Thiruvananthapuram: A deluge may not be the best time to conduct sensitisation on gender identity or sexual orientation. But P.K. Prijith, founder of the organisation Queerythm, would find openings for conversations related to their movement during flood relief operations.
He and his friends with their limited resources have been taking relief materials from Thiruvananthapuram to the people in far-flung areas who have been getting little support.
Sometimes, this would be while talking to drivers taking them to flood-affected areas. Or it would be while introducing who it is. For, those coordinating relief acti-vities would want to kn-ow if these are individuals or organisations who are lending a helping hand.
The question would prompt Prijith to say that they are an organisation which works for the rights of LGBTQI+ community.
“Recently, when we used the word ‘LGBT’ to explain what we do, higher secondary school teachers who coo-rdinated a relief activity asked what it meant. Then we elaborated on sexual orientation and gender identity. When we talked about the movement to the drivers, many were unaware of it. There were drivers who were so surprised that they were asking if it truly exists,” he says.
They have travelled to remote areas in Thiru-valla, Chengannur, Mav-elikkara, Ranni and Ka-njikkuzhy as well as tri-bal settlements in Path-anamthitta. The people here would be exhausted, waiting for some support.
To them, Prijith doesn’t talk about the movement. “We set out because we have to lend a helping hand to our fellow beings. Our resou-rces were limited. But people came together. We were running out of money that we initially set out with. The ones who knew us well gave money and many others supplied relief materials. But now is the time to act,” he says.
Meanwhile, the contacts they spoke with during this time have also become a fresh network with whom Prijith will organise sensitisation classes. In fact, the teachers who didn’t know about ‘LGBT’ have requested Queerythm to organise a session on it at their school.
