Tag: #pride

Kadambai Ganguly

On July 18, 1861, Kadambini Bose was born in Bhagalpur, British India (modern-day Bangladesh). She was born during the Bengali renaissance, a period of religious, social, and educational developments in the Bengal area from the nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. This cultural revolution had a direct influence on Kadambini since her father was a prominent member of the Hindu reformation movement Brahmo Samaj, as well as co-founder of India’s first women’s rights group, Bhagalpur Mahila Samiti. And, despite the fact that educational options for Indian women were limited at the time, Kadambini’s father, the headmaster of Bhagalpur School, recognised the value of education and enabled Kadambini to attend.

Kadambini married Dwarkanath Ganguly, her mentor and instructor at Bethune College, after graduation. Dwarkanath, an outspoken advocate for women’s rights in India, urged his wife to seek a medical degree.Calcutta Medical College declined to enrol Kadambini, but the couple persisted, and she was finally admitted as the college’s first female medical student. Despite continuous opposition from instructors and staff, Kadambini received her Graduate of Bengal Medical College degree in Calcutta in 1886, becoming the first Indian-educated female doctor.(Anandi Gopal Joshi was the first female Indian doctor, although she received her education in America.)

Kadambini had only been practising medicine for a few months when a hardline Hindu news publication published an article questioning her doctorate credentials and referring to her in derogatory terms. Kadambini took the case to court, and after a lengthy legal struggle, the article’s editor was convicted to six months in jail for libel. Conservatives opposed to female emancipation could not stop her, and Kadambini chose to pursue the highest possible medical qualification; she flew to the United Kingdom in 1892 and obtained three additional doctorate certificates. She returned to India and worked as a gynaecologist at Lady Dufferin Hospital before opening her own private practise.

Kadambini’s hectic life as a doctor and mother of eight children did not prevent her from playing a part in India’s women’s rights movement. She was one of six delegates in the first female delegation to the Indian National Congress in 1889, and she helped organise the Women’s Conference in Calcutta in 1906. She was also quite involved in a number of other campaigns, such as one that sought to better working conditions for female Eastern Indian coal workers.

PRIDE MONTH

It takes no compromise to give people their rights…. It takes no money to respect the individual…it takes no political days to give people freedom… it takes no survey to remove repression. – Harvey Milk

Flag with six stripes of Rainbow represent LGBTQ community and it is used to express Pride in this community.

As we all know June is celebrated as pride month.

So what is pride? Pride is about people coming towards to show dignity ,love ,care and affection to everyone. No matter how they look, what is their orientation, what is their gender etc.

we have to be an Ally ,being an means supporting equal rights for everyone- regardless of sexual orientation,race,gender or religion .

Global pride day is celebrated on 28 June.

Pride month dedicated to the LGBTQIA+ community and their right to live a dignified life.
LGBTQ stands for – lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual respectively.


Lesbian refers to a woman who is attracted towards other women.


Gay refers to a man attracted towards other man.


Bisexual refers to the people who sexually or emotionally attracted to both men and women.


Transgender refers to the people whose gender identity or expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.


Queer is an umbrella term referring to anyone who is not straight and not cisgender.


Intersex refers to the people who have biological traits such as genetic, hormonal differences that don’t fit in the typical definition of male and female.


Asexual refers to the people who do not experience sexual attraction or sexual interest/ desire for anyone

  • + Include at the end of acronym LGBTQIA+ in the condition of the multitude of identities that exist

LGBTQIA + ally is someone who stand up for, support, and encourage this community and try to make the world better place for the people of this community

We have to help, improve their quality of life in any way possible for us…

Lets free flow of colours on to the regular restricted repetitive patterns of society to make it beautiful for everyone……..

Acceptance

I’m gay. I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time. I thought doing it this way would be a piece of cake. I hope you still love me. I mean, it’s hard not to love someone who baked you a cake. All my friends know and still love me. Your acceptance would be the icing on the cake. I hope you, much like this cake, are not in tiers. I hope we can look back on this and say ‘boy, this one really takes the cake!’ It gets better. Love, Aman.(sorry for so many puns)”

This is a story of thousands of people who came out this way by sending text messages to their parents because they are afraid to face them in the fear of being disowned.

