Nazariya Foundation
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Mission Statement
Nazariya, a Queer Feminist Resource Group, was formed in October 2014 by a group of Delhi-based queer feminist activists. It was started to sensitise the work and culture of groups and individuals working on issues of gender-based violence, livelihoods, education, and health from a queer perspective through research & evaluations, capacity building, and advocacy. We use the word queer for people who have diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. A queer perspective helps build links between issues of people marginalised on the basis of their gender and sexuality, and the existing work on violence, livelihoods, education, and health in order to impact the discourse on pleasure, desire, rights, and entitlements. Nazariya is led and run by queer persons. With a focus on queer women and trans* persons, we at Nazariya work with a view to make LGBT*QIA+ lives visible. We believe that all queer persons have the capability and capacity to demand our rights and speak for ourselves when we have access to resources and equal opportunities in a non-discriminatory environment. We advocate for creating such an environment.
About This Cause
Shelter homes for ‘female’ survivors of violence have long been a tangential, if not missing, piece in the conversations among the human rights, feminist and women’s rights groups and movement. This recognition by several women’s rights activists and LGBT*QIA+ groups, feminist collectives and NGOs from across the country led to two national-level consultations in 2016. The first one was held in March 2016 in Bangalore and the second took place during October in Delhi. Groups from different parts of the country shared their experiences of running shelter homes, offering referrals to shelter homes and/or support services to survivors; they talked about conditions for and concerns of staff members of shelter homes, undertaking small studies on shelter homes, counselling and so on. These conversations, wide-ranging observations and experiences were consolidated in the various Time for Overhauls report. These vigorous conversations led to the genesis of an informal, national network of shelter homes called Lam-lynti Chittara Neralu (LCN) - that Nazariya: A Queer Feminist Resource Group is also a part of . This name means “to lead the way under the vista of stars” and derives from three Indian languages. In Khasi, Lam-lynti means to “lead the way”. Chittara is a Telugu word that means “star”, and Neralu in Kannada refers to “shelter”. This assortment of languages reflects the diversities and collaborations across regions and states represented in LCN. This was preceded by decades long peer support work done by queer feminists activists for community members who did not identify as ‘female’ or did not conform to the definition of how ‘women’ experience violence. Team members of Nazariya have been involved in similar peer support work ever since its formal inception in April 2015. One of the outcomes of LCN was to help leverage the options that shelter homes could offer to survivors and work in solidarity with shelter home staff and survivors to reconceive shelters as open, positive spaces that offer care within a rights-based support system for ‘women and girls’ and to also expand the notion of what it means to be a ‘woman and girl’ accessing safe shelter spaces. Well-meaning shelter administrators are often unsure of how to provide safe shelter for queer women and trans* persons. Rightfully concerned about safety and privacy for all shelter residents, these administrators may be unsure of how to integrate transgender people into the sex-segregated shelter population. ISSUES THAT QUEER WOMEN AND TRANS* PERSONS FACE 1. Rejection by family members including being forced out of home 2. Discrimination by social services such as homeless shelters, shelters meant for ‘women’, rape crisis centers, medical clinics 3. Unemployment or underemployment due to discrimination 4. Discrimination and harassment in school/place of education 5. Domestic violence 6. Fear of repercussion or reprisal in retaliation for exerting one’s basic rights, such as speaking out in public 7. Abusive treatment by law enforcement personnel 8. Public humiliation, derision, ridicule, marginalization and exclusion 9. Denial of housing due to discrimination 10. Denial of access to public accommodations such as shops, restaurants, and public transportation Additionally, trans* persons struggle with everyday life, and confront ugly, frequently legal discrimination in employment, public accommodations, and other areas such as housing. Some of the cases which have been mentioned in the media are: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/shivy-gets-back-his-identity-documents/ https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/delhi-high-court-orders-police-protection-for-same-sex-couple/story-F0U7VYCWzEXlqTtvubZ4PL.html https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/same-sex-couples-can-live-together-uttarakhand-hc/story-WDjvNH3JzJvaGDtpfzZOxL.html With the help of our legal unit which comprises Human Right Lawyers, we have been able to provide protection orders to queer couples in Delhi and North India. However, one of our biggest challenges is the lack of shelter homes for queer women and partners of transmen in Delhi/NCR. There is a state sponsored Garima Greh which is recently opened for transgender persons in Delhi. There is another shelter home run by a trans organisation in Delhi. However, these shelter homes do not provide shelter to GNC persons, partners of transmen. Mostly when transmen leave their homes, they leave with their partners. Because of this unavailability, we have opened our personal homes for such couples and are also trying to establish a shelter home. Many queer women couples have also started leaving abusive natal families and wanting to stay together. Because of the lack of an intentional shelter home, these women have to take shelter either in homes run by women’s organisations whose mandate is different than ours, or again find a place in our personal homes. This option is not only dangerous for queer activists but also not feasible in the long run. Currently, one of our biggest challenges is raising funds for continue running our shelter home for queer women and trans* persons in Delhi. We have been able to provide support to many couples and individuals, however, it has been noticed that there is a constant lack of funds, resources due to which we have to open our houses to serve as shelters for them or provide shelter in our current shelter home with a limited capacity. This option is not feasible in the long run and therefore we want to establish a safe long run, well resourced and equipped shelter home catering to more LBQT* people. We want to continue running this shelter home to support queer and trans* persons and couples. But running a shelter home requires money and unfortunately we do not have any funding for the same. Currently, there are 6 LBQT* persons staying in our Shelter home. During the time of their stay, we take care for their food, accommodation costs and a safe stay with us.