Nazariya: A Queer Feminist Resource Group (Nazariya QFRG) is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the l ...

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

resource group based out of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

NCR,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. The group was formed in October 2014, and has since established a

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...

n presence. The organization undertakes workshops/seminars, helpline- and case-based counselling, and

advocacy Advocacy is an activity by an individual or group that aims to influence decisions within political, economic, and social institutions. Advocacy includes activities and publications to influence public policy, laws and budgets by using fac ...

to affirm the rights of persons identifying as

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

and

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whic ...

women, and

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

persons

assigned female at birth Sex assignment (sometimes known as gender assignment) is the discernment of an infant's sex at or before birth. A relative, midwife, nurse or physician inspects the external genitalia when the baby is delivered and, in more than 99.95% of bir ...

. Nazariya QFRG also works to inform queer discourse in institutions, and build linkages between queer issues, violence and livelihoods. They focus on the

intersectionality Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies multiple factors of adva ...

between queer, women’s and progressive

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album '' Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * ...

movements in India. In 2015, Nazariya QFRG supported 19-year-old Shivy by arranging legal counsel, safe shelter and passage to Delhi to challenge the illegal confinement inflicted on him by his parents in

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra ...

. In 2018, the organization endorsed a critique of th
Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018
, India, which was censured by many scholars, lawyers and activists for criminalizing vulnerable individuals in the absence of adequate measures to address the factors that make persons vulnerable to

trafficking Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

in the first place.

Name origin

The word ''Nazariya'' means "a way of seeing" or "a perspective". This name reflects the group's mission to make marginalized perspectives heard, in order to counter the toxic cultural and societal "

hegemony Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one State (polity), state over other states. In Ancient Greece (8th BC – AD 6th ), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of the ''hegemon'' city-state over oth ...

heteronormativity Heteronormativity is the concept that heterosexuality is the preferred or normal mode of sexual orientation. It assumes the gender binary (i.e., that there are only two distinct, opposite genders) and that sexual and marital relations are most ...

Key concerns

The group aims to sensitize groups and individuals working on issues of

gender-based violence Gender-related violence or gender-based violence includes any kind of violence directed against people due to their gender or gender identification. Types of gender-related violence include: * Violence against women (sometimes referred to simply a ...

, education, health and livelihoods from a

and

(LBT) perspective. They support this work through

training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...

research Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

evaluation Evaluation is a systematic determination and assessment of a subject's merit, worth and significance, using criteria governed by a set of standards. It can assist an organization, program, design, project or any other intervention or initiative to ...

s and

capacity building Capacity building (or capacity development, capacity strengthening) is the improvement in an individual's or organization's facility (or capability) "to produce, perform or deploy". The terms ''capacity building'' and ''capacity development'' ha ...

. Nazariya QFRG works to raise awareness of the 'lived realities' of queer people, and focuses on many issues of work in India and South Asia, including but not limited to HIV & AIDS awareness; sensitivity towards Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI); the criminalization of intercourse against the order of nature under

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code Section 377 of the British colonial penal code criminalized all sexual acts "against the order of nature". The law was used to prosecute people engaging in oral and anal sex along with homosexual activity. The penal code remains in many former col ...

; non-inclusion of queer individuals in violence, health and education interventions; non-inclusion of and discrimination against queer individuals in the workspace; lack of support groups in tier-II and tier-III cities, towns and rural areas in India; lack of an

approach in the discourse on identities

Mental Health

Nazariya QFRG have maintained that members of the queer community face significant familial, societal, and legal discrimination on the basis of their identity in addition to the stresses brought on by everyday life such as work, relationships, and peer pressure. This additional, unique stress is known as

minority stress Minority stress describes high levels of stress faced by members of stigmatized minority groups. It may be caused by a number of factors, including poor social support and low socioeconomic status; well understood causes of minority stress are in ...

, which is defined as the additional stress an individual experiences as a result of their status as a minority. Since 2017, the resource group has been working on what mental wellbeing means for queer persons. In September and December 2017, Nazariya QFRG worked with Delhi-based SRHR NG
TARSHI
on a series of free, bilingual workshops on stress management and burnout prevention for LGBT*QIA+ individuals. The workshops emphasized self-care as a feminist issue and functioned on a non-medical model with an emphasis on simple stress management techniques that can be practiced individually without any additional equipment or resources.

