Everyday lives of queer people in rural India

In this bulletin, PARI Library spotlights the voices and data around the queer community who live away from big metros and cities, and face social exclusion in their personal and professional livesConfinement, forced marriage, sexual and physical violence and ‘corrective’ therapies are the kind of threats and experiences members of the LGBTQIA+ community often face, as this 2019 report, Living with Dignity, published by the International Commission of Jurists, says.Take the case of Vidhhi and Aarush (names changed) who had to leave their respective homes in Thane and Palghar districts in Maharashtra, to live together in Mumbai. Vidhhi and Aarush (who identifies as a trans man) moved into a rented room in the city. “The landlord is not aware of our relationship. We must hide it. We don’t want to vacate the room,” Aarush says.LGBTQIA+ persons are often denied housing, forcefully evicted, and harassed by family, landlords, neighbours and the police. Many face homelessness, says the Living with Dignity report.Stigma and harassment force many transgender people, especially in rural India, to leave home and find a safer space. A study of transgender persons in West Bengal released by the National Human Rights Commission in 2021 found that “the family pressurises them to mask their gender expression.” And nearly half of the people left their households because of the discriminatory behaviour of their family, friends and society. “Just because we are transgender, does it mean we don’t have izzat [honour]?” asks Sheetal, a trans woman, speaking from years of bitter experience – in school, at work, on the streets, almost everywhere...