Visibility of Queer Community in Hyderabad
Question:
Write a critique of a community-based approach to sustainable development featured in an article chosen by you from one of the following ejournals held in the USQ library.
The article “Radicalizing community development: the changing face of the Queer Movement in Hyderabal City” by Pushpesh Kumar (2017) has discussed the growing visibility of the homosexuality and the queer community. In 2009, the Delhi High Court decriminalized homosexuality and the LGBT actions. However, Supreme Court uphold the sections and overruled decriminalization by re-criminalizing LGBT activities. However, with the recent debate the visibility of the LGBT community has increased. The queer aspirations have intensified and people have become bolder in expecting their sexuality. Several trans-leaders have also emerged who have increased the radicalization of the queer movement in the city of Hyderabad. The queer movement has been popularized due to inclusion of the basic and the fundamental issues in the politics (Kumar, 2017). Several tactics and approaches have been used by the queer community and gay community.
The article has conducted the literature review and collected information through primary methods to explain the recent emergence of the gay community in the Hyderabad, India. The article has discussed the concept of human freedom for the LGBT community. It raises the question whether the freedom of queer citizens is merely access to the rights or questioning the structures, which limit the freedom of the humans (Dave, 2012).
The article sheds light on the radicalization of the LGBT Movement in Hyderabad. The radicalization is the phenomenon of adopting and spreading extreme views. The queer movement came into emergence after the transgender leadership, which has occupied significant space within the movement. Although culture has set some boundaries and made societal structures, there are still several forms of exploitation and violence uprooted in the system, in which the exploitation and the violence present in the state regulated and the economic systems cannot be ignored. There are several people present in the society, referred as ‘black drag queen prostitute’, who are exploited due to several factors such as gender, racial and sexual exclusions. However, these life situations cannot address the movements or homogenizing the category of queer people or articulating the differences between different homogenous categories (Bauer et al., 2014). The queer politics is based on the fundamental of material conditions of miseries with own community member and establishing a marginal distinction between gender and sexuality.
The queer or LGBT movement in Hyderabad is based on the conditions of the transgender prostitutes. These prostitutes belong to the low caste, subaltern classes and they are the most marginalized section of the society. The issue of trans-prostitutes has been highlighted with laborious mobilization and leadership of two trans-women and a transboy who have countered the efforts of various NGOs to counter LGBT movement. This movement has also discussed the issue of gay, lesbian and bisexual persons who do not reveal their true sexual orientation (Kumar, 2017).
The leadership of the movement has also tried to establish alliance with the dalit activists and feminists who have established an affective community of the oppressed people. The article has highlighted that LGBT movement has been inspired by the revolutionary verdict of the Supreme Court on transgender people. This verdict has made mandatory for the State governments to extend provide exclusive benefits to the transgender people which includes reservation benefits in education and employment. There is also provision for the trans-friendly health institutions. The article has focused on the transgender movement in Hyderabad; therefore, highlights the political developments in the city, which has supported the emergence of the LGBT movement. With the state benefits, several transgender people have emerged and embraced their sexuality in public. The attention and support of the government to the transgender community has also encouraged them to further fight for their rights and reservations. In 2014, the new state of Telangana was developed, and Hyderabad will serve as the capital of Telangana as well as Andhra Pradesh. The transgender groups have also participated in the demand of separate state of Telangana. The approval by the government has emboldened them to raise their demands. Similar to other backward and traditional social groups such as Muslims, Dalits and women, the transgender group has raised the demand for their empowerment.
Radicalization of the LGBT Movement in Hyderabad
The transgender mobilization has also highlighted the issue of exploitation and violence in the brothels. There are several exploitation issues occurring with the transgender tribe. It includes elimination or violence in these places, elimination of the local extortionist group, murders of the transgender population, reducing the brutality done by the police and locating the faces of the queer population and harassing them (Kumar, 2017).