Shivy's Story

In September, 2015 Nazariya QFRG was contacted by the National Centre for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), United States, and subsequently by the teenager himself, regarding the illegal confinement and

human rights violation Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...

of 19-year-old trans person Shivy. An Indian citizen who had been living in the US since age 3, Shivy who identified as a female-assigned-at-birth trans person, was brought to Agra soon after his parents discovered he had a girlfriend; in Agra, his travel documents and passport were confiscated by his parents, and he was forced to enrol in a local college. Shivy was under parental custody and forced to live at home with the prospect of an impending

arranged marriage Arranged marriage is a type of marital union where the bride and groom are primarily selected by individuals other than the couple themselves, particularly by family members such as the parents. In some cultures a professional matchmaker may be us ...

to an Indian man to 'fix' him. Shivy also used the resource group's YouTube channel to publish a video recounting his experiences. In October 2015, Nazariya QFRG arranged for legal counsel

Arundhati Katju Arundhati Katju (born August 19, 1982) is a lawyer qualified to practice in India and New York. She has litigated many notable cases at the Supreme Court of India and the Delhi High Court, including the Section 377 case, the case of a trans man b ...

to file a Writ Petition in the

Delhi High Court The High Court of Delhi (IAST: ''dillī uchcha nyāyālaya'') was established on 31 October 1966, through the ''Delhi High Court Act, 1966'', with four judges, Chief Justice K. S. Hegde, Justice I. D. Dua, Justice H. R. Khanna and Justice S. ...

on behalf of Shivy for protection from harassment and his right to return to the United States. In ''Shivani Bhat v. National Capital Territory of Delhi & Others'', the Delhi High Court ruled in favour of Shivy and reaffirmed his right to

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a '' jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It sta ...

, travel and education. Additionally, the court ordered, '' inter alia,'' that Shivy's parents return his travel documents so he could travel back to the US. Shivy returned to

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

to study neurobiology at UC-Davis after the judgment was announced. Commenting on the judgement, he said that “ he judgebasically applied the law rightfully,” and that “it’s sad that this had to be celebrated, but a lot of laws don’t get applied justly for

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

people.” Shivy now chooses to be identified by another name.

Activities

Helpline

The organization runs a helpline (operational Monday to Friday 11 AM-6 PM, +91-9818151707) out of their Delhi office space. They believe in the merit of an offline or online space that caters to LBT persons describing their sexual experiences and encounters, as well as for family and friends of the LBT persons.

'Our Lives Our Tales'

Our Lives, Our Tales
' is an ongoing archival oral history project by Nazariya QFRG to document queer history and queer lived realities in India.

Ishq, Dosti and All That

In 2018, two of the co-founders of Nazariya QFRG were involved in a bilingual short-film on the lives of Rups and Priyam, a transman and a lesbian, their loves, desires, dating experiences, friendships and intimate relationships. ''Ishq, Dosti and All That'' was screened on September 16, 2018 at the

India International Centre The India International Centre (IIC) is a non-official organisation situated in New Delhi, India. Membership of the IIC includes artists, academicians, senior government officials, judges, jurists, parliamentarians, doctors, ministers, governors ...

, New Delhi.

Fellowship

In collaboration with Orikalankini, Nazariya offered a Gender and Sexuality Lab 13-week Teen fellowship to increase the awareness around gender and sexuality.

People

The following activists founded the group and continue to play pivotal roles in the functioning of the organization: # Ritambhara Mehta — Responsible for organizational development, programme implementation, and fundraising. # Rituparna Borah — Responsible for

fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

, programme development and networking, Borah is a queer feminist activist who has spoken about and published on her personal experiences, being a lesbian, and on feminism and protest such as ' SlutWalk'. # Purnima Gupta — Board Member. Feminist and civil rights activist.

References

{{Reflist Feminist organisations in India Women's rights in India Lesbian feminist organizations LGBT organisations in India Queer feminism