Statement on Mandatory Testing by Loknath Mishra

I am not sure where this came from and who gave the credit to me and Mr. Sanjit Patnaik for making this statement. But we have not made any statement on mandatory testing neither do we have any intention of promoting mandatory testing in Orissa. I am not shocked or surprised that this statement has brought on such strong reaction. I am angry that such a damaging statement on mandatory testing is going to ruin all these years of struggle undertaken by all. Mr. Sanjit Patnaik and I have been struggling at the community level against forced testing of married young women by family members. The sad part is that in Orissa media is yet to learn how damaging these kinds of statement is for Orissa as a state where we are yet to go beyond prevention programmes and where districts with high prevalence are neglected by the state.

BY -- Loknath Mishra,
ARUNA.

Gay community in Orissa(India): social discrimination and their fight for their Rights and Dignity in the society

Ratikanta Pradhan
(This is a letter from Ratikanta Pradhan to Satya Sundar Mishra the founder member of SAKHA a CBO established to fight for the rights and dignity of LGBTs in Orissa.

Gay community in Orissa(India): social discriminiation and their fight for their Rights and Dignity in the society

Yes, i am very proud to be a gay. I think that God has a good and noble reason behind creating me like this, so i am happy being a gay. And moreover, we gays play a very important role and contribute a good amount of development initiatives to the society in particualr and as a whole in the world. I dont think we should regreet about being gay and our identity and sexual orientation is natural. We behave and are feminine in our movements except that we do not posses physcial attributes of a women.

But, at the same time, we face a lot of problems regarding our identity and respect and place in the society. There is widespread problem of ragging from physcial to mental as well as economic being a gay in the society. In Orissa(India) society as they are yet to understand us, Society still thinks same sex relation is unnatural and against the order of nature. Gays still face social stigma and other forms of exploitation in each and every field.

Gays in India do feel happy when people accept us, understand our emotions and sentiments. But that itself is not enough we would feel even better and proud if our uniqueness was accepted as normal. Many educated people encourage us and support us in our fight for your dignity and Rights and rightful place in the society.

Now, we have started a association called "SAKHA"(friend) in Bhubaneswar, which primarily works for the development and welfare of the sexual minorities We have been celebrating and coming together on different occasions; The World AIDS Day and organising different workshops regarding the sexual reproductive health, HIV&AIDS, formation of self-help groups and organising other recrational events.

I would take this opportunity to thank Mr. Satya Sundar Mishra
(Subhi/subham)) for his contribution and hard work and for establishing this platform I hope and appeal to all gay people who re living in and around Bhubaneswar please come foreward and fight for our Rights with altogether
I Wish all of us success

MIXED MESSAGES

My seven year old daughter is obsessed with reading out loud every poster, hoarding, shop names and every bit of words and statements that she can see from the car window. She also asks the adults sitting in the car to explain what these terms and statements mean. Yesterday she saw a poster somewhere where it was written, ‘save a girl child’. She kept asking me what it meant. Usually I and my husband are a bit wary about explaining to her, because her questions do not end there as she asks us in the most unusual places and inappropriate places (Once during a serious meeting she wanted me to clarify about menstruation and Sex). But this was one statement which I had to clarify to her. When I explained why it is important to save a girl child especially in India and how precious they are, she still did not understand.

So I had to take the story of Balika Badhu ( a television serial which I utterly detest, which is regressive and actually promotes certain key traditional practices like child marriage, widow repression and no education for a girl child and which should be abolished/banned). What is great about the serial is that it is currently the most popular serial, and even in workplaces colleagues of mine discuss about the serial and react positively to the story line.

Did my daughter understand after my explanation? Not really, as previously I had told her that Balika Badhu is just a story and not something to be believed in.

Shiny Ahuja the brilliant actor involved in raping his own 18 year old maid. There will probably be two kinds of opinion, if it is rape then he should be jailed, if it is consensual then probably he is not at fault. EXCUSE ME which ever way it goes it is rape. A young susceptible 17/18 year old girl from a poor marginalized background who is uneducated works in your house as a domestic maid for a paltry sum, who is lead/seduced by a married man in his thirties, who is a film actor ( Mr. Shiney Ahuja who proudly claims to be a thinking actor) to indulge in sex, when his wife and child are away. Do you still feel that this is right if it was consensual?

I think the media(print, audio, video) throws a lot of questions which need to be looked into and pondered before community becomes the judge and jury and pronounces a verdict.