{"id":7278,"date":"2017-05-19T10:04:30","date_gmt":"2017-05-19T04:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pahichan.com\/?p=7278"},"modified":"2017-05-19T10:04:30","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T04:19:30","slug":"bangladeshs-lgbt-community-launches-a-blog-commemorating-slain-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/bangladeshs-lgbt-community-launches-a-blog-commemorating-slain-activists\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangladesh\u2019s LGBT Community Launches a Blog Commemorating Slain Activists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kathmandu (Pahichan) May 19 – The blog features pieces by members of the LGBT community remembering Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy, and explaining the fear they\u00a0live with since their deaths.<\/h3>\n
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The local LGBT community participating in a rainbow parade to celebrate the Bangla New Year. Credit: Nahid Sultan via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Just over a year ago, Xulhaz Mannan, the editor of Bangladesh\u2019s first LGBT magazine, and LGBT activist Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy\u00a0were hacked to death<\/a>\u00a0in Bangladesh\u2019s capital Dhaka.<\/p>\n

On April 25, 2016, they joined\u00a0the long list of\u00a0secular\u00a0thinkers and religious minorities who have been murdered\u00a0in Bangladesh since 2013.<\/p>\n

Ansar al-Islam Bangladesh<\/a>\u00a0(Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent) claimed responsibility for their murders\u00a0in a tweet<\/a>. The police have so far\u00a0arrested two people<\/a>\u00a0in connection with\u00a0the murders, but more than a year after the killings, investigators\u00a0still have not issued charges against them.<\/p>\n

Advocates in South Asia and\u00a0around the world<\/a>\u00a0contended that\u00a0Mannan was a clear target for Islamist extremists because of the continued criminalisation of homosexual relations and intolerance toward the LGBT community in Bangladesh. The\u00a0Bangladesh penal code article 377\u00a0criminalises sexual activities \u201cagainst the order of nature,\u201d including consensual homosexual acts such as fellatio and anal penetration, with the\u00a0most severe possible\u00a0punishment being life in prison. The provision was introduced by\u00a0British colonial authorities\u00a0in the 19th century and was used as the model for sodomy laws in many other British colonies.<\/p>\n

On the first anniversary of the killings,\u00a0Boys of Bangladesh, the largest network of self-identified Bangladeshi gay men from home and abroad, launched a\u00a0Bangla-language blog\u00a0called Dhee<\/em><\/a>\u00a0to commemorate the victims and raise awareness of the plight of the LGBT community\u00a0in the conservative Muslim-majority nation.<\/p>\n

The literal meaning of \u201cDhee\u201d in Bangla is talent or intelligence. The blog is part of a larger\u00a0advocacy project for lesbians which includes a\u00a0comic strip released in September 2015<\/a>\u00a0that tells \u2018The Story of Dhee\u2019, a fictional young lesbian discovering her sexuality. Over the past year, the\u00a0Dhee project has\u00a0also hosted\u00a0awareness events on gender and sexuality in seven towns in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

The blog features pieces by members of the LGBT community remembering Mannan and Tonoy, and explaining the fear they now live with since their deaths. The authors are kept anonymous, and even the email address of the commenters are withheld for safety reasons. A statement on the\u00a0blog reads<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

The brutal killings of Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy have directly or indirectly affected a lot of activists and ordinary\u00a0people. This blog archives their experience and comments in text\/audio\/images and video formats. Many people close to Mannan and Tonoy responded to our call to submit texts and images and expressed their feelings and memories about them. You can catch a glimpse of the current confused state of the LGBT movement in Bangladesh on\u00a0Dhee blog.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018Reality came sinking into my heart like a heavy stone\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mannan worked as a foreign service national for USAID in Bangladesh and was the co-founder and publisher of Bangladesh\u2019s first LGBT magazine Roopbaan<\/em>). The magazine was launched in January\u00a02014.<\/p>\n

Before the publication, the LGBT movement in Bangladesh was\u00a0mostly\u00a0underground\u00a0and led by a handful of people who connected with each other\u00a0on social media. Shakhawat Hossain of Boys of Bangladesh<\/em> wrote on\u00a0The Wire<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Mannan believed in visibility. All his life he worked to provide a safe space for people to come out and be who they were. He opened up his house, spent all his earnings and dedicated his spare time towards mobilising the community and giving us a sense of belonging. He had a unique way of encouraging us to speak up and be assertive of our rights \u2013 of our right to love. How ironical it is for the merchant of love to succumb to such hatred and violence.<\/p>\n

Tonoy used his theatre experience to produce and act in various short dramas to spread awareness about LGBT issues.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
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Xulhaz and Tonoy. Credit: Facebook.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

On the Dhee<\/em> blog, one anonymous blogger\u00a0recalled\u00a0his experience\u00a0<\/a>learning of their deaths:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

