QueerFest coverage in the Times of India

Film festival puts spotlight on alternate sexuality
Atul Sethi | TNN

New Delhi: The lights dim as the screen comes alive at Siddhartha Hall in Max Mueller Bhawan, venue of the Nigah Queer Fest film screening. With one short film after another on the screen depicting facets of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community, the audience is hooked.

There are nods of assent as Vidya and Angel Glady, transgenders living in a small town of Tamil Nadu, pursue their quest for an identity in B Ilangovan’s film, Creatures. There are gasps when Andy and Harry, two urban males in big-town India, engage in intense lovemaking, in Amen. And there is laughter when Andy — about to get engaged to a girl and asked by his partner Harry whether he enjoys sex equally with her — replies with a straight face, ‘‘I don’t believe in pre-marital sex.’’

The films reflect the diversity of issues that the community continues to face — from social prejudices to the predicament of acknowledging their sexuality. At the Queer Fest, now in its fourth year, the celebration of queerness is unfurling with a plethora of events that range from

visual arts exhibitions to photography workshops and book launches.

The visual arts exhibit focuses on the theme of freedom, taking a cue from the Delhi High Court ruling last year, that Sec 377 of the Indian Penal Code was unconstitutional. Photography workshop too is exploring the same issues. It is conducted by photographer Sunil Gupta, who raised curiosity levels when he disclosed at a panel discussion that while he was growing up in Delhi in the 50s, the icon of the gay community was actress Meena Kumari!

In the next few days, films on male bonding, unravelling identities, religion and sexuality will be screened at the fest. Mario D’Penah, curator of the film schedule says ‘‘the fest will end with a bang, with The Big Gay Musical on December 5.’’

Apart from events and workshops, the fest has offered the queer community scope for some soul searching. Gay activist and co-ordinator of the fest Gautam Bhan says it’s now time to look at the queer community beyond their sexuality. ‘‘As Indians, we have multiple identities defined by gender, religion, language, region, caste and class. We cannot talk about equal rights for the queer unless the understanding comes that our lives are a sum total of different identities. ’’

Whose morality is this?- Hindustan Times

Whose morality is this?- Hindustan Times

Saleem Kidwai, Nivedita Menon, Mary John, V. Geetha, Shilpa Phadke and 13 other teachers and academics from universities across India.

We, as teachers and academics from universities across India, read with outrage and dismay that Dr Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, reader and chairman of Modern Indian Languages at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) was suspended for having consensual sex with someone of the same sex within the privacy of his home.

What made the press report that came out on Thursday in certain sections of the media particularly shocking was that there were either cameras placed by students within Dr Siras’ house or television reporters got into the house and made a video film of the alleged incident that was then passed on to the university authorities. The university authorities instead of going by the constitutionally recognised right to privacy within the four corners of one’s house have instead chosen to act against Dr Siras.

The outrage of the university authorities is deeply misdirected. Instead of suspending Dr Siras, they should have taken stern and serious action against those who so blatantly took on the role of playing moral police with no regard whatsoever for Dr Siras’ constitutionally recognised right to privacy and dignity within his home and the university.

What is the ‘gross misconduct’ for which Dr Siras has been suspended? It is not a crime for an adult to have consenting intimate sexual relations with another adult. It is not an offence for an adult to have consensual sex with another adult in the privacy of his home. Dr Siras, in line with the judgement of the Delhi High Court in Naz Foundation, has also committed no legal offence. On the other hand, he is the victim of multiple offences — his house has been entered into without his consent and his intimate life has been filmed without his consent.

The press reports repeatedly allege that Dr Siras was having consensual sex with a “rickshaw puller”. Is the occupation or implied class status of the individual involved the reason behind the accusation of ‘scandal’ and ‘outrageous’ behaviour? If so, then the AMU administration is violating the tenets both of India’s Constitution and of the ethics and values of an institution of higher learning with a history as long and distinguished as AMU which was built precisely to end discrimination on religion, caste or class.

One has to remember that it was only last year that Chief Justice Shah and Justice Muralidhar, in holding Section 377 inapplicable to consenting sex between adults in private, came up with the important distinction between public morality and constitutional morality. As they noted, “Moral indignation, howsoever strong, is not a valid basis for overriding individual’s fundamental rights of dignity and privacy. In our scheme of things, constitutional morality must outweigh the argument of public morality, even if it be the majoritarian view.”

If the Naz judgement with its stress on constitutional morality is taken seriously, the immoral actions will be not be Dr Siras’ conduct but rather the actions of the university authorities in suspending him for the expression of his constitutional right, the actions of the media to blatantly invade his life as well as the possible involvement of students of the university.

This incident follows a series of events that mark the shrinking of spaces of freedom and dignity within India’s institutions of higher learning. It is imperative that we protect institutions that should be bastions of building inclusive and democratic cultures for generations to come from narrow-minded moral policing of this kind.