Smashing gender stereotypes & stigma, Tripura’s first pride rally sends out loud and clear message

The pride rally was organized by Swabhiman – Tripura LGBTQIA+ Collective, the first registered queer society of the state, and covered major public places across 5 kms. (Express phot by Debraj Deb)

“Nobody can throttle this human right. We want society to accept us as we are, whatever way we want to live and dress. We are not saying they should be compelled to accept us, rather we want everyone to accept us normally. We are just like everyone else. Our Constitution has also allowed gay relationships, gay marriages are allowed as well, adoptions are allowed, lesbian marriages are allowed. The acceptance at par with other states should come in Tripura as well,” Sneha Gupta Roy, the first openly trans-person in Tripura, said.

The pride rally was organized by Swabhiman – Tripura LGBTQIA+ Collective, the first registered queer society of the state, and covered major public places across 5 kms. Headed by Roy, the rally was crucial for more reasons than one, and sent out its message loud and clear – that the LGBTQIA+ community is gaining ground as more and more individuals with alternative sexual orientation step out of the shadows and identify themselves with dignity.

In a state like Tripura, where the government has a social security pension of Rs 1,000 a month for members of the queer community but no educational or job reservations, life is not easy for anyone with an alternative sexual orientation, say activists. (Express photo by Debraj Deb)

Representatives of transgender and queer communities from other states like Santa Khurai, secretary of All Manipur Nupu Manbi Association from Manipur, Shreoshi Ray from the Sappho for Equality, West Bengal, and other states joined the pride rally and said it reflected that the social psychology of Tripura is changing.

However, in a state like Tripura, where the government has a social security pension of Rs 1,000 a month for members of the queer community but no educational or job reservations, life is not easy for anyone with an alternative sexual orientation, say activists. The incident in January this year where four transgenders were arrested, allegedly stripped inside a police station and forced to sit on a stone-cold floor throughout the night itself showed there is still a lot of stigma attached to the idea of sexuality.

Speaking to indianexpress.com, Roy said the pride rally was meant to give the message that irrespective of gender and sexual preferences, everybody was a human being and had the right to live normally.

Terming the state government pro-development, the transgender leader said the authorities should take LGBTQIA+ individuals along in their development journey. “We don’t want social security pension. Like an official spoke at a recent meeting at Guwahati, transgenders are not beggars. What can we do with Rs 1,000 pension a month?” Roy said.

Roy pointed out that the central government has a rule that transgender welfare boards should be set up in every state. “We want to form or activate this board here. We want to get facilities like issuing trans-card, SMILE stipends offered by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, scholarships for higher education, and medical support if anyone seeks to undergo transformation through gender reassignment surgery,” she said.

Roy said they have over 300 members who have agreed to come out in public about their alternative sexual orientation, in localities where people, devoid of knowledge about LGBT communities, often stigmatise their lives.

Claiming that she came across a report – she failed to identify it – that said 37-39 per cent of people in Tripura are from the queer community, Roy said the figures did not reflect in public as many marry due to family pressure and eventually end up in split families.

“LGBTQ are increasing day by day. The reasons may be unknown. In case of bisexuals, it is literally impossible to know unless they admit it themselves,” Roy said, adding that this should be studied and understood instead of being stigmatised.

In January this year, four transgender individuals had a harrowing experience inside a police station where they were allegedly forced to strip after being arresting for cross-dressing. Later, the Tripura Police, in its defence, said that the allegations were “baseless”. The police said officials had received information that four people wearing “girls’ costumes” were roaming in the Battala and Melarmath area, demanding money from youths. The transgenders were arrested on the night of January 8 after they failed to give “satisfactory reply”, the police said.

An investigation later concluded that the allegations levelled by the trans-persons were baseless and a prosecution report was filed against one of them. The trans-persons, however, narrated their experience before the media and complained about violation of their rights.

Lawyers, artists, actors, activists, LGBTQIA+ individuals and cultural forums had then condemned the incident as “shameful”, saying it was a gross denial of transgender and human rights.

A senior Tripura Police official later said a report had been sought and advised the aggrieved people to appear before a police accountability commission or human rights authorities. Details of the action that followed are not known.