On 11 December 2013, the streets outside the Supreme Court of India thronged with a dazed crowd, hugging, sobbing and not quite sure what had happened. Inside the hushed courtroom, the judges had just passed a devastating ruling. Lesbians, gays, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) in India had once again been labelled as criminals. Section 377, the 149-year-old colonial law that banned gay sex, had been upheld … Continue reading The long road ahead – Shaleen Rakesh
NAPM demands legal recognition of the natural right to life and love of lakhs of gender diverse individuals New Delhi, December 14 : As lakhs of individuals and groups across the country, celebrated the 4th anniversary of the historical judgement by Justice (Retd). A.P. Shah and Justice (Retd). Muralidharan of the Delhi High Court, recognizing the natural right to life and life of gender diverse … Continue reading Apex Court verdict re-criminalizing consensual same sex relationships unconstitutional and inhuman
This post is commentary. I have been judged and pronounced guilty by a group of people who know nothing of me. My crime is wanting to love, to live and exist with dignity and equality without fear. The Supreme Court’s ugly, unfair judgment Wednesday tells me that my love for another human being is illegal. The Constitution gave us the right to be equal. In … Continue reading Life for Gay People After Supreme Court’s Ban
You and I my friends my lovers walking in step forward and back stumble and recover from dad and mom from ketamine and dreams fall down and rise but we don’t surrender we don’t retreat it isn’t easy it isn’t free but it’s beautiful if you believe. By- Shaleen Rakesh (Shaleen works as an activist on gay rights in New Delhi, India. When he is … Continue reading Just us two – Shaleen Rakesh
(Photo courtesy: Pinterest) Feverish with youth still full of lust for the aftershave on his neck I met a boy he was beautiful all his demons displayed openly as fading scars he had a ruinous heart only attracted boys who tended to disappear into the loneliness of the night he loved me very much in a way I could not understand. July 2013: heineken lite … Continue reading A memory of summer – Shaleen Rakesh
When President Obama praised the Supreme Court’s decision this week to overturn a law that had forbidden the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, he just happened to be in Senegal, standing alongside the country’s president. Naturally, reporters at the event asked Senegalese President Mackey Sall whether he might improve gay rights as well, albeit from a very different starting point, by rolling back his … Continue reading From colonialism to ‘kill the gays’: The surprisingly recent roots of homophobia in Africa – Max Fisher
(Photo Courtesy: Pinterest) The sound waves lingered in the deafening silence that followed I jumped fences at the cemetery clutching wilted flowers bargaining for sleep in the night I see the disco lights still flickering their last gasp s I admit I turned away drinking iced tea to keep cool and pretending the moon beams did not whisper your name. Continue reading When the music died – Shaleen Rakesh
The acclaimed and recently deceased Bengali film-director Rituparno Ghosh (31 August 1963 – 30 May 2013), though a couple of decades older, went to the same school as me, the very populous South Point High School of Kolkata. It was at one time the largest school in Asia. My secondary standard graduation class was nearly 800 strong. One thing our school did well – before … Continue reading Remember Rituparno? – Garga Chatterjee
(Art Work by Shaleen Rakesh) Like a dog returning to the river that has quietly run dry I sit on your bed and try, to sniff the sheets for traces of summer heat subtly the way your love is barely sweet my spirits lift as I sort out your smell but your sheets have been washed cleansed of all the times where I slept so … Continue reading Traces of summer heat – Shaleen Rakesh
(JUNE 6, 1948 – MAY 20, 2013) Committed, passionate, inspiring, nurturing, visionary. Shivananda Khan was all of these, as he forged a pioneering path across the decades in helping achieve rights and equality for LGBT individuals and communities in diverse geographies and sociocultural environments from Europe to Asia and the Pacific. His death on May 20, 2013, in Lucknow, … Continue reading HONOURING SHIVANANDA DUNCAN GEORGE KHAN
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