Harish Iyer – who has been fighting for the rights of the sexual minorities of the country and has been representing the LGBTQ community for several years has officially joined hands with the Indian National Congress in hopes to eradicate homophobia and social prejudice from the society.
The 39 year old social activist – who’s also been vocal about the issue of child sexual abuse in the country, taking inspiration from his own survival story from the past (Remember his popular episode from Satyamev Jayate?), has now kicked off his political journey with Congress in his quest to weed out “transphobia, homophobia, Islamophbia and politics of hate.”
Sharing images with Rahul Gandhi and some other Congress representatives from Mumbai, Harish wrote:
“I have officially joined the @INCIndia and look forward to working with the Mumbai Congress team in weeding out homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia and the politics of hate.”
I have officially joined the @INCIndia and look forward to working with the Mumbai Congress team in weeding out homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia and the politics of hate. pic.twitter.com/G0wJYEJL1w
— harish iyer (@hiyer) April 9, 2019
“This is the time to build a world which respects all kinds of love– otherwise we will be left with all kinds of hate,” Iyer was quoted telling News18.com.
After Supreme Court’s recent historic verdict on section 377 – decriminalizing consensual gay sex between two adults, there are a number of other challenges which lay in front of the community, some of which include – fighting workplace discrimination in both private and government sectors, spreading awareness about gender diversity – at both scholar and professional levels, easing-out the process of adoption for LGBTQ people and including legally-binding provisions for queer couples who wish to marry, among several other issues at hand.
@milinddeora was the first to write a piece against section 377 and thought it was archaic.
And today, he encouraged me to do this.
So today, the doors or the closet have yet again set themselves free. I don’t merely support the Congress. I am Congress. pic.twitter.com/UjdAp9HC7z
— harish iyer (@hiyer) April 9, 2019
Iyer has apparently realized that the only way to deal with these challenges is to enter into the system and represent the community on his own.
“Homophobia stems from the fact that people don’t interact. To understand that it’s not a disease, you need to interact with us.”
“We cannot make them understand what queerdom is unless we enter the system,” he was quoted as saying by Indiatimes. “No political party should be in a position to say that they don’t know any LGBT person.”
I know politics is seen as a dirty game. I know there are enough people who give it a bad name. But Queer people need to get into politics. Because otherwise we will always have (seemingly)straight and cis gendered men taking all our life decisions.
— harish iyer (@hiyer) April 9, 2019
Congress is one of the very few parties of the country who have attempted to tackle LGBTQ issues in their 2019 manifesto.
Will Iyer’s advent to politics bring about a positive change in the LGBTQ community?