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As the Supreme Court gears up to hear a petition against #Section377, here is a poem that talks about how this fight is equally for all of us.
The Supreme Court of India began reviewing petitions challenging #Section377 a colonial-era law outlawing “un-natural” sex, on Tuesday, 10th July 2018. The hearing gives us all hope that ‘equal opportunities and rights for all genders’ may be achieved one day. I am a Feminist and proudly stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.
Here is a poem I have written about how the struggle for equality is not a struggle of the LGBTQ+ community’s alone.
Equality does not discriminate. The rights of the woman or man Or the queer one’s fate Is not for the supreme power To calculate.
There is need to educate. Being born as a girl And not a boy, does not make you inadequate. Being queer is natural, It’s not a joke or illness, so don’t humiliate.
We must contemplate. Why the queers are not allowed To procreate. They also can’t marry or parent Lest they contaminate?
Accept, don’t differentiate. Let her race wearing her spikes Or lead in her heels in a corporate She can choose to marry or not Or celebrate her same sex soul mate.
Recognize talent that’s innate. Why stare at her ‘assets’ Or laugh at his effeminate voice to subjugate? Equal pay for equal efforts Should be a basic mandate.
Victory is but a stalemate. Misogyny and Homophobia Reduce us to slave state. The same traditions and customs Also make you suffocate.
Time to embrace and liberate. Aren’t we all Just as ‘queer’ as we are straight? Ditch the binary. Adopt the plural. Let us give our gender norms an update.
We won’t yield. So don’t dominate. We are unified against oppression. We won’t let you manipulate. Feminists and the Queer- we have but one aim, Patriarchy, soon you shall disintegrate.
The destination of a Feminist and the LGBTQ+ community is the same, then why should our journeys be different?
Author’s Note: When I use the word queer in quotes, I refer to it being strange or odd. But when I use it without quotes, I refer to the umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities who are not heterosexual and/or not cisgender.
The poem was first published here.
Image source: pixabay
Like any other writer, I am always on the lookout for those golden words that can touch people's hearts. But more often than not, I just write so that my soul can speak. Either read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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