Survey being held to gauge LGBTQ community's political view

What does the LGBTQ community politically thinks of? A survey to understand this is being conducted by Queer & Political a group that tries to gauge the political sense of the community. A survey on the face of the general elections schedule to be held in 2019 is being conducted by the group. The results will be out on January 19, 2019, during a program at Humsafar Trust.

The group initiated by Pallav Patankar, a long time activist, posted the survey online on social media platforms. "As Queer citizens of India, what is our political belief system? Where do we go post section 377 reading down? What rights do we prioritize, where do we go from here? What affects us most. Take the Queer & Political Survey and find out the details in the dissemination," read the introduction to the survey.

According to Sushil a core group member of Queer & Political, the previous surveys have helped in understanding the political sense of the community well. "For example, we realised more people were interested in their rights than directly in political parties. Hence, this survey also holds questions mostly on those lines," said Sushil.

Some of the questions, that are part of the survey the age bracket of the individual taking the survey, sexual orientation, which includes options like gay, bisexual, lesbian, heterosexual and others.

There are interesting questions asking the participant to rate the level of discrimination he or she has experience as an Indian LGBTQ+ person. This includes fields like education, health care. The other question is very different and asks the participant which aspect of his or her identity faces discrimination, and the option includes caste, religion and others. There are questions also on the legal rights of the individuals. This includes how would an LGBTQ+ individual rate his or her legal rights on issues like marriage equality, civil unions and others.

Sushil says that the results will be declared on January 19 at the Humsafar Trust office, after which they will also try and find ways on how to take the issues responsibly. They even had held workshops previously where issues pertaining to the community had come up, this would be one of the first surveys in the country to gauge the political sense mostly about the rights and their relevance post the Supreme Court's order on section 377.

According to a gay person who took the survey and didn't wish to be identified says, "I took the survey because I had previously also taken one of their surveys. I found the questions more based on the rights that the community desires for, like civil unions and legal rights. after winning the fight for repealing of section 377, we are now looking for proper rights that every citizen in the country enjoys and that is my aim."

RIGHTS FOR ALL

• A survey on the face of the general elections in 2019 is being conducted by Queer & Political
   
• The results will be out on January 19, 2019, during a program at Humsafar Trust
   
• There are questions also on the legal rights of the individuals