Coming out takes a lot of courage and finesse. Some people use humor. Some use emotion. And sometimes, their families react the “right” way. But not everyone can be so lucky.

And for those who aren’t ready to come out yet, that’s okay. Come out when you’re ready and when you’re in a safe position to do so.

Decriminalising homosexuality may have come as a huge relief to the LGBTQ community in India but things have not changed much yet. Coming out continues to be a challenge.

Both sides of coming out stories are important to share. Our society has come far but we also have a long way to go. 

Pride Goes Before Destruction

“Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

This leaves you with an understanding that humility is a virtue; pride is not. Humility comes when people are secure while pride comes when they are insecure. Humility is your strength whereas pride is your weakness.

pride

More often than not the line between pride and humility is blurred. While trying to keep it in check, you get either too arrogant or too humble when the time comes. Your thoughts become conflicting while figuring out whether to be proud or humble in a certain situation and you almost always end up doing the opposite of what was intended. It seems like a never-ending maze without any particular destination.

So the question that arises now is how do you distinguish when to show what emotion and in what quantity? This can be achieved by knowing the answer to these two simple questions.

What is the difference between true pride and false pride? What is the difference between true humility and false humility?

True pride is when you acknowledge your identity and your actions without the burning need for approval from the outside sources. False pride is claiming that you are more than you believe you are and that you know more than you need to know. In this case, a person will feel empty and inadequate from inside and need approval for every tiny detail of his life from others. Now outside approval is not necessarily a bad thing but when you feel like your self-worth depends on it, know that you are in deep trouble. Another thing associated with false pride is a sense of arrogance. True pride is knowing you are better than the other person at a certain task. This is not somehow affecting your performance or hindering your progress. False pride is getting the other person to acknowledge the fact that he is behind you in that task. Often while doing this, a person loses sight of the long-term goal with his need to feel superior to others.

pride2

True humility is when you acknowledge your identity and your actions without the burning need for approval from the outside sources. False humility is claiming that you are less than you believe you are and that you can do less than you believe you can. A person with false humility is driven with a need to get everyone to accept that he is too humble as he feels himself to be inferior to them. This could be the case when he thinks being even a little proud is bad for him or when he wants to shadow his arrogance by overcompensating for it. A truly humble person will not be affected by what others think of his actions.

What this brings us to is that true pride and true humility are one and the same thing. We need to balance out these emotions in our lives, all the while working towards our goal and not caring about unnecessary opinions.

Image Courtesy: GOOGLE

References: Proverbs 16:18

The pride month

The pride month is going on, as the global pride day is on 27th of June.  Why is it called the pride month?  In 1969 same day, was the first time when homosexuals got together and fought for their rights to be treated with dignity, also called the stonewalls riot that happened in New York.  America had an anti gay legal system, under which they always saw homosexuals as a threat to humans, because of which these people were not allowed in many places. At that time Stone wall Inn a bar in Greenwich village used to allow these people as it was run be an highly organized Italian- American criminal society. Although different kind of people used to come there, the bar was called the ” Gay bar”, and police used to raid it every night and used to torture those whom they found homosexuals. After many years of sufferings, these people organized  protests to make people aware that homosexuality is not a crime and a person should be free to reveal their sexuality without being arrested. After six days of riot, the anti gay system was abolished and they were no longer seen as threat to the society, and in 2003 a after many protests and campaigns in 2003 they were given the right to LOVE. This was  all about America, there are many other countries which have not even legalized homosexuality.

It’s really sad that some group of people in the world have to struggle so much to get the right to live. Have you ever read about these historical movements in any of your school text books? or Have your parents in anyway talked about it? No, none of our history text books have ever  mentioned  about this. None of our biology text books  mention that there are people who are homosexuals. None of our literature  textbooks mention the story of the struggle that one goes through when they feel different from others. There  are people claiming to  have a cure for homosexuality,  the people claiming these things should be arrested rather they are appreciated and encouraged by our society.

