Is your MP hot pink or baby pink?

Anish Gawande was always interested in politics He lives and breathes it but As a gay man I always thought that I would never be able to meaningfully participate in the Indian political landscape given that queer rights dont seem to be a priority for most elected representatives in our country Gawande 23 is currently a Rhodes Scholar pursuing a degree in intellectual history from Oxford University Things took a turn for the better when an exciting opportunity knocked on his door before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections It allowed him to work for Mumbaibased Congress leader Milind Deora and by extension the Indian National Congress INC election campaign in the state of MaharashtraSupriya Sule Pic Ashish RajeNot only did he find his experience as a political consultant enriching it also led to a chance meeting with a senior from school Smriti Deora Deora 25 is a brand strategist and graphic designer Gawande connected with her a straight ally committed to the cause of queer rights while the both of them were campaigning Their tecircteagravetecircte led to the birth of Pink List India It was founded by them and journalist Devina Buckshee It was conceptualised as a project at the intersection of queerness politics and technology They came together to create a series of Instagram posts featuring candidates who supported LGBTQIA rights Their intention was to allow queer people and other potential voters to make a more informed choice about who they were going to back in the Lok Sabha electionsThe interactive map of the State of the QUnion Picspinklistindia InstagramWe didnt intend to endorse any particular candidate because even if they are proqueer they might have problematic stances on other fronts We wanted Pink List India to act as a dynamic and intersectional database instead said Deora Their latest initiative State of the Queer Union or State of the QUnion addresses this snag It is a political archive which was launched on May 23 It has relevant statements from 151 Members of Parliament MPs out of the total 543 MPs in the Lok Sabha Not only does it contain positive statements issued by MPs it has documented the homophobic ones as well Its a great resource for queer people It will also benefit academics activists concerned citizens even journalists who can use it to better inform themselves and hold their MPs accountable adds GawandeJwalika BalajiCreating such a behemoth archive meant spending countless hours on research The duo knew they would need to rely on helping hands from the LGBTQIA community to pull this off From two they became a dedicated team of 10 They roped in eight volunteers and 80 per cent of their team is from the queer community Interestingly the team members have never met each other in person and work remotely from across India Each volunteer was assigned a certain number of states or MPs We combed through newspaper articles Facebook posts and other sources to create an exhaustive list of where they stand with respect to queer rights and issues explains Jwalika Balaji a volunteer and student from the National Law School of India University in BengaluruVaarun SardesaiState of the QUnion is an interactive map that generates a report card of your MP Areas of the map highlighted in hot pink indicate that the MP has spoken up about LGBTQIA issues and those fading into the background in baby pink indicate that the MP has been silent You can find your MP by entering your address in the search bar The report card gives you insight about the leanings of a particular representative or political party Some estimates say that LGBTQIA folk make up about seven per cent of the Indian population Thats not a miniscule minority Hence policy makers should take the concerns of the queer community into account when formulating laws and policies asserts Vaarun Sardesai another volunteer and a citybased public policy researcherMridul Pic Pradeep DhivarState of the QUnion is a collaborative platform Users can share any new information or statements by MPs with the curators before they are added to the database Mridul a freelance technology professional and member of LABIA a queer feminist collective based in Mumbai opines that he liked the interface of the platform which was easy on the eye and simple to use He was impressed by the fact that anonymity is respected as one doesnt have to provide any personal information to use it It has the potential to act as the bridge between queer citizens and elected representatives Often we end up in echo chambers and our concerns dont get relayed to relevant policymakers State of the QUnion gives us a more direct route to reach themSupriya Sules tweet about her State of the Qunion report card Picsupriya_sule TwitterSupriya Sule the MP from Baramati tweeted her State of the QUnion report card on May 24 saying she was happy to be featured in Pink List Indias initiative Being an advocate for the rights of the LGBTQIA community I believe that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity irrespective of their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression We must work together to eliminate prejudice and discrimination Sule tells midday The writer doesnt think they could have put it any better than the Nationalist Congress Party leader did Thats one MP down many more to goCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news