SEXUAL MINORITY POPULATION IN BANGLADESH

Homosexuality continues to be criminalized in Bangladesh. Being a conservative society steeped in traditional values, many sexual minorities do not publicly express their sexuality. This creates a situation where identification of who is a sexual minority becomes difficult. This visibility is co-dependent not on the sexuality of individual, but on the gender role that the individual plays out in public.

The violator often makes the presumption as to the sexual activity of the individual based on the gender performance of the individual in public. Sexual assault and rape which we find amongst transgender, hijras, and kothis, along with those bisexual men who access public spaces, reporting a significantly higher quantum of rape and sexual assault as opposed to gay men. While most gay men are often “Straight acting” except in very specific gay spaces and can therefore be assimilated into the mainstream of masculinities in Bangladesh and thus be invisibilised.

For a long time people based their identity on either their gender self perception (i.e. kothis and hijras), or on their specific sexual act which did not necessarily have bearing on their sexuality or their identity (i.e. the sexual partners of kothis and hijras).

In Bangladesh, male sexualities are primarily framed around gender and sexual roles and gender-based identities, not around sexual orientation. Education and class also have a role to play in such framing.

The term “gay” evolved in the West to reflect not only sexual orientation, but also a political orientation involving a process of “coming out” and engaging with other gay identified men. The word “gay” does not mean homosexual.

There is an enormous amount of pressure on sexual minority individuals to get married and often they succumb to this pressure. Similarly, social obligations also include gender performance by the individual in a manner that is socially acceptable.

Sexual minorities in Bangladesh are subjected to a high degree of violence, extralegal and extrajudicial violation of rights, and a great amount of stigma and discrimination, but there is a gradual opening up of spaces, bettering of understanding, and development of sexual minority movement which should better the living conditions of sexual minorities.

This trend is interesting because it ties in neatly with other factors like the space at which the communities are accessed, the economic status at which the community becomes accessible, and social factors like the impact of marriage, of gender performance and public.

A kothi and/or a transgender/hijra is usually accessed at public cruising areas, and/or venues for public sex work. By contrast the bisexual person is usually the sex partner of the kothi or the transgender/hijra person, and is often the one paying for sex. Gay men often do not access public cruising areas and use other mediums like the Internet and gay specific socializing venues to access other gay men.

A much higher number of hijras, kothis, and bisexual identified individuals have reported that their economic status has been adversely affected because of either their sexuality or their gender identity.

Lesbians in Bangladesh are tied down by the double whammy of being women in a largely conservative society that is patriarchist where women cannot in general enjoy the same liberties as men, and being a sexual minority whose sexuality is socially, legally, and a religiously proscribed.

The universe of sexual minorities in Bangladesh, in other words, is as complex and diverse as any other society. Social standing, economic status, education, place of employment, sex and gender, religion, class, sexual practices, all play a part in locating the individual within this universe.

Most male-to-male sexual relationships in South Asia are based on gendered self-identities which in turn determine sex roles. The most visible of these male-to-male sex frameworks involve feminized males who identify themselves as kothis. The same-sex act is played out in a heterosexual context and with similar heterosexual power dynamics.

Homo sex is often considered as something non-serious (even sinful and criminal), but not the same as hetero sex. In countless responses kothis, gay men, hijras, bisexuals and even one lesbian referred to their sexual life in terms of ‘play-acting’ or ‘games’.

Religion’s attitude towards same-sex sexual activities and hetero-normative social conditioning often creates deep seated mismatch in the minds of same sex attracted persons. How they feel in terms of sexual desire, cannot be reconciled with how they understand sexual desire, in the hetero normative sense reinforced by religious.

Males (usually kothis and hijras) who are penetrated in sex are usually perceived to be “not-men”. For self-identified kothis then, the distinction between themselves and their male partners is based on gender identity based power equations and not on sexual identity. Both kothis and hijras draw their sexual partners from the general male population and do not consider themselves homosexual.

The trend of gender identity construction is often most effectively subverted by those who self identify as gay in Bangladesh. This is because the gay identity is primarily understood as a nearly equal relationship between two men, and such a relationship is both a emotional and sexual one.

The very fact that lesbians are also women in a society that is essentially discriminatory against women means that very few lesbians find the social space or the scope to effectively act out these gender dynamics.

When identities are constructed based on gender, the stereotypes of the woman, and of the man that both the sexual partners carry in their minds often extends to the sexual roles and activities that they perform. The man is understood to be the penetrating partner in the sexual act, and the woman is understood to be the penetrated partner in the sexual act.

The "man" in the sexual relationship firstly takes his superiority and power over the feminine partner for granted. If a man perceives his role in the sexual act to be that of the penetrator, then as long as he is penetrating in the sexual act, he continues to remain a man, and would not in his estimate become a homosexual.

A language of sexuality would not have had any major impact in HIV prevention intervention, since most men who have sex with men would not consider themselves to be gay. They would either be “men” in the traditional heterosexual understanding of what a man is, or they would be “not-men/women”. Therefore when the intervention is couched in the language of preventing man-to-man sexual transmission it'd be divorced from the life situation and understanding of those being addressed.

