YCSRR Watchdog IDAHOT 2017

WATCHDOG | ISSUE 19 | MAY 17 2017

FEATURED ARTICLES

IDAHOT 2017 IDAHOT 2017

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Beyond the norm - LGBTQI families in Poland

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The Illegality of Gay Marriage in Northern Ireland

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Rainbow Families in Malawi

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Shumaila: Let them earn, learn and enjoy life with honor

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Rainbow Families

"Untitled" by Praveen Kumar 24 | India

WATCHDOG | ISSUE 19 | MAY 17 2017

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2017 IDAHOT Watchdog Love makes a family.

The International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOT) takes place each year on 17 May. In 2017, the global focus theme is FAMILIES. This theme calls attention to the various roles families have in uplifting the well-being of their LGBTQI members, as well as the rights of LGBTQI families (rainbow families).

How we view ‘family’ has drastically altered over the past few years. Today, regardless of different legal, political and social circumstances around the world, the exciting increase in the number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) families choosing to raise children is a global phenomenon.This may very well be the transition period towards a more equal world.

As we reflect on these changes, how should we imagine - and create - the future we want for our families? How can we work to create a supportive and accepting narrative to counter conservative homophobic and transphobic “family values” arguments?

With these questions in mind, we explore and celebrate the theme of ‘family’ in this years’ YCSRR IDAHOT Watchdog by asking young people what the word family means to them. We are proud to publish submissions from seven countries - India, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Malawi, Pakistan, and Northern Ireland - by young people who are raising their voices for LGBTQI rights and celebrating diverse families!

We call on everyone to take action to celebrate and support diverse families!

Yours in Pride, Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights

On the Cover

Untitled Praveen Kumar 24 | India

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Sarath Kuttikkatuparambil Thilakan 25 | India This submission is based on transgender families in India. In a country where even love marriages are viewed with indifference, the progress the LGBT community has made is immense. Various organizations provide sustenance and employment to those in the transgender community, thereby reducing their need to beg in the streets. The deeply religious crowds in India are generally uncomfortable with the community, but a few organisations in Mumbai city have begun organizing exhibitions and stalls for transgender groups all over the country, thereby giving them a chance to interact with the public and gain positive media exposure to improve public perspectives. We can hope that in a few years, those in the transgender community, and LGBT families as a whole, can walk free and independent, with their heads held high.

Transcending Solidarity A group of transgender persons at a gathering in Bandra, in Mumbai, where trans community members from all over the country come together to show solidarity and exhibit their works. The gathering included artisan stalls and cultural programs. It was truly a heart warming experience for all in attendance.

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WATCHDOG | ISSUE 19 | MAY 17 2017

A Million Smiles

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A Head Full of Dreams

Sarath Kuttikkatuparambil Thilakan 25 | India Transgender communities are slowly gaining acceptance in Indian society. This woman has a master's degree in business administration and her friend is a mechanical engineering graduate. They are planning to move abroad and adopt a child.

Karima is a transgender make-up artist based in Mumbai, India. She was attending a gathering of transgender people in Mumbai when I met her.

Undoubtedly highly spirited, she is an inspiration to others.

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Beyond the norm - LGBTQI families in Poland Gosia Kot 28 | Poland A stranger made me realize that I didn’t think of us as a family, that when we don’t exist in the law then we don’t exist at all - but we are the family. 1 Imagine you’re walking with your partner and you have to consider if you can hold hands as it’s risky. You raise a child together. You’re either invisible or mocked, attacked verbally and/or physically. As a social parent you don’t have legal rights to your child, although you do homework, play video games, spend holidays and sing your favourite lullabies together. When you enter the hospital, the child’s school, a public office, or your relatives’ house, your status as “family” immediately vanishes. You are seen as a stranger.

