By H.H. Mohrmen
The month of June every year is observed throughout the world as Pride Month, and the LGBTQ+ community, especially those in more advanced and developed countries, come out in large numbers to celebrate their very existence. While communities in the West have become more open, their counterparts in other parts of the world still have to hide themselves for fear of being stigmatized and mistreated by their own families and communities.
I know that the transgender (LGBTQ+) subject is very complex, especially when linked to religion, and I admit that I am not an expert on the subject. However, what I will share is my own experience with LGBTQ+ people and how these experiences have shaped my perspective on the issue.
The Journey of Understanding
Let me start from the beginning. In the latter part of 1989, when I was just beginning to understand the life and culture of the people in the UK, I came across this issue. I already had too much on my plate, including the many challenging experiences that were part of the culture shock I encountered while living in a foreign land. I had the shock of my life when, for the first time, my roving eyes caught couples embracing and kissing one another at railway stations and in city parks. I was not used to seeing people engage in these activities in open spaces.
Another shocking experience during this period of culture shock was learning about the existence of gay and lesbian people. In 1989, some Unitarians were already moving the church toward recognizing people who identified themselves as gay and lesbian. I was a twenty-year-old young man coming from a small town, with no experience of even living in another part of India. The experience was beyond what my younger self could comprehend.
As one would expect, my initial reaction was, “This is a cultural problem, and it is present only in the Western world.” I also added, “We do not have such people in our culture.” Then a colleague who was present in the group tapped me on the back and said, “When you go back, look more carefully and you will see them living quietly in society. Although sometimes they may not be as obvious as others because of the fear of being stigmatized, rest assured that they are among us, as being gay and lesbian is only natural.”
A few months later, I watched a documentary on BBC Channel 4, a series about gay and lesbian issues, which further enlightened me on the subject. Eric, my friend who was training to be a Baptist minister, was upset when he saw me watching the documentary. His immediate reaction was, “You should not watch that kind of documentary.”
Everything was new to me, and they say curiosity kills the cat, but not in my case. Luther King House at Rusholme, Manchester, was part of the Northern Federation College for the training of ministers, and all my colleagues, both young and old, were training to become pastors, ministers, or priests in their respective Christian denominations.
In 1989, even in the UK, the general perception of people regarding gay and lesbian issues was still very negative, and they were often viewed in a bad light. They were not accepted in society and were seen as bad examples that should not be encouraged. Looking back, and considering that even today the LGBTQ+ community still faces immense challenges, I can only say that the community has come a long way, yet many challenges persist.
I really appreciate the courage of those people who first came out publicly and the hardships they endured when the movement was in its initial stages. Even in England, there were only a few courageous people who supported them, and fewer still had the courage to come out openly. There were also very few churches and ministers who began accepting them into their congregations.
I was lucky to be born into a family with parents who had a liberal mindset, and being brought up to be tolerant and open to learning new things from whatever I came across also helped me in my personal growth. I knew that my time in the country was limited, and as much as possible I tried to observe closely the different aspects of the society that I encountered and to learn and understand from them.
Meeting Them in Person
My first journey by train was perhaps in 1986. As a student of Kiang Nangbah Government College, I was part of an excursion tour, and it was then that I had my first encounter with transgender people. Years went by, and then one evening, while returning from Guwahati to Jowai on a night super bus that stopped at Nongpoh, I had a chance encounter with a local transgender person.
Before the road was widened at Nongpoh, there was an open fruit stall under the banyan tree at the centre of the town. Before the four-lane highway from Umïam to Guwahati was constructed, frequent travellers to Guwahati would remember this small open shop under a huge banyan tree at Nongpoh centre. The vendor sold some of the choicest seasonal fruits, and travelers would stop by to buy fruits and bananas.
After I had my tea, I went to the stall and picked up a few apples oblivious of the surroundings, and asked the vendor, “Ei bah phi die katno shi kilo kine soh apple?” (Brother, how much do you sell these apples per kilogram?) Immediately came the reply, “Wa ine i bah ïa nga ruh ong bah.” (Oh brother, why do you call me brother?) I looked again at the person’s face and realized the vendor was a trans-person who wore lipstick and earrings. My mind had played a trick on me, and I had made a wrong assumption based on only a brief glance. Like a bolt from the blue, I realized my mistake and apologized profusely.
The incident helped open my eyes, and I realized that there are people who may appear to be male or female on the outside, but inside they may have different feelings about themselves. The incident also reminded me of the discussion I had with my colleague in the UK, who had advised me to look carefully when I returned home.
Surely there are transgender people in our communities, but we simply take them for granted, and some are reluctant to come out because of the fear of being stigmatized. These people are present in society, and we simply accept them as they appear outwardly without really trying to understand them. We rarely try to know their wishes, their desires, and how they see themselves. We also have gay and lesbian people whose identities may not be as obvious as those of transgender individuals.
Our Recent Interaction
We are implementing the LWS project supported by MACS, and the project also includes a category of vulnerable population that we need to reach out to called MSM (men having sex with men). The first MSM case we identified was a young man living in one of the villages along the Assam-Meghalaya border. When we were able to contact him and link him to services, we found that he was HIV positive. A few months later, it was reported that he had passed away.
At the beginning of last year, I received a call from the former DRP of our LWS project in West Jaiñtia Hills. She called me from the Jowai Women Police Station and said that it was urgent and that I needed to come to the police station.
At the station, the officer in charge informed us that they had a repeat offender and wanted us to counsel her. When we started talking with them, we learned that the woman was bisexual and was living with a female partner who was also an offender. Our staff followed up with them, and we were shocked to later learn through media reports that the dominant partner, who also dressed like a male, had been arrested for the crime she committed.
They Are Us
One might think this is foreign and not part of our culture, but these are also humans present in society. They exist, and they are not merely ideas or subjects of debate. They are flesh and blood human beings, and we meet and interact with them every now and then. There are also many people within the population whose sexual orientation is not obvious, and they dare not come out because of the stigma attached to it. Whether we agree or disagree with their choices or identities, the fact remains that they are members of our communities and are part of the society in which we live.