The kothi and the hijra, while adopting the gender stereotype of the woman, also imbibe in themselves the traditional vulnerabilities that women are supposed to have in Bangladesh as their station in life within society, and thus open themselves up to violence and discrimination.

For a long time kothi was conflated with hijra in the popular understanding of even same-sex attracted persons if those persons belonged to a particular class. In other words class played a significant role in how identities were constructed and understood.

Even today there is thin dividing line between the kothi and the hijra communities, and there are many instances of crossovers where a kothi would ultimately join the hijra household.

The discordance between traditionally affluent same-sex attracted people and the publicly visible kothi remained valid even when for the affluent same-sex attracted person the sexual act was played out in a gendered context as in the case of this interviewee. An invisible stamp of class inferiority always tainted the identity of the kothi.

Kothi identity has transformed itself due to mobilization of the community from being the gendered sexual marker of the individual to a social and political identity.

The development of a social and political kothi identity as a consequence of mobilization efforts has also translated into a greater acknowledgement and understanding of the kothi amongst same-sex attracted individuals across class boundaries, often in the process helping those individuals who have so far not associated with kothis because of class issues, but whose gender perception are similar to those of kothis, to adopt the kothi identity for themselves with much less resistance.

The gay identity is primarily different from the kothi at the hijra in so much as the essential basis of their identity is sexuality and not gender. However this difference is primarily appreciated only by the gay identified individuals themselves. For most same-sex attracted people who identify as either kothi are hijra, the gay identity is essentially a class identity, and is understood to have certain privileges which are not available to the average kothi or hijra. This often has created mistrust and distance between the communities.

It is also important to note that while mobilization of kothis was much easier since the kothis could be accessed within the social and cultural milieu that traditionally existed in Bangladesh, and therefore kothi mobilization began before gay organizing began in Bangladesh.

By contrast the kothi and the hijra communities have always enjoyed a close eye on mutually supportive relationship. At an individual level many kothis spent temporarily time with the hijra households, and in public space with hijras. Groups that started as support organizations to create social spaces and primarily work for rights have begun to understand the sensitivities of other communities and accommodate them in their various activities.

Today, to secure the rights of all sexual minorities Bangladesh needs both the strength of numbers as well as certain skill sets. Certain movements like the women's movement have made important gains for women's rights in Bangladesh. In other words there encountered and dealt with situations not very dissimilar from what sexual minorities are facing in Bangladesh. There is a degree of openness to words sexual minority concerns that exist within mainstream human rights organizations in Bangladesh, and these mainstream human rights organizations are in turn vital in taking human rights of sexual minorities issues to the state and the mainstream audience. Sexual minority groups in Bangladesh have also been successful in development of supportive collaboration and engagement with the academia.

Space and social geography plays a vital role in any kind of social and sexual interaction. A heterosexual society based on the values of patriarchy has entailed that women have historically not had adequate space within Bangladesh Society.

In conclusion we can say that there are cultural, social, religious, and legal impediments that sexual minority populations facing Bangladesh. This results in lack of expression of the individual desire, compulsory marriage, and lack of visibility of sexual minority issues. The situation of lesbian women continues to be extremely vulnerable and invisible given the social cultural framework of Bangladesh where women are marginalized anyways.

Action can be taken:

• A greater emphasis & focus on working on the issue of gender, sexuality and masculinity, and working with mainstream masculinity to challenge the heterosexual patriarchy of Bangladesh.
• Increased collaboration of sexual minority organizations with the women's movement the Bangladesh to improve the general situation of women in Bangladesh, and encouraging the women's movement to be accepting in a supportive of the lesbian movement in Bangladesh.
• Increased interaction and advocacy with the media to ensure proper, positive, human rights oriented and scientifically accurate depiction of homosexuality in the mass media.
• Increased emphasis and interaction with Faith Based Leaders to create spaces of tolerance within the religious sphere.
• Secure and strengthen the developing relationship between the sexual minority movement and the mainstream human rights movement as well as the academia.
• At least at the leadership level of the various sexual minority communities, to develop a body that meets regularly to manage internal differences and issues, and to strategies on how best to advocate and work for securing the rights of sexual minorities.
• without overtly unsettling the boat suddenly, to work incrementally towards legal reform including decriminalization.
• To engage with mainstream movements in Bangladesh to increase the public visibility of sexual minorities by participating in their public programmes, with the long-term goal of achieving self-contained visibility in the public sphere.
• Continue to leverage available resources for activities like HIV prevention and health to also secure an advocate for rights of such minorities
• Denial of human rights and justice: Law enforcement agencies/forces treat the kothis and hijra population as an outcast and ‘lesser’ citizens. The frequent abuses, violence in public places along with extortions, sexual assault and rapes are very common among Kothis and Hijras. It is extremely important to work on these areas.