The Pride Month quiz

It's June and it's Pride Month, a celebration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

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Sunday, June 23, 2024

By Namita Bhandare

It’s June and it’s Pride Month, a celebration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. How savvy are you about the history of gay rights? Find out…

The big quiz

1. Can you name the person in the photograph above in whose name the Supreme Court in 2018 passed its landmark verdict decriminalising consensual gay sex?

2.India’s first Pride March was held in:

(i) Kolkata
(ii) Chennai
(iii) Mumbai
(iv) Bangalore

3. In the acronym LGBTQI, the letter ‘I’ stands for

(i) Intersex
(ii) Interested
(iii) International
(iv) Indian

4. Thailand voted earlier this week to pass a same-sex marriage bill, which makes it the first country in southeast Asia to recognise same-sex relationships. But the first Asian country to legalise same-sex unions is:

(i) Nepal
(ii) Taiwan
(iii) Singapore
(iv) Thailand

A still from Fire

5. All the following creative works touch upon same-sex themes. But only one was formally charged with obscenity. Which?

(i) Deepa Mehta for her film, Fire
(ii) Ismat Chugtai for her short story, Lihaaf
(iii) Bhupen Khakar for his painting, Two Men in Benaras
(iv) Mahesh Dattani’s play, On a Muggy Night in Mumbai

6. This country only just introduced stringent penalties, including the death penalty, for “aggravated homosexuality”. It is:

(i) Saudi Arabia
(ii) Uganda
(iii) Afghanistan
(iv) Brunei

7. In his poem, Two Loves, Lord Alfred Douglas writes, “I am the love that dare not speak its name”. The lines are often attributed, erroneously to his famous lover who was:

(i) Walt Whitman
(ii) Freddie Mercury
(iii) John Singer Sargent
(iv) Oscar Wilde

8. Which of the following statements is false:

(i) The colonial era section 377 was first decriminalised by the Delhi high court in 2009.
(ii) When the Supreme Court finally junked 377, one of the judges, Indu Malhotra said, “History owes an apology to these people and their families.”
(iii) While not granting full marriage rights yet, the Supreme Court has agreed that civil partnerships between same-sex couples will be legally recognised.
(iv) The inherent sexuality of an individual is something they are born with and cannot be ‘cured’.

9. This is Madhu Bai Kinnar. In 2015 she became the first transgender person to be elected a mayor in India. Which town did she win from?

(i) Mumbai
(ii) Kolkata
(iii) Raigarh
(iv) Kanpur

10. The term ‘lavender marriage’ refers to:

(i) The union of a man and a woman, where one (or both) is gay but has supressed their sexual orientation
(ii) The union of two women
(iii) The chosen colour scheme for gay marriages
(iv) The union of two bisexual people

(The answers are at the end of this newsletter.)

In numbers

Just 7% of women aged over 60 had a source of income, compared to 24% of men who did.

Source: HelpAge India 2024 reported in The Hindu

News you might have missed

To prevent caste-based atrocities among students, a report put together by retired Madras high court judge K Chandru has recommended several measures to Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin. These include, the removal of caste appellations from names in schools and prohibiting students from sporting paraphernalia such as rings or forehead tilaks that identifies their caste. The goal, states the report is to eventually introduce legislation geared towards enforcing a policy of social inclusion.

Asked to write the name of her ministry’s flagship programme, Savitri Thakur (above), the new minister of state for women and child development floundered. Her election affidavit says she has passed the 12th standard, which if true says a lot about standards of teaching and learning in this country.

And the good news… The Calcutta high court has asked the West Bengal government to set aside 1% reservation for transgender persons in all public jobs. The court noted that so far no quota had been offered to the community despite the 2014 Supreme Court NALSA judgment, the first to legally recognise and uphold the fundamental rights of transgender people.

Field notes

Close to 70% of street vendors in Delhi are aware of the term “heat wave” but less than 10% know about the capital’s heat action plan and lack the systemic support to work or engage with government stakeholders to mitigate its impact.

