HYDERABAD: A few queer people share their struggle with society’s heteronormative norms. This year’s Pride Month might have lost all its glamour due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the LGBTQ+ community’s fight continues. From extreme conversion therapies, leaving work for love, to staring at a bleak future in the post-Covid era, here people to whom we say, “More power to you”

Don’t try to cure me Unable to continue acting ‘manly ’ , 19-year-old Keshav (name changed) finally came out to his mother that he is attracted to boys. His bewildered and upset mother thought her son has a mental illness and took Keshav to a psychiatrist, who diagnosed him with depression. Keshav was given tablets that, the psychiatrist claimed, will ‘make him straight’. In his naivety, Keshav popped these pills and after six months, realised that nothing was happening. During the next visit, the psychiatrist referred him to another one.

At first, Keshav found the new psychiatrist to be good but soon, he was administered a ‘conversion therapy’ under which, he endured three sessions of sound-shock and electroconvulsive therapy. “He would ask me to meditate and then imagine homosexual sex. Then, he would either clap or give me an electric shock, so that I forget everything about homosexuality,” says Keshav. Keshav then told his parents that the ‘therapy’ is making him suicidal after which they reached a compromise.

“My parents told me that I need to be mum about my sexuality until the time I do well in life. However, I’ve stopped caring about what they think,” says Keshav, now 20. The dubious ‘conversion therapy’ is underreported and recently came to light after 21-year-old queer person Anjana Harish killed herself allegedly after being coerced into changing her sexuality. In 2014, the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) declared that same-sex sexuality is not a psychiatric disorder and there was no evidence sexual orientation could be altered by treatment. When asked if he does fall in love with someone, will he tell his parents about it, Keshav says, “Definitely. Once, I start to earn a lot of money, become a successful person, I will tell my parents, that this is the man I love. Hope India changes soon.”

Post-Covid looks bleak

Uncertainty looms over the fate of most businesses and occupations during and after this Covid pandemic. The social and economic resilience of trans people is also at stake as half of the community relies on sex work for a livelihood, says Rachana Mudraboyina, activist and one of the founders of Telangana Hijra Intersex Samithi (THITS). The Supreme Court’s 2014 judgment declared transgender people to be a 'third gender' and affirmed that the fundamental rights granted under the Constitution of India will be equally applicable to them. Despite that, trans people still left out of the mainstream workforce due to the social stigma around their gender.

“In this Covid-era, you can visibly see the transphobia – trans people are not getting ration because they don’t have ration cards, Aadhar card or bank accounts. Even if the state wants to transfer money, it will not reach them,” says Rachana. She has been constantly supplying essential commodities to almost 500 transgender people across Hyderabad. “Our welfare is not considered due to social exclusion. We need to think about how we will fight this social exclusion. Also, we need to ask how will trans people earn after the Covid-era? We need to plan these two things as nobody is going to talk about our issues after all this gets over,” says Rachana.

Mi Amor, anything for you

Thirty-year-old Rohit (name changed) recently left his job in Hyderabad, where he was working for the last four years. It was the mounting pressure and the inability to find time for himself and his mother. But more importantly, Rohit aches to live with the man he loves. Rohit is in also a long-distance relationship with a man in Delhi (place name changed) who he met through Tinder. The two want to live together and if things work out well, even get married. “We have talked about our past, our future, likes, dislikes – we are physically, emotionally and mentally attracted to each other,” says Rohit. If things don’t work out, Rohit and his partner vow to remain good friends.

He recently came out as gay to his elder brother who lives with his wife and new-born girl in Australia. Rohit’s brother was accepting of his sexual orientation. For Rohit, the journey was not easy. Growing up, confusion about his sexuality resulted in him withdrawing from people. What followed was depression and anxiety. In 2014, while pursuing a photography course in Mumbai, he started therapy, which helped him realise that he, indeed, is homosexual. “For us, from the LGBT community, it is difficult to live as couples. But we have to make effort to do so to stay healthy,” says Rohit. Society’s unwillingness to accept homosexuals still haunt Rohit but that won’t stop him from loving who he wants. Rohit is a fighter, like many others from the community, in this world that is so deeply divided by hate.