India IDAHO Report 2013

The Indian state of West Bengal featured strongly in activities for the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia 2013. May 17 was observed in three different districts in the state: Howrah, Kolkata (Calcutta) and North 24 Pargonas. As part of the programme in Kolkata activists, especially those linked to a community project providing emergency shelter to trans* people/hijras, organised a street photo exhibition featuring their ‘Me by Me’ project. The same night, a rainbow flashmob was held near the shelter home.

In Howrah and near Salt Lake, activists also held a candle light vigil and awareness campaign. A special visibility was given to the Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM) report published by Transgender Europe (TGEU), which highlights levels of lethal transphobic violence worldwide. Activists also reported that they launched a new research report on LGBT questions, in local context, on the Day.

 
 
 
 
 
 
From the Kolkata event poster, courtesy of PLUS Kolkata / Prothoma Shelter Home.
For more information:

• Protoma Shelter Gome for Gender Variant Males on facebook.
• Plus Kalkota website.