Pride and Prejudice

In this episode of Pride & Prejudice, host Suryatapa Mukherjee spoke to Patruni Chidananda Sastry about bisexuality. Patruni is a bisexual, trans non-binary drag artist based in Hyderabad. A 2019 study published in the Australian Journal of General Practice found that 77.6 percent of bisexuals had contemplated suicide as compared to 11.7 percent of the general population. According to Pew Research Center, 19% of bisexuals are out compared to 75% of gays and lesbians. We explore the factors both within and outside the queer community that lead to poor mental and physical health of bisexual people. Here, we are using bisexuality as an umbrella term for all sexualities that involve being attracted to more than one gender.

Biphobia is Killing Bisexual People. Literally.
Bisexual people react to misconceptions about Bisexuality 
Rangula Rattnam | Queer Telugu Talks
Bisexual adults are far less likely than gay men and lesbians to be 'out' to the people in their lives
Physical Health Disparities Across Dimensions of Sexual Orientation, Race/Ethnicity, and Sex: Evidence for Increased Risk Among Bisexual Adults | SpringerLink
Study: Bisexual men 'most at risk' from sexually transmitted infections | PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news
(PDF) Why Us? Toward an Understanding of Bisexual Women's Vulnerability for and Negative Consequences of Sexual Violence
Bisexuality and health: The cost of invisibility
Bisexual-Specific Minority Stressors, Psychological Distress, and Suicidality in Bisexual Individuals: the Mediating Role of Loneliness | SpringerLink     
Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Among Lesbian, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Women: Findings From the Nurses’ Health Study II
Prejudice, Social Stress, and Mental Health in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Populations: Conceptual Issues and Research Evidence - PMC
The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2010 Findings on Victimization by Sexual Orientation 

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MasculiniTea: kuch mardani gupshup is a podcast by trans men about masculinity. Trans masculine people of various backgrounds have gone on the podcast to talk about parenthood, fashion, workplace, sexuality and a range of other topics. In this episode of Pride and Prejudice, host Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to Vihaan, the founder and host of MasculiniTea: kuch mardani gupshup. 

MasculiniTea: Kuch Mardani Gupshup | Podcast on Spotify 

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In the Union Budget 2023, 6 crore rupees were allocated to the SMILE program of the Ministry of Social Justice and Equality. Under this program, the government works for the transgender community in our country. The most well-known initiative under the SMILE program is perhaps Garima Greh, with 12 shelter homes in 9 states. However, two of the Garima Grehas in Kolkata and Delhi that we spoke to say they haven’t had funding for a year and are struggling to survive. 

In this episode of Pride and Prejudice, reporter Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to Avinaba, a public policy researcher, about the hits and misses of the Union Budget 2023.

STATEMENT 13 GENDER BUDGET MINISTRY/DEPARTMENT 2022-2023 Budget
Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise (SMILE) GUIDELINES
National Portal For Transgender Persons 
Union Budget 2023: Transgender persons remain an afterthought in India – The Leaflet 
PM Daksh | NBCFDC 
No proposal to bring quota for transgender persons: Government in LS - The Hindu. 

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Happy Valentine’s Day! In this episode of Pride and Prejudice, host Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to Nu, founder of Revival Disability India, a collective and magazine for and by disabled queer folk. They speak about their campaign Cripplentines which celebrates all kinds of love in the lives of queer, disabled people. It reclaims the term ‘cripple’, historically used to insult and oppress disabled folk. Please find the transcript on our website for this episode.

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This is part three of our miniseries, Queering Language, where we are looking at the relationship between queerness and language.

In this episode of Pride and Prejudice, host Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to Nuzhat and Prakash who are co-founders of Xomonnoy, an LGBTQ+ organisation based in Guwahati, Assam. They have recently released a queer short story collection in Assamese and a glossary of LGBTQ+ terms in Assamese. We explore the history of queerness in Assamese literature, the nuances of finding Assamese words for queer experiences, and why it is important to find queerness in our mother tongue. 

