual, these are addition to the community , that’s why a plus sign is preferred to be used after LGBTQIA+

History of LGBTQ+

LGBTQ+ is not a new concept, it is prevailing from ancient times and there are instances showing the relationship of homosexuals. In the sacred text, Bhagwada Purana, it is mentioned that Lord Shiva also saw Vishnu as Mohini and fell for him and their unification resulted in the birth of Lord Ayyappa. IN Medieval time. Allauddin Khilji, and his slave Malik Kafur was in a homosexual relationship. He was the most intelligent and faithful slave of Allauddin Khilji. In the contemporary period people do not believe in these things which results in disparities towards this community . The word Kinnar is most frequently used for them .Also there is another side of people who acknowledge them as people born with divine insights or who have veracity in predictions and seek for their blessings. It is also believed that if they do not bless someone happily or curse them , it can destroy their life.

Further insights on LGBTQ+

LGBTQ+ is a distinct community because people see them differently as compared to themselves and make an uncomfortable environment around them. The goal of LGBTQ+ community is to get legal recognition for which they are fighting from years and ultimately this step forced the government to take certain initiatives, additions and amendments. LGBTQ+ community have their own ally, in which anybody can take part regardless for their gender identity. These allies get fully updated with the issues that LGBTQ+ community is facing and speak up against discrimination amongst the community. In these allies everyone is treated and listened with utmost kindness irrespective of their past stories or what they facing right now.

Miseries faced by LGBTQ+

From the time a kid start behaving different from his/her appearance, the discrimination begins. The parents rather than accepting and treating their child as normal, give them discriminatory environment at home itself and believe as if they have committed any sin and got a child of this nature as a misfortune. The mentality society is having in the context of LGBTQ+ is beyond ridiculous. People from this community face discrimination, gibe, teasing anywhere they go, these people are not welcomed even if they try to mix in, this is the major reason why they are involved in illegal activities. At schools, colleges, public shops and even at healthcare centers they are not respected and treated worse than animals. They are not given any employment opportunities and due to high discrimination everywhere they cannot continue to practice their own hobby freely. If by chance they are provided with any jobs the wages they get is not even moderate. Recently, on Diwali 2023, Pranshu, a 16 year old queer, Self Taught makeup artist from Ujjain died by suicide following thousands of hate comments and homophobic remarks which abetted them to suicide. Also, in June 2023, TALI, a TV series by Sushmita Sen was released in which she changed her gender identity from Ganesh to Gauri and the discrimination she faced from her father to society is shown.

Way Forward

In Regard with LGBTQ+ government has come up with various initiatives and numerous judgments have also been pronounced to uplift the dignity and position of LGBTQ+ in the society. Let us elaborate all them briefly below:-

  • Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020
    • The Central Government made the rules under the powers conferred by the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.The Act came into effect on 10th January 2020, which is the first concrete step towards ensuring welfare of transgender persons. The rules seek to recognize the identity of transgenders and prohibit discrimination in the fields of education, employment, healthcare, holding or disposing of property, holding public or private office and access to and use of public services and benefits.
  • National Portal for Transgender Persons
    • It has been launched in consonance with the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020. It would help the transgenders in digitally applying for a certificate and identity card from anywhere in the country, thus preventing any physical interaction with officials.
  • Equal Opportunity Policy
    • Every establishment has been mandated to formulate an equal opportunity policy for transgender persons with certain specific information as prescribed under the law. This will help create inclusive establishments like inclusive education, etc. The process of inclusion also requires creation of infrastructure facilities like separate wards in hospitals and washrooms (unisex toilets).
  • Transgender Protection Cell
    • Every state government will also have to set up a Transgender Protection Cell under District Magistrate and Director General of Police to monitor offence against transgender persons.
  • Medical Care Facilities
    • The government has been mandated to set up separate Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) sero-surveillance centers to conduct sero-surveillance for transgender persons; provide for medical care facilities including sex reassignment surgery and hormonal therapy; and provide for coverage of medical expenses by a comprehensive insurance scheme for surgeries and other therapies.

In 2014, the Supreme Court of India, in the case of the National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India, established the foundation for the rights of transgender persons in India by recognizing ‘transgender’ as a ‘third gender’ and laying down several measures for prohibition of discrimination against transgender persons and protection of their rights.

In August 2018, the Supreme Court, in the case of Navtej singh johar v.Union Of India heard a curative petition against the ‘Koushal’ ruling. A five-judge Constitution Bench struck down IPC Section 377 to the extent that it criminalised homosexuality. The ‘Navtej’ ruling essentially said that the LGBTQ community is equal citizens and underlined that there cannot be discrimination in law based on sexual orientation and gender.

In 2023, the Supreme Court, in the case of Supriyo v. Union of India, held the difference between Right to marry and Right to choose a partner under the purview of Article 21. The Supreme Court grant refusal for legal recognition of same sex marriage under Special Marriage Act. All the five judges kept this decision to be taken by legislatures, along with that directed legislatures to form a committee who will work on the rights of LGBTQ+

Conclusion

By the following explanation it can be understood as to what is the position of LGBTQ+ community in the contemporary time. Even after taking initiatives by government the discrimination prevails in the society, to overcome this, we as a society need to change and not only just talk about equality, we should implement it whenever is needed, the initiatives introduced by government should be implemented by us. We should treat the community in a way that they feel comfortable to live in and make things normalize to that extend where everyone should live together with principle of equality and without any discrimination as stated in Article 14,15,16 of our Indian constitution and without any tag of different community.

References

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