[Fwd: [womeninblack]
*after the news that lesbian couple from city Chennai (indian state Tamil Nadu) embraced and ended their life in fire, on 17th of may 2008, **activists from India made a move and announced in the press conference this Saturday more tragic news: *
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*/*According to a letter drafted by several Delhi-based activist groups, which would be circulated among progressive and like-minded people across Tamil Nadu, eight lesbian suicides have taken place in the state from the beginning of 2008 alone. In Kerala, in the past 10 years, more than 35 lesbian *//*couples*/ <
http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Chennai/Same-sex_activists_come_together/articleshow/3069618.cms#>/* are said to have killed themselves.*/
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*but, since the feminist activism in India has a long history, few brave women announced openig a lesbian support center in that same place! *
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*here are both news: *
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http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7706.html <
http://www.mail2web.com/cgi-bin/redir.asp?lid=0&newsite=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7706.html> >
Tragic end for lesbian couple tormented by family pressure
By Adam Lake • May 22, 2008 - 11:26 *
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Police told reporters that the two doused themselves in kerosene before setting themselves alight
No Comments Yet on Tragic end for lesbian couple tormented by family pressure
A lesbian couple who committed suicide by setting themselves on fire have been put to rest in a joint cremation this week.
Christy Jayanthi Malar (38) and Rukmani (40) set themselves ablaze after their families took objection to their "unnatural relationship."
It has been reported that the two women had suffered years of torment from their families who objected to the closeness of the couple.
Although being in a relationship since their school days the women both had husbands.
This is common in India where there huge social and legal pressures to live a heterosexual lifestyle.
The alarm was raised when smoke was seen coming from Mrs Malar's home. When neighbours went in they found the bodies of the two women held in an
embrace.
It is thought that the women committed suicide after an argument that Rukmani had with her relatives.
Police told reporters that the two doused themselves in kerosene before setting themselves alight.
In an ironic twist, the families who tried to separate them agreed for the bodies to be laid to rest in a joint cremation.
A senior police told The Times of India newspaper:
"We can't say the relatives pushed the women into suicide.
"They might have verbally abused them, but that was to bring them back to normal life."
Homosexual relations are legally still a crime in India under an old British era statute dating from 1860 called Section 377, though the government no longer seeks to prosecute adults engaging in private consensual homosexual acts.
In recent years, the campaign to decriminalise homosexuality has strengthened.
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http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Chennai/Same-sex_activists_come_together/articleshow/3069618.cms*
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*/Times of India, May 25, 2008/*
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* CHENNAI: It was an unusual get-together for Chennai. And more radical was the agenda that rolled out. A group of activists, including women who celebrate alternative sexuality, on Saturday decided to start a counselling-cum-support centre for lesbians <
http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Chennai/Same-sex_activists_come_together/articleshow/3069618.cms#> in the state.
Besides setting up a hot line that will lend them a ear, the support group will work towards preventing tragic suicides like that of Christy and Rukmani, who set themselves ablaze in their home in the city on May 17 after they were prevented from living together.
"The decision to set up such a centre was born out of a need to reach out to lesbians here and prevent their isolation," said A Ponni, a researcher in the Bangalore-based, Alternative Law Forum. "And the case of Christie and Rukmani is not the first in Tamil Nadu. There have been a number of such cases here, and of women wanting to run away and get married," she said.
According to a letter drafted by several Delhi-based activist groups, which would be circulated among progressive and like-minded people across Tamil Nadu, eight lesbian suicides have taken place in the state from the beginning of 2008 alone. In Kerala, in the past 10 years, more than 35 lesbian couples <
http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Chennai/Same-sex_activists_come_together/articleshow/3069618.cms#> are said to have killed themselves.
Amidst growing concern for Tamil Nadu's lesbians, activists came together in Chennai for the first time to protest against Sec 377 of the Indian Penal Code (carnal intercourse against the order of nature), besides chalking out plans to set up a centre that will counsel lesbians and fight their cause. The section is widely used by the police to book homosexuals.
Activist lawyer, Sudha Ramalingam, who spoke at the meeting <
http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Chennai/Same-sex_activists_come_together/articleshow/3069618.cms#>, pointed out that criminal law came under the concurrent list. "Tamil Nadu, the land of Periyar and self-respect movement, could be prodded to demand for repealing this regressive law," she said, adding that she would be part of an advocacy group to fight against Sec 377.
Meanwhile, the letter by 'Voices against Sec 377' and other NGOs, pointed out that "repression of same-sex desire is not just a case of imposing one kind of desire and lifestyle on everyone, but is one that often paves the path to a question of life or death."
The groups urged the state government "to acknowledge the reality of this repression and provide the space for every human being to uphold their right to live and love with freedom..."*
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http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Chennai/Same-sex_activists_come_together/articleshow/3069618.cms*
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