Acknowledgments- Gurbani Kaur, Content Head, Hindu College Queer Collective
“It is absolutely imperative that every human being’s freedom and human rights are respected, all over the world,” said Jóhanna Sigurðardótti, Iceland’s first woman Prime Minister, at a Pride festival over seven years ago. Jóhanna Sigurðardótti was also openly gay.
To become the world’s first openly queer Head of Government is bound to invite unsolicited remarks from certain erudite (read: ignorant) cisgender ‘allies’, who feel that the LGBTQIA+ community is no longer a marginalised faction. After all, it’s the year 2021. All of their peers and relatives are no longer outright homophobic— at least not till their siblings or progeny come out of the closet.
Every year on December 10, there are outcries and protests with ‘seasonal’ activists typing in rage, from behind their laptop screens in a comfortably heated room, of how unjust the world is. Analogously, why is it that there seems to be a sudden rush of outrage and protests on social media regarding LGBTQIA+ rights every time June comes around?
Of course, it’s crucial to ensure that everyone gets their fundamental human rights, which is why we always appreciate it when large corporations and brands extend their support surrounding the related issues. But it would also be nice if they didn’t wait until the beginning of Pride Month before going back to ignoring these problems the rest of the year.
While we have certainly made huge strides in creating a tolerant world, are we really at the finish line yet?
The idea of ‘human rights’ has been around since as early as 539 B.C. when Cyrus the Great freed slaves in Babylon after conquering the beautiful city of Babylon. As inscribed on a clay cylinder, the decrees are considered to make up the world’s earliest charter of Human Rights. They served as the muse for the official U.N. Human Rights Charter.
It’s been centuries- we ought to have succeeded in creating an equal and just world by now, right?
As defined by the United Nations, Human Rights are the “rights we have simply because we exist as human beings – they are not granted by any state.” Then, which state passed the ordinance that queer people are not human beings? The last time I checked, my non-binary friend came out of a woman too, and so did I.
Along with some members of the Hindu College Queer Collective, I attended a conference on ‘Human Rights and The Impact of Covid-19’ in October this year at the India Islamic Culture Centre, Delhi. One of the speakers on the panel was Jamal Siddiqui, co-founder of the Transmen Collective, who spoke about the experiences of queer people during the pandemic.
While the entire country was ravaged by cases of Covid-19 with people scrounging for food in long queues, Jamal, like many other trans individuals, was kicked out of the line because of his identity. According to yet another group of prodigies (read: imbeciles), the coronavirus pandemic resulted from his religion and gender identity.
Perhaps, we shall express gratitude to them for giving transmen the position of God’s personal secretary, who were trusted with the hefty task of spreading a virus that could annihilate all queerphobic individuals from the world. This unfounded sense of homophobic panic shows how deep-rooted intolerance is in our community.
The pandemic brought with it the lockdown of many queer individuals to their oppressive households. Many who were not yet out of the closet felt suffocated, being confined to nothing less than prison and being forced to be someone they were not. The last couple of years saw countless fundraisers on social media started by community members who wished to run away from their families.
Coming back to the seemingly straightforward definition by the U.N., Human Rights range from “the most fundamental – the right to life – to those that make life worth living, such as the rights to food, education, work, health, and liberty.” According to a recent survey by The Trevor Project, 42% of the American LGBTQIA+ youth seriously considered ending their lives in the past 12 months.
INDIA: ⚕️Gender Minorities And Disabled Folks Have Mental Health Needs Too
Pakhi Daswani#mentalhealth / #TheAmericanDialogue https://t.co/486I60LYGg
— The American Dialogue (@AmericaDialogue) December 9, 2021
Tell me, is mental health not a consequential enough aspect of one’s life for its encroachment to be considered an infringement of fundamental human rights? Why are such violations not making it to the news unless it involves instances of straight-up homicide? What about people killed way before their hearts stop beating and their lungs cease to take in any more air? Are they not human enough?
While the world has scored many touchdowns in recognising intersectionality, our world is still nowhere near the summit of equal rights and opportunities for the LGBTQIA+ community. Till then, we must trek on.