This is the reality of many rainbow families in Poland, who don’t have any legal possibility to secure the rights of parents. They’re formally strange persons and aren’t able to make any legal decisions regarding their children. Moreover, child adoption isn’t possible and access to reproductive methods is scarce. Since 2015, access to funded in-vitro procedure has been practically limited to heterosexual couples. Moreover, child adoption isn’t possible and access to reproductive methods is scarce, as only a heterosexual couple has the privilege to use refunded in-vitro procedures. The lack of proper legislation has a significant impact on rainbow families’ daily life. Because the law hasn’t caught up with reality yet, same-sex couples are negatively affected.

I am afraid, how hard it can be for my child when she notices that her family isn’t a typical one. Actually she’s at such a stage, she experiences that. I’m afraid of discrimination, pointing the fingers at us.

The societal approach towards rainbow families is also marked by heteronormativity and a lack of understanding of diverse concepts of the family. 69% of respondents to a survey of public opinion in Poland regarding the present meaning of the family stated that a same-sex couple raising a child is not a family. 2

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87% of respondents to a different survey do not think same-sex couples have the right to adopt a child. 3 Why is a family a concept reserved for heterosexual couples only? We also need to take a closer look at the prevalence of discrimination: ¼ of the Polish population believes homosexuality is not normal and should not be tolerated.4 Public discourses on LGBTQI families are mostly discriminatory and violent. They reflect a patriarchal, heteronormative vision of coupledom, kinship and family.

The breakdown of the ‘traditional’ or ‘real’ family (whatever that is); the destruction of social life; a decrease in birth rates leading to end of civilization these are just a few of the consequences of acceptance of rainbow families according to homophobic public figures. This vision is just a painful and fake spectacle which is real only in homo- and transphobes’ heads.

It’s worth evaluating one’s values and rethinking whose and which rights are really defended. LGBTQI rights opponents claim to protect our children, whereas they violate children’s rights by disrespecting their families, infringing on children’s space for development, and by imposing fear, hatred and violence instead. Perhaps instead of “protecting” children, we should follow their lead – children know that diversity doesn’t hurt: Children react positively, there’s no aggression or comments. Our children are visited by friends asking who my partner is. And there’s no problem with it.

Gosia is a PhD candidate in sociology. She’s interested in queer theories, nonheteronormative kinships, mothering and families. She’s also a sexual and reproductive health and rights’ activist, a member of YouAct- European Youth Network on Sexual and Reproductive Rights, and a volunteer with the Campaign Against Homophobia.

All quotes are answers of respondents of my study on

nonheteronormative motherhood in Poland.

2 Public Opinion Research Center (2013). Family – its contemporary meaning and understanding. Research Statement BS/33/2013. Warsaw

3 Public Opinion Research Center (2013). Attitude to gay and lesbian rights and civil unions. Research statement BS/24/2013.

Warsaw 4 Ibidem.

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Kelsey Pride Speaks Kelsey Hadjirul 13 | Philippines

Kelsey, is the youngest member of Dakila, an artist collective in the Philippines that believes in the power of art to incite change. Kelsey is an advocate of children's rights, LGBT rights, and human rights, among others.

Kelsey submitted her video with the help of her mom, Cha Roque, an LGBT advocate, mother, literary writer, and filmmaker. Cha Roque is currently the Communications Director of Dakila and a fellow of the Salzburg Global Forum. She was a previous grantee of B-Change Foundation's 'Stories of Being Me' documentary series.

She has two new LGBT films premiering this year at Hanoi International Queer Film Festival.

Watch the full video of "Kelsey Pride Speaks" here: bit.ly/2rjlbQB

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Rainbow Families in Malawi Alexander Kampheta 27 | Malawi

Introduction LGBTQI families in Malawi face many challenges from health workers, religious leaders, police and people in their communities. For example, a male same-sex couple was arrested and sentenced to 14 years in jail after holding a public engagement ceremony in 2010. Many Malawians agreed with this sentence and criticized the couple.

Fortunately, the then-United Nations Secretary General intervened and convinced the president of the Republic of Malawi to release them because it was a human rights issue. Furthermore, despite this win, gay people are often beaten up, reduced, and discriminated against by people in their community. People can lose their jobs or homes just for being gay or lesbian.