A rather timely report, Heat Havoc: Investigating the Impact on Street Vendors by Greenpeace India and the National Hawkers Federation found that seven out of eight women street vendors are experiencing physical signs of illness caused by heat, exhaustion and sleeplessness. These include high blood pressure and delays in their menstrual cycle.

Over 71% of all street vendors struggle to get emergency medical care due to financial constraints and another 80% have observed a decline in customers due to the heat.

Read more here.

Around the world

Single women in Japan who seek permanent sterilisation procedures are fighting back against the stringent conditions they are required to meet. The procedure right now is available only to those women who already have children or can prove that a pregnancy would endanger their health. And, yes, they need the consent of their spouses. Now five single women are suing the Japanese government for violating their constitutional right to equality and self-determination.

There will be no Afghan women in the first meeting between Taliban officials and envoys from 22 countries to be held in Doha on June 30 and July 1. The meeting is sponsored by the United Nations that has confirmed that no women will be present. Afghanistan’s appalling war on women and girls with increasing restrictions on their education, movement, employment and even leisure since the Taliban took over in 2021 has led to severe criticism from human rights groups. For the United Nations to now try and justify the exclusion of women from the meeting is beyond belief.

And more good news… The Denmark men’s team has refused a pay rise so that their women’s team receives equal pay. By turning down the hike, both teams will now receive the same basic remuneration.

Answers to the big quiz

1. Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee Navtej Singh Johar is a dancer, choreographer and yoga practitioner. He was one of five petitioners who in 2016 filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalised “sex against the order of nature”. In 2018, the Supreme Court passed an order making consensual gay sex legal.

2. (i) India’s first pride parade was held in Kolkata in 1999. Pride events are now held in over 21 cities across India.

3. (i) The ‘I’, in the acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) is intersex, an umbrella term used for a variety of situations in which a person is born with sexual anatomy that doesn’t fit the binaries of male and female. The Intersex Society of North America applies this term to a variety of conditions including those born appearing to be female on the outside but having mostly male-typical anatomy on the inside.

4. (ii) Taiwan legalised same-sex marriage in 2019 following a 2017 Constitutional court ruling. Nepal is the second country in Asia to have legalised same-sex marriage.

5. All the works have created a stir but Ismat Chugtai’s Lihaaf published in Urdu in 1942 about a neglected wife in feudal household was the only one to actually face an obscenity trial, which was eventually repealed by the Lahore court. Read more about it here.

6. (ii) Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni enacted the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023 which criminalises same-sex conduct, including a potential death penalty for those convicted of “aggravated homosexuality”. In April this year, Uganda’s constitutional court upheld the act but struck down some provisions such as those that restrict healthcare access for LGBT people. Homosexual relations are also illegal, and can be punished by death, in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Brunei.

7. (iii) Madhu Bai Kinnar ran as an independent for the mayoral election in the Raigarh Municipal Corporation. She defeated the BJP’s Mahaveer Guruji by over 4,500 votes. In 2023, she contested the Chhattisgarh state assembly elections but managed to get only 605 votes at ninth position.

8. (iii) While two judges of the five-judge bench felt that same-sex couples ought to get some rights including those of adoption and the recognition of a civil partnership, the other three judges opposed even civil partnership. In the end the judgement concluded that the job of determining the legality of same-sex marriage was with Parliament and not the judiciary.

9. (iv) Also known as Bosie Douglas, Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas was a journalist and poet and also Oscar Wilde’s lover, living briefly with him in Naples. Douglas later married the poet Olive Custance in 1902 and had a son with her.

10. (i) A marriage between two people where at least one is gay but has not come out to their family. These are marriages that take place under social pressure. In the film Badhaai Do, the two lead characters, lesbian and gay, marry each other so that their families stop bothering them.

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That’s it for this week. If you have a tip, feedback, criticism, please write to me at: namita.bhandare@gmail.com.
Produced by Mohd Shad Hasnain shad.hasnain@partner.htdigital.in.

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The Pride Month quiz

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