In anticipation of the upcoming Queer Pride Parade in Guwahati on February 11, Tezpur University students’ fraternity has collaborated on organizing a discourse entitled ‘Queertessential’.
The event was held on Tuesday, 30th January 2018 at the University premises.
Aparna Choudhury, alumnus of Tezpur University and co-founder of WE DO (Women Empowerment and Development Organization) and Indranee Kalita, a senior student from the Social Work department moderated the event.
The event also witnessed various healthy debates and discussions on topics ranging from protection of individual dignity irrespective of sexual orientation and gender identity and promoting queer talk and acceptance in society.
A short film titled ‘That’s my boy’ by Akhil Satan, narrating the story of a young girl’s journey of transforming into a boy, was filmed at the symposium.
Milin Dutta, who identifies himself as a trans-man is the founding member of Xukia- a collective formed with the aim of creating a queer friendly Assam and also the organizer of the first ever Queer Pride Walk.
At the event, he spoke about the struggles of his own transformation and the problem of the sexual minorities in Assam.
The event is a huge leap towards making people aware of the daily struggles of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer/Questioning Intersex Asezual (LGBTQIA) community in Assam.