Safetipin - Gurugram

16 Nov Queering in Kerala: Culture and Contestation (Honourable Mention)

Photo Credit: Sourav Karmakar (Top 8 shortlist, Photo/Illustration Competition)

Honourable Mention: “Re:Imagine, Re-Design, Re-Claim” Essay  Competition for #UrbanOctober2021

Theme: Beyond the Binary: Queer interactions within the urban realm

A few years ago,rainbow flags peppered every major street in my hometown, the secondary city of Kannur in Kerala. While metropolises are acclimatising to and moving towards openly supporting public representations of Pride, small towns queer narratives operate under invisibility cloaks, and hence, this public display seemed unimaginable. The flags, as it turned out, belonged to the Kerala Cooperative Banks Association and were placed in the vicinity of all cooperative banks in the city in solidarity of an ongoing protest.While this puzzling sight pertubed the queer and woke, the rest of the city went on with their hustle and bustle filled life. Like an adult joke in a children’s movie, the reference went right through, without registering in public consciousness. This speaks volumes about the invisibility of the LGBTQ+ community from public space. For a moment, if we were to assume that the rainbow flags were put up in solidarity with Pride. This would mean a semblance of normalcy is awarded to queer identities and queering in public space. Queerness here encapsulates an ensemble of gender, sexualities and identities which exist beyond the Cis-het world.

The socio-cultural norms of Kerala present culturally conservative limits on all individual’s expressions of gender and sexuality. Public display of intimacy like holding hands and gendering of bodies is considered taboo within the limits of its socio-spatial constructs. This puts added pressureon invisibility and suppression of gendered identities. As individuals whose identity relies heavily on these components, this suppression reduces their gendered agency. The policies of Kerala with regard to the transgender community suggests that governmental measures offers legitimacy through enhanced visibility.Visibility in a culturally conservative context like Kerala though often means added scrutiny.Though the state made numerous policy centric decisions to uplift the transgender community, it refuses to recognize LGBTQ+ individuals, choosing to view only those individuals who fits into the preset box termed ‘transgenderism’. Housing, tenure, education, healthcare and other basic services disadvantage marginalised individuals. These create an added dependency on non-supportive public services for empowerment.

If one had to gauge inclusivity, tallying queer spaces visible to a cisgendered heteronormative audience, few or nil spaces turn up. The Kochi metro garnered interest and public support as a trans-allied space employing around 23 transgender individuals. Various issues resulted in most of these individuals quitting these jobs in search of better prospects. Access to housing is a determining factor in the localisation of trans spaces. Denial of housing, an issue faced by the transgender communities at large, neccessitates them having to look at non-affordable rental options. While the total population of transgender people is estimated to be 25000,