TW: Mention of suicide
It was in 2009 that Chennai witnessed its first-ever Pride March. Almost a decade and a half down the lane, this year’s Pride March gains significance in the context of the marriage equality petitions being heard in the country’s apex court. Multiple factors contributed to the inception of the Chennai Rainbow Pride March 14 years ago, including multiple suicides reported from within the community and harassment faced by individuals.
One such incident that shook the conscience of the Chennai queer community was the suicide of two lesbian women, Christy Jayanthi Malar and Rukmani, who were subjected to harassment and abuse by their family members. Their deaths were a crucial point in the history of LGBTQIA+ rights in Tamil Nadu, and were the catalyst that brought together queer rights activists together.
In an attempt to establish the history of LGBTQIA+ individuals who played key roles in queer history, Inqlusive Newsrooms, a project to make the Indian media ecosystem more sensitive towards LGBTQIA+ individuals and identities, is observing June as Queer History Month. Inqlusive Newsrooms is a project spearheaded by The News Minute, Queer Chennai Chronicles (QCC), and QueerBeat.
A still from the Chennai Pride March 2023 / Image by Nithya Pandian
Gireesh, a Tamil writer and the editor of QCC, came up with the idea to observe Queer History Month in India as he had not come across the concept in the country. “We observe Black History Month and Dalit History Month. So, when we started Inqlusive Newsrooms this year, we thought of observing June as Queer History Month,” he says. C Moulee, co-founder of QCC, says that even though Pride Month has been celebrated in the country for years, this year, it is being used to remember key people in history, as well as to establish the histories of LGBTQIA+ individuals.
“We should recognise the small success we have now. We should acknowledge the history we are creating in the present times. At Inqlusive Newsrooms, we have posted the history of Christy and Rukmani, as well as trans rights activist Marsha P Johnson, who represent a lot of people whose stories we are unaware of,” Moulee says.
Marsha P Johnson was a prominent figure of the LGBTQIA+ rights movement in America in the 1970s. Marsha and others such as Stormé DeLarverie, an American butch lesbian woman, were at the front of the fight against the police raid in Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969, which later came to be known as the Stonewall Uprising.
In Tamil Nadu, May 17, 2008 turned out to be a very important day in the LGBTQIA+ discourse. On that Saturday morning, the charred bodies of two women hugging each other were found in a house in Sathangadu of Thiruvottiyur. The death of the women deeply affected the LGBTQIA+ community. It showed them how long the path ahead was. The women were identified as Christy Jayanthi Malar (38) and Rukmani (40), lovers who decided to die by suicide after being subjected to abuse and harassment by their families.
According to a Times of India story published at the time of the deaths, the two women were schoolmates who eventually got married to two men. However, they remained in touch with each other, which led their family members to react adversely. Rukmani separated from her husband, but was forced to marry another man and move away from where Christy lived. But the women continued to meet at Christy’s house. In one such meeting, Rukmani’s family abused the duo in front of several people for their “unusual physical relationship”. That night, the women died by suicide. Christy and Rukmani saw no future that would allow them to live together.
“The reason for choosing these two histories – Marsha P Johnson, and Christy and Rukmani – was to represent a larger section of the community through the figures who played key roles in queer rights activism. The story of Christy and Rukmani is something that many people are not aware of, and is almost forgotten. While we know prominent names, it’s important to acknowledge and remember everyone,” Gireesh and Moulee say.
Gireesh also points out that the Pride March in itself has evolved over the years. “During the first ever Pride March, people were scared to participate in it. The police were deployed for protection but we were not sure if they would protect us. Many who wanted to participate in the march walked at a safe distance from the rally. But this year, it was like a carnival with thousands participating and celebrating. We have arrived at a place where the space is conducive for people to walk. I think that the route we go [near the Rajarathinam Stadium] is also safe for the community,” he says.
L Ramakrishnan of NGO SAATHII, who is also a volunteer peer counsellor with the Chennai-based LGBTQIA+ support group Orinam collective, was part of the first condolence meeting convened by Shakthi Resource Centre that was held soon after the deaths of Christy and Rukmani. Speaking to TNM, he says, “We got to know about the deaths of the two women through a newspaper report. It was also the time when there were meetings with individuals and groups about the support needed for the LGBTQIA+ community. Soon after their deaths, the individuals and groups that would eventually become the Chennai Rainbow Coalition met and conducted a condolence meeting, where we talked about mental health in the community. There were queer persons as well as mental healthcare providers in the meeting, and we strongly felt that more needs to be done in terms of suicide prevention.” This was the incident that brought a lot of people across organisations and collective affiliations together, Ramakrishnan says, adding that many people shared poetry and words for Christy and Rukmani during that meeting.
Stating that Christy and Rukmani’s saga has been written about in anthologies in Indian queer history since then, he says this was the point that catalysed the need to do more than have social groups. “At the time, a lot of the groups were focused on social activities and supporting people with HIV/AIDS services. After the deaths of Christy and Rukmani, psychosocial support was discussed on a large scale,” he says.