The research article is divided in three sections. The first section provides a critical review of the literature review of LGBT movement in India and specifically in Hyderabad. The LGBT movement in Hyderabad has shifted from the donor-driven NGO supported movement to political and legal reform approach. There is also alliance with the uncontested elite gay community of India. The second part of the article has critically analyzed the transformation of the movement into radical political movement. It has been discussed that the movement has been transformed from the basic or fundamental perspective to transformational politics (Kumar, 2017). It is important that in the democratic community development process, the most oppressed community are provided privilege so that it can grow and become developed.
The researcher has collected the data through observation from Annual Queer Pride march in Hyderabad. The ideas were collected from discussions and an event collected from Pride march and the discussion is beneficial to understand the queer movement in the city. The researcher has also collected information from optional course taught at the University of Hyderabad. The course titled, society and sexuality highlights the contemporary issues before the LGBT community. Several activists from different communities have been interviewed to talk about their different walks of lives. Different members of community have been engaged to and interviewed for different questions related caste, religion and other movements. In addition to it, interviews have been conducted with several gay and lesbian person. Interview has been conducted with transgender activists and dalit activities (Kumar, 2017). Various questions asked are related to the queer themes, their oppression, and trans-critical consciousness. The interviews were conducted at separately at different places and through emails.
The article has highlighted the LGBT or the queer community became prominent in the late 1990s and 1980s. There were some notable developments due to various reasons such as the exposure to life abroad, diasporic connections, and the HIV/AIDS pandemics (The Hindu, 2016). Other than that, several other factors such as liberalization, globalization, and structural adjustment in India also promoted the development of global governance.
The globalization phenomenon has created two different culture. First, a sexual culture of consumption and pleasure will be developed which will be enjoyed by the privileged community. It is referred to as sexual minority; however, these people consider that mere legal reforms can better their lives in spite of the poverty, lack of care and other material comforts. It has been discussed that in India, all the LGBT and the gay movements are donor-driven. The NGOs remains focused on target, identifying the hotspots and distributing condoms to the NGOs.
The interview data collection method identified the perception and the forms of consciousness in the gay and LGBT movement in Hyderabad. There are two groups associated with the gay movement, namely, autonomous non-funded gay group and secondly, channeling activism towards the funding process. Both the groups have separate demands and
The transgender community has also demanded that there should be increased security for them. The government is not immediately responsive to the demands and requirements of the community; however, the media coverage and attention has brought these issues into the public realm.
The transgender sex-workers can be spotted at the public places and they are controlled by rowdies who can organize and control these transgender. These rowdies control the sex workers with the help of knives and other methods. They extort money for the sexual services. However, one of the sex-workers filed a case and the police arrested all the rowdies, which increased the freedom of these sex workers (Kumar, 2017). The increasing media visibility has also made it mandatory for the police officers to be more cautious when they interact with the media members.
The research article has highlighted that the internationalization and the sexual health initiatives manipulated the rights of the invisible community. The LGBT movements have also transformed the lives of transsexual sex-workers in Hyderabad (Kumar, 2017). These workers have made alliance with the dalits and feminists collectives, which has moved their concern at the center stage.
References
Bauer, J.E. et al. (2014). Special Issue on LGBT and Queer Studies: Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities (ISSN 0975-2935), Vol. VI, No. 1, 2014. Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities.
Dave, N.N. (2012). Queer Activism in India: A Story in the Anthropology of Ethics. Duke University Press.
Kumar, P. (2017). Radicalizing community development: the changing face of the Queer Movement in Hyderabad City. Community Development Journal 52(3), pp. 470–487.
The Hindu. (2016). Out in the open, they long for acceptance. The Hindu. Retrieved 20 December 2017 from https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/out-in-the-open-they-long-for-acceptance/article4375695.ece
The Times of India. (2017). Rainbow comes alive in Hyderabad as LGBT community marches for equality. Retrieved 20 December 2017 from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/rainbow-comes-alive-in-hyderabad-as-lgbt-community-marches-for-equality/articleshow/57240457.cms
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