Sexual Minorites at the WSF

Dear all,

Having been an enthusiastic participant at the WSF, I would like to put on board my perception of the way sexuality as an issue of politics emerged there..

I think whether one liked it or not, sexuality occupied a pretty prominent place in a space where literally every person was passionate about one issue or the the other. THe persons who made it possible were those who ran stalls ensuring a permanent presence to the seminars and discussion as well as the march organized by Rainbow Planet.

The presence of sexuality as politics reached out both as a sign of visibility , as a form of culture as well as a form of politics the significance of which was no less serious than the other impotant issues being debated at WSF.

As far as visibility goes , there were 1,00,000 stickers distributed by Rainbow Planet and you literally saw thousands of people wearing stickers saying Judge not - Support sexual preference. Maybe more importantly none could  miss the very visible and vocal presence of the hijra community.  In one  of the huge hall meetings with a capacity of 5000 people there were eloquent and moving testimonies by hijras ,   female sex workers, kothis. THis one again was a fascinating part of the visibility as Rainbow Planet took the idea of the rainbow and refashioned it to mean , sex workers, sexual minorities and PLWHA"s. ( Aditya has some pictures , could u tell people where to access them ?)

Sexuality as a form of politics was perhaps best seen in the excellently attended session by PRISM on Nationalisms, fundamentalisms and sexuality. Putting forward the broader context was NIvedita Menon who spoke eloqently of how the heterosexual family is the underpinnng of the notion of nation and community and how she envisaged a more liberatory post nationalist politics in queer identity.  One of the other speakers from the US , Weleshky I think , spoke eloquently of how in this WSF, the diveristy of the  queer march reflected a form of politics which was taking on board the concerns of the poorer and more marginalized of the sexuality minorties.

And perhaps, most brilliantly ,  sexualty emerged at the very center of consciousnes thorugh the Malaysian drag queen show performed to packed amphitheatre of WSF delegates.  The Drag queens never let you forget througout their performance that they were transexual ( Hey honey, what are you looking at my Adam's apple ?) The show host kept gesturing towards the audience saying , my hijra sisters are you enjoying this ? Finally the performers emerged on teh stage with placards saying my gender , my right , etc ...THis show was brillant in showing how culture can communicate politics effectively.  I think NDTV covered a bit of the drag queen show as well on teh last Sunday show on WSF.

Of course these are impressionistic accounts and i have not covered the many other queer facets to  WSF.. It would be great if others who attended also shared their impressions ...

Arvind Narrain