I also faced discrimination when I had an anal wound, which was later diagnosed as proctitis. The doctor shouted at me because he assumed that I was a gay and he refused to treat me. I had to go to a special research clinic to receive the care I needed. Fortunately, at this clinic doctors and nurses helped me get well.

Issues that require urgent change •

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The government, religious leaders, and community leaders must raise awareness that people do not choose to be LGBTQI. This will decrease stigma and create an enabling environment for LGBTQI people to live in.

The government must formulate polices that will ban discrimination, violence and torture against LGBTQI people in order to protect them from barbaric and homophobic attacks.

The government should increase access to services for all regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. All services, such as health and education, should be LGBTQI friendly.

Health workers and police must be trained in equal and quality service provision.

Religious leaders must always teach that God loves everyone equally, including LGBTQI people, since he is not partial.

Conclusion It is the duty of legislators to formulate laws that will protect LGBTQI families from discrimination and torture.

Furthermore, religious leaders must be at the forefront preaching love and justice rather than perpetuating homophobia. They must always demonstrate that LGBTQI families are respected and valued members of the community. Political leaders also have to play a role by advocating for changes in the way LGBTQI people are treated.

In Malawi, all the rigid cultural norms must be uprooted because they are influencing homophobia. Therefore, legislators, politicians, religious leaders, and community leaders have a duty to advocate for LGBTQI rights and change cultural norms that promote homophobia.

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Rainbow Family Alex Iovan 18 | Romania Let me see the eyes behind that shadow Let me put my mind in your fantasy, I'm dying in the waves of simple love, Control me with your wind, you, the Emperor

Let me touch your heart with mystery Don't let me drown in my own tears Our love's a child yet, but what should I do If my veins are travelled by the blood of you?

We could raise that future born from colours' star, We could be in night the white sparkle's roar Or during the day we could pick some raindrops, So, making a family surrounded by hopes!

Yashoda Praveen Kumar 24 | India

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The Illegality of Gay Marriage in Northern Ireland Louise English 21 | Northern Ireland I live in Northern Ireland (NI), a country ruled by political leaders with strong religious beliefs. One of the core problems with this form of government is the effect this has on the policies and laws. LGBTQI rights in NI are the least advanced in the whole of the United Kingdom. Only in November 2016 did NI pass a legislation to pardon men who had previously been convicted of homosexual offences. And although gay marriage is now legal in the Republic of Ireland, a heavily Catholic country, in Northern Ireland gay marriage remains illegal. This is a human rights infringement.

There have been five attempts to legalise same-sex marriage in NI. In 2015, Northern Ireland’s assembly voted to legalise same-sex marriage for the first time; however, the biggest political party – the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP; heavily far-right and Conservative) – vetoed any change in the law. This political blockage is very common in Northern Ireland. Fortunately, Amnesty International and the Rainbow Project, a local LGBTQI activist group, have declared a court challenge against this ban on human rights grounds.

Despite being a very Christian country, a poll conducted found that 68% of people in NI support same-sex marriage. Interestingly, the majority of Unionist respondents in the poll were against legalising same-sex marriage, while the vast majority of Nationalist respondents were for legalisation. Unionists are generally Protestant and favour the union with the UK, whilst Nationalists are generally Catholic and support a united Ireland separate from the UK. Same sex marriage is not the only LGBTQI rights issue in NI. Hate crimes against LGBTQI individuals have been increasing, and a 2015 survey found that a large number of LGBTQI individuals in NI suffered from mental health issues. That said, the Belfast Pride parade has been growing since its inception in 1991, with thousands of people taking part in 2016.

The past has demonstrated that LGBTQI rights in NI are far from adequate, largely due to the religious framework dominating the government. However, the results of the recent general election – in which the DUP received just one more seat than nationalist party, Sinn Fein - means that the DUP can no longer veto the gay marriage bill as they do not have enough seats.

This is promising. If the bill was once again to pass through the Assembly, might it actually result in firm and significant legislation? Hopefully, but we’ll have to wait and see. There is much more work to be done.