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This is part two of a miniseries we are doing, Queering Language. In this series, we are looking at the relationship between queerness and language. In this episode, host Suryatapa Mukherjee spoke to Chittajit Mitra, a queer activist who is a writer and translator working with Hindi, English and Urdu texts. They explore the oft-ignored queerness in old literature, new developments in recent years, the interesting work of translating queerness, and most importantly how the fight for queer rights influences queer literature.

Pride and Prejudice: Reading ‘Same Sex Love In India’ as historian Saleem Kidwai passes
Pride and Prejudice: Tracing the queer roots of Qawwali
Suryakant Tripathi ‘Nirala’ Kullibath
The Truth about Me: A Hijra Life
Hijra, Me Laxmi by Rao R. Raja
Full text of "Lihaaf [ The Quilt] Ismat Chughtai"
NCERT Removes Teacher-Training Manual on Transgender-Inclusive School Education After Backlash
Bombay HC asks state govt to clarify its stand on job reservation for transgenders at MSETCL | The Indian Express
West Bengal: Transgenders to be able to apply for govt jobs under general category - The Economic Times
[Same-sex marriage case in Delhi High Court] Central government opposes live-streaming; says proceedings could evoke sharp reactions
Gopi Shankar resigns from National Council for Transgender Persons - The Hindu
LGBTQI+ Activist Gopi Shankar Madurai Brutally Attacked in Delhi, Friends Say 'Not the First Time' 
Delhi: Group of transgenders clashes with police, charges fly from both sides | Delhi News - Times of India

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This is part one of a miniseries Queering Language in Pride and Prejudice, where we explore the relationship between queerness and language. For this episode, host Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to Raina, a trans activist in Kolkata, about Ulti, a secret language of trans communities originating in hijra culture. Raina is the founder of Samabhabana, an NGO for trans people and Amra Odbhut, a queer cafe in Kolkata. 

The secret language of South Asia’s transgender community 

The Secret Language of the Hijras 

https://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/queer-language/article5407840.ece 

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In the last episode of Pride and Prejudice, we explored how trans actors struggle to find opportunities in Bollywood. So, in this episode, host Suryatapa Mukherjee spoke to trans filmmakers Varsha and Asawari, who started their own production studio, Star Hopper. We explore what it’s like for queer-trans people behind the camera in the industry and how marginalised artists can create opportunities for themselves. In this conversation, we also found out that one of the trans actors we spoke to in the previous episode is now making a film with Star Hopper! Tune in to find out more.

Star Hopper (@starhopperstudios) • Instagram photos and videos 
Foregrounding women’s sensibilities: Fatma Begum, India's first woman filmmaker 

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In recent years, with increasing queer acceptance, we have seen more sensitive portrayals of transgender people in films and TV shows. But in Sacred Games, Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, Gangubai Kathiawadi and the upcoming web series Taali, it is cis people playing these trans roles.

In this episode of Pride and Prejudice, reporter Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to actors Nandini Sabban and Rudrani Chhetri. Nandini plays one of the characters on Taali where Sushmita Sen stars as Gauri Sawant. Rudrani Chhetri played a trans character in Vikas Khanna’s film The Last Colour. 

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We have just had the International Coming Out day on October 11th. When queer people are out about our sexuality and gender, the first question we usually get is, do our parents know? Sweekar: The Rainbow Parents is an organisation that is making this dream come true for many. It is a group of parents of queer children who accept their own and also work to change the minds of other parents rejecting their queer children. 

In this episode of Pride & Prejudice, host Suryatapa Mukherjee spoke to Aruna Desai and Atul Kumar from Sweekar. Aruna Desai is the founder of the organisation, and she is also the HR head of a manufacturing company in Mumbai. Her son came out to her as gay 15 years ago as a teenager. Atul Kumar is a physics teacher who mentors IIT-JEE and NEET aspirants in Delhi. He is the father of a transgender woman who came out to him four years ago. 

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