Struggling to Bring Change

A meeting of the LGBTQIA + Internal Affairs Committee of Dispur College was held at the premises of Dispur College, Guwahati on February 8, 2023. The meeting was chaired by Principal Dr Navajyoti Borah. The meeting was attended by activists working in this field, teachers, and students of the college. Milin Dutta, founder of Anaajoree, a transman, and Amulya Gautam, a transwoman shared the experiences of their journey.

According to the findings of a number of studies, bullying of LGBTQ students on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity as well as discrimination against LGBTQ students are both prevalent in educational institutions. Bullying and prejudice can leave harmful effects that can last for a considerable amount of time, and in some situations, they can even last for decades. Any person who identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or queer is likely to have a bounty placed on their head in most civilizations.

It is heartening to note that several institutions of Assam have come out with proposals to give LGBTQ students a level playing field.

Propelling a course for inclusivity is Jorhat College (Amalgamated) in Jorhat district, South Point School, Guwahati and more recently Dispur College also in Guwahati.

A meeting of the LGBTQIA + Internal Affairs Committee of Dispur College was held at the premises of Dispur College, Guwahati on February8, 2023. The meeting was chaired by Principal Dr Navajyoti Borah. The meeting was attended by activists working in this field, teachers, and students of the college. Milin Dutta, founder of Anaajoree, a transman, and AmulyaGautam, a transwoman shared the experiences of their journey.

Milin Dutta, founder of Anaajoree, a non-profit platform that promotes various initiatives and changemakers who strive to create social change by honing leadership skills and building entrepreneurial capabilities in the North East; since 2018. They have connected with speakers from various fields through virtual media, creating a network of passionate individuals working in and for the region. They also have associated with more than 60 speakers/resource persons from northeast India and outside India who have been engaged in queer activism and have covered the following themes in our webinar series -- Alternate Sexuality, Queer Rights, History of the Queer Movement in Assam, Queerness in Assamese Society, Literature and Cinema, The leadership of Northeast Queers, etc.

Inclined towards making Assam and the world at large, a place safe for the transgender community, Milin Dutta gave a presentation on the formation of the Gender Straight Alliance at Dispur College. The Principal assured that all help would be given by the authority. He also said that the college has taken this initiative as it feels that people from the LGBTQIA+ community also have all rights including the right to education. He feels that if anyone stops education because of bullying or harassment, the doors of the college are open for them.

“Working hand in hand and for the greater good we hope to create a safe space for one and all,” Dutta said.

The meeting of Milin Dutta with DrRatnaKanta Talukdar, Principal of Jorhat Medical College and Hospital on January 25, 2023 with the hope to raise awareness on the LGBTQIA+ community and also enquire about the services provided by them for the trans community, was not fruitful.

Dutta was representing the NGOAnaajoree and Drishti Collective.Rituparna, a gender-neutral activist from Jorhat signed the letter for the same but unfortunately due to some unavoidable engagements couldn't attend the meeting. During the discussion the Principal stated that there were no trans people in Jorhat and therefore they do not require such services.It was indeed a very disturbing statement from an educated person like him, where today approximately 10 per cent of the world population belongs to the LGBTQIA+ community and they have been struggling against discrimination and hate. There is eight times higher rate of mental health issues and suicide among this community. In fact, a Pride Walk was organised in Jorhat in April 2022 which is a clear contradiction of his statement and unawareness. After Mr Dutta highlighted the issue and discussed the matter further, he said he could organise an awareness programme outside and anyone interested could attend.

However, if being the principal he doesn’t realize why we visited a medical college to spread awareness, it raises the question on what kind of mental health services the college provides. Moreover, nullifying their existence is not helping the community.

Later, he suggested meeting the HoD of the Psychiatric Department. Other Medical Colleges have a separate department and Guwahati Psychiatric Department has been doing excellent work.They had their first Queer Awareness talk in 2017 and since then they have been having more cases from the trans community.Led by Dr Mythili Hazarika, the Endocrinology department has started seeing patients from the trans community. We are taking every step to work for the trans community and hope that the Jorhat Medical College and Hospital and other colleges take this matter seriously and have awareness programmes to raise awareness in its reach.

Social inclusivity of people belonging to the LGBTQ community should start from school.

School is an institution that inculcates moral values, preliminary knowledge, and ideas within a child’s mind. It has a crucial role in structuring a person's mindset and reconstructing the primary which is meant to help reform an individual’s perspectives and insights.

Schools can be equated as miniature societies, where children from different cultural and societal backgrounds meet and form an association. A school is a place where individuals primarily establish themselves as a part of a larger community, consisting of various other persons unrelated to them. This idea of identifying oneself as “different” from one another must be carefully scrutinized and the parameters of bringing out such differences should be modified, especially in terms of gender and sexual orientation.

The negative school climate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth continues to be a serious concern for communities and educators resulting in mirroring and reproducing inequalities through hetero-normativity and binary gender systems that make up larger societal norms.

Teachers hold authoritative positions in classroom settings, a space where they help develop and guide the language and behaviour of students. Teachers also engage with students and school staff outside of the classroom to create and enforce norms in shared spaces. Positive relationships with teachers can be protective of LGBT youths.

Children who grow up with an open mindset can in later life be more accepting of non-binary genders.