This Friday several parts of the country saw members of transgender, queer and sexual minorities join hands with various other marginalized groups to protest against the NRC-CAA-NPR combined attack on the Indian constitution.
January 3, which marks the birth anniversary of reformer and anti-caste activist Savitribai Phule, witnessed protests in many places including Delhi, Calcutta, Bangalore, Bhopal, Ranchi, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Guntur, and Ahmedabad.
Transgender and queer communities suffer from discrimination and violence in various forms from the state, administration and even their families. Many have suffered violence and have been kicked out of their families for their gender identity. They oppose the citizen amendment law because of its discriminatory nature which many trans people already suffer.
Vivek Azad, a transman, who works for the transgender community said- “We are still fighting for our identity in this country and now we are being asked for papers to prove our citizenship, That is why are opposing this law,”.
He added- “Some of my documents were burnt by my family after I had an altercation with them. How do I get those back? Those who left their homes, like me, are fighting for our basic rights and existence. And now we are being made to fight for our citizenship too,”
The march in Delhi was called by nearly 50 women rights and transgender/queer groups including All India Network of sex workers, Telangana Hijra Intersex Trans Samiti, The Queer Muslim Project, Pink List, TransNow Collective, Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association, Basti Suraksha Manch, National Federation of Indian Women, National Hawker Federation among others.
Delhi being the capital has been the center of CAA-NRC protests for the past month, its the first time that trans and queer groups have raised their voices against the NRC-CAA.
Many transgenders also raised the issue of not having documents aligned to the names and gender of their choice. “Since transgender people are forced to leave their homes at a very early age and drop out of schools due to violence and transphobia, they don’t have the crucial documents,” said Pavel Sagolsem, a non-binary gender activist.
The sex workers in the protest also raised the concerns of documents that prove their identity owning to the nature of their work. Most often sex workers are trafficked from one city to another and have no documents to prove their identity or of their children.
The NRC is yet another example of a patriarchal society where children will be required to prove their father’s identity. Is then the government turning a blind eye to a mother’s relationship with her children, said President o All India Network of Sex Workers, Kusum.
NRC and CAA are discriminatory by excluding Muslims, as a trans-Muslim, they are doubly marginalized- says Lameeya Parveen of The Queer Muslim Project.
Rafiul Alom Rahman, the founder of The Queer Muslim Project which works to address intersectional issues affecting LGBTQI Muslims, said the government hasn’t even defined the term persecuted minorities.
Rahman, who hails from Assam, added a pan-India CAA-NRC would be a recipe for disaster. “Reports stated that around 2,000 transgender persons were left out of the final NRC in Assam.”
Upholding LGBTQ rights, around 500 people march from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar against the CAA-NRC, masculinist fascism and exclusionary politics. #antiCAA #antiCAA #LGBTQ #protest #Delhi #delhiprotests @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/OwMlDYPBCp
— Ananya Tiwari (@Ananyati) January 3, 2020
#IndiaAgainstCAA_NRC #IndiaAgainstCAA_NRC_NPR #MumbaiAgainstCAA #QueersAgainstCAA #LGBTQ2020 #lgbtqi #ProtestsAgainstCAA at Shivaji Park #dadar #bombay 3rd jan #2020NewYear pic.twitter.com/kPkFeKOrm0
— pawlyamorous (@mindonthemargin) January 4, 2020
Also Read: Why the transgender community is protesting against Transgender rights Bill?
