On June 2, the Google search engine welcomed its users with a doodle celebrating the life of Frank Kameny, astronomer and American gay rights activist. This was also to mark the beginning of Pride Month that is celebrated every year in June as a tribute to those who were involved in the Stonewall Riots.
Later, during the day, Google announced on its Twitter, its financial support to the LGBTQ community affected by the Covid-19 pandemic."This #PrideMonth, we're continuing to support the #LGBTQ+ community & its recovery from #COVID19. We're announcing $4M in cash & Ad Grants to global LGBTQ+ communities, including @OutRightIntl to support #LGBTQ+ organizations around the world," posted its official account Google.org
Earlier Tegan and Sara foundation run by Canadian Indie pop band launched an emergency fund to meet immediate needs created by coronavirus within LGBTQ+ populations. "We reacted quickly, donating 29K to 23 projects in 16 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces," the website claims.
Effects of Covid-19 on queer community in India
The second wave of the pandemic wasn't fair to many and for the LGBTQ community, the struggles got worse.
According to the Pink List India website, an archive of politicians supporting LGBTQIA+ rights, sex workers lost their daily wages, trans people had no official ID to avail government schemes, and those in the closet stuck with their parents found no support systems.
A report by Gender and Covid-19, a global research project, stated that the pandemic created menstrual injustice particularly through the invisiblization of trans and non-binary people who menstruate. "... What has also been ignored is the menstrual suppression of trans and non‐binary people who menstruate. As a phenomenon essentialized for women (or people with feminine identities), the existing menstrual health approach has essentially excluded transgender men and non-binary persons, limiting their access to a safe environment to freely express their experience and needs around menstruation."
The report also highlighted that while there is a huge data gap on this issue, the 2011 Census reported 4,87,803 people self-identifying as 'Other' (than male or female) in India.
In March, the Supreme court was approached with a petition to ban blood donation rules that restricted trans people and members of the gay community from donating blood. A report by The Hindu cited excerpts from the petition, "During the pandemic, many members of the community, who needed blood were unable to get it from their trans-relatives and loved ones due to the guidelines. Persons who are barred are not even able to donate plasma for research for COVID-19..." The court refused to interfere in the matter stating that it "cannot delve into issues which were primarily scientific in nature".
Always scope for good work
However, while there were struggles, there is always support from generous corners.
Keshav Suri foundation working with It gets Better Project, a global platform to uplift, empower and connect the LGBTQIA+ community helped in connecting many from the community to social workers and NGOs for timely support. The foundation also vouched for providing mental health counselling and taking workshops such as Queer Quarantine through its social media channels to enable members to learn new skills.
Grace Banu, founder of Trans Rights Now Collective in Tamil Nadu, recently had a tiny win when the Madras High Court on Thursday, May 27 recorded the submission of Advocate-General R. Shunmugasundaram for her PIL and assured that the State government would consider a plea to distribute COVID-19 cash relief of ₹4,000 to the transgender community, sympathetically, without insisting on ration cards as reported by The Hindu.
Grace Banu who has been actively supporting people from the community had highlighted in her petition that transpersons had several doubts over COVID-19 vaccination since they were either on hormone therapy or undergoing sex reassignment surgeries, further informed the article.
In Karnataka, Sangamma, a charitable organization took to fundraising platform Milaap to collect funds to support economically weak sexual minorities and transgender persons across 10 districts of Karnataka with nutritional supplements in order to build their immunity given the impact of Covid-19. The plea which has garnered support from around 228 persons with 55 percent of the funds raised reads,
"With your support, we hope to be able to reach out to one of the most ignored sections of Indian society. And while we cannot do everything, if you pitch in, we will at least ensure they see through this period of grave uncertainty."
Related