Ramakrishnan says that even though incidents of suicide have been reported after the Christy-Rukmani incident, there are now groups that offer suicide prevention and mental health support, in addition to other social activities. “There is Thozhi, Sahodharan, Orinam, Nirangal, who can be contacted by community members. Each of them have separate helplines. We also refer people to professional services and monthly support groups are held in town,” he adds.
Orinam’s archives have a memorial post that documents the deaths of the two lesbian women, which states, “May 2008 will be remembered as a sad yet memorable month in the history of LGBT movement in Tamilnadu (sic)”. The very next year, Chennai Rainbow Pride Coalition, a collective of LGBTQIA+ individuals, supporters, and organisations working for human rights and health, was formed. The first-ever Pride March was also conducted in Chennai in 2009. In the event’s press release, Chennai Rainbow Pride Coalition mentioned the suicides of lesbian couples in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Since then, there has been consistent effort to improve psychosocial support for LGBTQIA+ individuals, says Ramakrishnan.
Journalist Ranjitha Gunasekaran, assistant resident editor of The New Indian Express in Tamil Nadu, had covered the deaths of Christy and Rukmani in 2008. Speaking to TNM, she says that there were limited resources for lesbian women back then. “There were more resources for gay men and trans women back then, much of it tied to HIV/AIDS prevention. But lesbians were a lower risk group for the disease and resources for them were limited. Further, while Section 377 [that criminalised consensual same-sex relationships] was rarely, if ever, invoked for lesbians. Abduction cases would be filed instead, which still happens. Families file kidnapping cases when consenting adult women leave homes and the police pursue these cases. Families also continue to drag individuals to mental health professionals or even have them committed against their will to undergo ‘conversion therapies’. We come across such cases even now,” she says.
Ponni Arasu, independent researcher and activist, says that even though the first Pride March happened a year after the deaths of Christy and Rukimini, there were many other trigger points for Pride, including the fact that it was happening in a few other states in India. “However, what was specific to us was Periyar and our self-respect movement. Periyar and the other thinkers of the self-respect movement had already subjected caste, families, society, morality, virginity, etc. to question. We had access and familiarity with the concept of self-respect,” Ponni says.
Six years from then, the Rainbow Pride March was changed into ‘Chennai Rainbow Pride and Self-Respect March’. Moulee, who played a key role in the name change, says, “In Tamil, Pride was called perumai [meaning pride]. In 2015, there was a Pride planning meeting where I suggested we use the term suyamariyathai [meaning self-respect] instead of perumai, and also to rename the Pride March as ‘Chennai Rainbow Self-Respect March’. From 2015, it came to be known by the latter name,” he says. Moulee explains that the term suyamariyathai was derived from the self-respect movement in Tamil Nadu. “We should be cognisant of the values of the self-respect movement that gave confidence for multiple gender social identities to coexist,” he says.
A still from the Chennai Pride March 2023 / Image by Nithya Pandian
Stating that queer rights mean different things to different people, Ponni says, “Pride is political. It is a reason for joy and a celebration of those things that we are proud of. It is not just about what we are against, but also about who we are and what we want the world to be. The biggest challenge world over now is to keep Pride political.” Ponni points out that there are some places where Pride has become only a celebration, which does not address the multi-pronged violence and oppression in society.
“There is no longer a conversation about LGBTQIA+ folks who are poor, homeless, or who are dealing with harassment from families and police in India and many other parts of the world. For us, even as we celebrate Pride, we want to keep the complex intersectional politics of Pride and the queer movement alive,” she says. Ponni adds that one way for achieving that is not receiving funds from corporates for Pride events.
A still from the Chennai Pride March 2023 / Image by Nithya Pandian
“One of the things that Chennai Pride and Pride in most parts of India have maintained is that they are non-Corporate funded. In western countries, it is funded by companies. We are not made up of only one identity, so we cannot fight separately for each of our rights. They are all connected. When there is a celebration, the concerns of all community members should be raised and people should be given space. In the West, participants cannot even carry their own placards now, as Pride is fully run by corporates. In India, it is non-funded, and it is important that we keep it that way because we always have folks with diverse experiences and challenges. What we bring to the world as queer persons is diversity and uniqueness, and companies are not interested in that. They are only interested in branding. We have to make sure Pride is not branded by any companies,” she says.
If you are aware of anyone facing mental health issues or feeling suicidal, please provide help. Here are some helpline numbers of suicide-prevention organisations that can offer emotional support to individuals and families.
Tamil Nadu
State health department's suicide helpline: 104
Sneha Suicide Prevention Centre - 044-24640050 (listed as the sole suicide prevention helpline in Tamil Nadu)
Andhra Pradesh
Life Suicide Prevention: 78930 78930
Roshni: 9166202000, 9127848584
Karnataka
Sahai (24-hour): 080 65000111, 080 65000222
Kerala
Maithri: 0484 2540530
Chaithram: 0484 2361161
Both are 24-hour helpline numbers.
Telangana
State government's suicide prevention (tollfree): 104
Roshni: 040 66202000, 6620200
SEVA: 09441778290, 040 27504682 (between 9 am and 7 pm
Aasara offers support to individuals and families during an emotional crisis, for those dealing with mental health issues and suicidal ideation, and to those undergoing trauma after the suicide of a loved one.
24x7 Helpline: 9820466726
Click here for working helplines across India.