All Articles

Pandemic Poverty – A contemporary wave

In one of the April fortnightly editions of Down to Earth, a magazine focusing on the theme of the politics of environment and development, an article by Richard Mahapatra talks about the reinstatement of a state of mass poverty in India. For most of us, the slogan of “Garibi Hatao“, popularized in the 1970s by …

Read More

A Collaboration with Save Indian Trans AllIndia Lives (SITAL)

September 2021 marks the 18th month since the imposition of the very first lockdown due to COVID-19 in India. For marginalized queer/trans persons living on the periphery of survival, it has been an arduous journey. The sudden lockdown created an unprecedented sense of isolation and fear, and within the blood families, problems intensified. But there …

Read More

An Attempt to Critique “Normalcy”

Trigger Warning: The essay below mentions and describes corrective rape and homophobia, lesbophobia, and transphobia. On July 7th, 2021 Gujarati newspaper Sandesh carried an article titled “હું અને મારી બહેનપળી મેરેજ નથી કરવા માંગતા, જિંદગીભર સાથે જ રહી શકીશું?” which translates to “Me and my friend do not want to marry – can we live …

Read More

The NALSA Judgement – Where Do We Stand 7 Years Later?

April 15th, 2021 marks the 7th year since the Honourable Supreme Court of India passed the NALSA Judgement which laid down favourable guidelines for the transgender community in India. The National Legal Services Authority, which was established as a means to provide free legal services for the marginalized, underrepresented/unrepresented, and oppressed sections of the society, …

Read More

Visit to Chhota Udaipur – Facilitating names and gender changes for transgender persons

On 25th February, 2021, we visited Chhotaudepur to facilitate the process of name and gender change for members of the community, as provided under the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020. The first stop was made at the office of the Department of Social Justice, …

Read More

Meeting for name and gender change

A meeting was held in Vikalp’s office in Vadodara on 9th March, 2021, to facilitate the name and gender change for transgender persons by filling applications online on the National Portal for Transgender Persons,1 as provided under the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, and Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020. A total …

Read More

Dialogue with district officials in Chhotaudepur

On 6th January, 2021, a meeting was held with the representative of the district government in Chhotaudepur, Bhargavi Ninami and P.L Dindor, mamlatdar of Chhotaudepur. Ramesh Chaudhary, a school teacher from Ghelwad in Chhotaudepur was also present. Around 31 members of the community including female sex workers (FSW), men who have sex with men (MSM) …

Read More

Prajnya 16 Days Campaign Against Gender Violence – “The Violence of Heteronormativity: A Symposium”

On December 2nd, 2020, an online event was hosted by “Prajnya 16 Days Campaign Against Gender Violence” (http://www.prajnya.in/16days) and “Prajnya” (http://www.prajnya.in/) entitled “The Violence of Heteronormativity: A Symposium”. Maya from Vikalp was one of the panelists in this session. The session sought to speak about the overarching structure of cis-heteronormativity fueled by the tenets of …

Read More

World AIDS Day

December 1st of every year marks World AIDS Day, which seeks to raise awareness about, and dispel myths that exist around, HIV/AIDS. While HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a retrovirus that infects cells of the human immune system, AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) describes the collection of symptoms and infections associated with acquired deficiency of the …

Read More

Inclusive Healthcare in Gujarat towards LGBTQ+

As a successor to a meeting on Continuing Medical Education (CME) in 2018, organized by the India Psychiatric Society, Gujarat State Branch, another such session was held on September 26th, 2020, entitled “Towards LGBTIQ+ Inclusive Healthcare In Gujarat”. Given the COVID-19 crisis, the same was held online through a virtual meeting in the form of …

Read More

LGBTQI+ Couples and Structural Interventions

On 9th November, 2020 a virtual discussion was held amongst members of the LGBTIA+ community and representatives of various organizations from different states in India on the nature and intensity of structural interventions by police, media, and family members in queer and/or trans relationships. A number of instances were recounted and discussed, where the common …

Read More

Sensitization Workshop on NALSA

In 2017-18, Vikalp initiated and led a workshop aimed at sensitizing persons from the trans community in Dahod about the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) Judgement. Trans people from this area, as well as from Madhya Pradesh, attended this workshop. The NALSA judgement given by the Supreme Court of India in 2014 was a landmark …

Read More