Why is it so difficult to understand the most normal thing in this world.

It is time that we introduce this as a subject in the school, and make the students aware about this. May be this can help many to accept themselves, and can prevent many stigma to prevail about this .  Its time that we tell our friends, kids, brother or sister  that it is ok to be what you are, love yourself for what you are. Its time that we stop using words like gay, lesbian, queer as an intention to insult others. Its time that we start to feel normal when you see a gay or lesbian couple. Its time to talk something beyond just asking these people that how do they feel? When did they make the decision to be this? Don’t you think you could have been normal? etc.

Let’s bring a change by making homosexuality a normal thing. Try to make a world where everyone lives their life happily  and help each other out in difficult times ,in short make a civilized society in its real meaning.

 

 

 

Pride Month 2020: #21daysallychallenge

Pride march

Every year, in the month of June, the LGBTQ community hosts pride celebration in various ways. It is a month long celebration of diversity, love, acceptance, inclusion and unabashed self-pride. Various events are held across the globe during this commemorative month as a way of recognising the LGBTQ community and their influence around the world.

Why the month of June?

The month of June was chosen for LGBTQ pride month to memorialise the riots held by LGBTQ community members against a police raid that occured at the Stonewall Inn, a gay club, in New York City on June 28, 1969.

The message was clear; to peacefully protest and raise political and social awareness of the issues facing by the community. The queer community wanted to be open about their sexual orientation and be free to go anywhere without the fear of being arrested.

Pride Month 2020: #21daysallychallenge

This year, because of the social distancing norms across the world, many pride parades and events are on hold. But still we would not be restricted to celebrate all forms of love. Due to the global pandemic concerns, this year a different approach have been taken by the Pride Circle to take aware and conscious steps to acknowledge and redress stereotypes and biases about the LGBTQ community and bring about social change.

The aim of the challenge is to bring together individuals and influencers from over 28 countries and 70 organisations to establish a global community of LGBTQ allies. It started on June 1, there will be 21 mini-challenges extended over a period of 21 days in the month of June. As per the Pride Circle’s Statement, “this is based on science that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. Anyone can participate free-of-cost and sign up for it by clicking on the link – https://thepridecircle.com/21daysallychallenge/

Some of the challenges of the initiative include building awareness about the existence and journey of an LGTBQ person, for instance, read or watch or find out about the coming out story of an LGTBQ person, laws associated with the community; show your allyship, test your biasness- have you ever made fun of or discriminated an LGBTQ. Wear something symbolic or just shout out, let the world know that you’re an ally. Build your knowledge about the community. Learn about the art and literature by them and go all out. Don’t hold back, talk about the stigma and bias against LGBTQ persons.

In our country, decriminalisation of homosexuality is yet to complete 2 years, this initiative which has sprouted in India could become our leap of faith to ignite a global movement to look out for equal rights and fair treatment for the people belonging to that community. Allies would be able to contribute in creating a safe space where people of every sexual orientation is welcome and respected. It will help bridge the gap and let people understand the importance of treating others, who may be different from them, with equality, fairness, acceptance and mutual respect. The #21daysallychallenge could be a favourable step in the direction of building and inclusive and conscientious society with support and trust.

The movement is supported by various organisations, along with eminent academic institutions such as IIMs, IITs, NMIMS, MICA and the only school in India participating in Pride month celebrations, Tagore International School, Vasant vihar. This is a great achievement towards creating safer schools, workplaces and society for the coming generation. Such support from organisations like these is the need of the hour as it plays a vital role in the bigger fight to advance the community and promote inclusion in all spheres of life.

Pic credit: The Hindu

https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/www.thehindu.com/society/celebrating-pride-month-in-june-with-the-21daysallychallenge/article31720256.ece

Now, more than ever, we, the people of India, should encourage everyone who believes in LGTBQ equality to come out and be an ally or support in the best possible way. It’s time we move towards being a more accepting society and initiatives like these is the fundamental step towards that larger goal of “vasudhaiva kutumbakam”, i.e. “the world is one family”.