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Same Love Karren Barcita 19 | Philippines The bare beauty of love is for everyone.

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Bare

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Coming Out

Karren Barcita 19 | Philippines Tranquility with one's self makes room for a home.

A visual metaphor of bliss, acceptance, and being true to one's color.

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Shumaila: Let them earn, learn and enjoy life with honor Sarmad Muhammad Soomar & Salman Muhammad Soomar 22, 24 | Pakistan It was the tiring days of final exams, but my friends and I were always ready for outings. After we finished studying for the night, we headed to the university cafeteria for dinner. Once we finished eating, we were hungering for dessert, so I called my brother and we all headed to the next street to find some ice cream.

We sat outside to experience the fresh air, gossiping while delicious sweets were prepared for us. We were chatting and laughing about work, life, friends, routine experiences etc. when an unexpectedly deep voice interrupted us. She said: “khudda ka nam p kuch de do, khuda khush rakhay” (translation: give us something in lieu of God, God keeps you happy). We fell silent, each one of us looking at each other, wondering what we should do.

We turned to respond to the voice and saw a pair of trans women begging from us so they could buy some food to eat. My friend became emotional and gave something to one of them. She nodded her head, smiled, and said thanks. Then she looked into my eyes unexpectedly and after pointing to the trans lady standing next to her she said “Shumaila ko bhi kuch de do na” (translation: Please give something to Shumaila as well). A heavy weighted tear dropped from my eye.

I put my hand in the pocket of my jeans and gave something to her as well. Shumaila took the currency note, kissed it, rubbed it on her eyes and left the place by giving prayers to us.

After she left, my brother held my hand and said, “If you feel pity for them, if you become emotional seeing them, always think about two things. First, remember to respect them, as they are human beings. Second, think about what you can do to improve their quality of life.” I began to think about the struggles that transgender people face in my community and what I could do to help them.

Transgender people in Pakistan and other nearby states are deprived of their human rights. They cannot access identification cards and do not have their gender legally recognized. They can be abused, tortured and forced to work as beggars or sex workers to earn an income. Many trans people, like the women I interacted with, are illiterate, lacks jobs or do menial tasks to buy food and other necessities. Those who want to work or educate themselves have to hide their identity in order to prevent harassment and other demotivating and demeaning experiences.

After talking with Shumaila, I advocate supporting LGBTQI individuals through respect, affection and dignity. Our behaviors can benefit the lives of the thousands of transgender people who aim to become teachers, doctors, nurses, flight attendants and more.

We should all support these colors of the rainbow through our behaviors and demonstrate that we are a diverse family.

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CONTRIBUTORS

EDITORS

Karren Barcita Louise English Kelsey Hadjirul Alex Iovan Alexander Kampheta Gosia Kot Praveen Kumar Sarath Kuttikkatuparambil Thilakan Sarmad & Salman Muhammad Soomar

Michiel Andeweg Kamanda Bosco Ankit Gupta Sarah Hedges-Chou Savannah Mudd Jose Maria “Lloyd” Nunag Joshua Quaye Evdokia Romanova

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DESIGN Sarah Hedges-Chou

A publication of Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights 123 Slater St, 6th Floor Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5H2 Canada Website: www.youthcoalition.org ISBN 978-0-9921579-7-5 Copyright © 2017 Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights. The Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights aims to ensure that the sexual and reproductive rights of all young people are respected, guaranteed and promoted and strives to secure the meaningful participation of young people in decision-making that affects their lives by advocating, generating knowledge, sharing information, building partnerships and training young activists with a focus on the regional and international levels. This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part for educational or nonprofit purposes without special permission from the copyright holder provided that acknowledgement of the source is made. The Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights would appreciate a copy of any document that uses this publication as a source. No part of this publication may be used for commercial or resale purposes. The contents of this booklet solely represent the opinions of the authors and not necessarily the views or policies of its financial contributors.

CONTACT US outreach@youthcoalition.org www.youthcoalition.org

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