On 25 March 2016, I last entered Xulhaz\u2019s house to attend a birthday party. [\u2026]<\/p>\n

He was killed one month later.<\/p>\n

I contemplate it sometimes. How many days [since the murders]? Ten\u00a0days? Fifteen\u00a0weeks? Siz\u00a0months? After how many more months until the anniversary?<\/p>\n

During the first months, I was\u00a0in a trance. I couldn\u2019t fathom how this would impact my life. When I\u00a0finally realised what had happened, the reality came sinking into my heart like a heavy stone. My whole universe had changed. A storm had destroyed everything.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Another blogger\u00a0wrote about<\/a>\u00a0working with Mannan on the LGBT magazine Roopban<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\n

Like any other magazine, the publishing of the second edition of the Roopbaan magazine was supposed to be lot less complicated than the first. But bad luck had engulfed us like an octopus. The prime minister had learnt about Roopban in a ministerial meeting and she was unhappy about it. The daily Bhorer Kagoz published a report that the detective branch of the police was\u00a0looking for the people behind the magazine. The printing press, which printed the first edition of Roopbaan magazine, told us the next day that they were\u00a0unable to print the magazine in the future. I was literally heartbroken. Not that Roopbaan wouldn\u2019t\u00a0be printed, but out of fear of the police. Hearing my doorbell, I would cringe in fear.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

He also wrote how Mannan stood beside him during those\u00a0trying times:<\/p>\n

\n

Don\u2019t make any trouble if police come looking for you. Don\u2019t deny anything. Go to the police station with them. Tell them my name. Tell them that Xulhaz is the kingpin of this magazine.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

One person\u00a0wrote about\u00a0a recent experience<\/a>\u00a0that showed authorities\u2019 negative attitude toward\u00a0LGBT people:<\/p>\n

\n

Last week I went to a round-table discussion on the gender-equity law. The government representative from the other side of table warned me that we cannot do anything that goes against section 377. To deal with the threats against LGBT people they don\u2019t even want to hear the word LGBT. Everything seems to be so empty now and the future looks bleak. Don\u2019t you deserve at least a bit of respect from the state?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018What kind of homeland is this,\u00a0where there is no place for me?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bangladeshi society can be intolerant of LGBT people. A\u00a0person on the\u00a0Dhee<\/em> blog\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0how Tonoy faced trouble at home because of his sexual orientation:<\/p>\n

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The situation at Tonoy\u2019s home was different. They knew that their boy was a bit different, not like other boys in the neighbourhood. He did not want to suppress this difference. He used to have a liking for feminine things, engaged in cross-dressing and he suffered domestic abuse because of that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Mannan and Tonoy\u2019s murders struck fear into the heart of Bangladesh\u2019s LGBT community. Many activists have now closed their Facebook accounts and changed phone numbers\u00a0in an effort to hide their identities for their own safety. A\u00a0female activist\u00a0explained<\/a>\u00a0on the Dhee<\/em> blog:<\/p>\n

\n

After that tragic incident, people close to me told me to leave the country. I dreamt about a lot of things since my childhood, but none involved leaving my homeland, never. I was a good student since childhood. I graduated from Dhaka University, the country\u2019s leading public university. I have been involved in many social services and now am at\u00a0a decent job. I always wanted to do something for the country, contribute to the economy, working for the poor. But how can I live in this country where there is no guarantee\u00a0of my life? How can I live in this country, where if I were to be killed people would rejoice over a cup of tea that there is\u00a0one less LGBT person?\u00a0What kind of homeland is this,\u00a0where there is no place for me?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

By August 2016, investigators had\u00a0identified five suspects<\/a>\u00a0who they say took part in the killings. The police have arrested two of them, who have since testified under\u00a0Section 164\u00a0of the penal code.<\/p>\n

But after more than a year since Mannan and Tonoy\u2019s deaths, police\u00a0have failed to submit<\/a>\u00a0charges despite having made these arrests and\u00a0having stated<\/a>\u00a0that they \u201care quite sure who did it.\u201d The court has granted them 12 extensions since the arrests. Most recently, the report and the charge sheet of the investigation were supposed to have been\u00a0submitted on May 8, 2017, but the date has once again been postponed. The new submission has been\u00a0rescheduled for June 6, 2017<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published<\/a> on\u00a0<\/em>Global Voices.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kathmandu (Pahichan) May 19 – The blog features pieces by members of the LGBT community remembering Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy, and explaining the fear they\u00a0live with since their deaths.<\/p>\n

The local LGBT community participating in a rainbow parade to celebrate the Bangla New Year. Credit: Nahid Sultan via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0<\/p>\n

Just over a year ago, Xulhaz Mannan, the editor of Bangladesh\u2019s first LGBT magazine, and LGBT activist Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy\u00a0were hacked to death\u00a0in Bangladesh\u2019s capital Dhaka.
\nOn April 25, 2016, they joined\u00a0the long list of\u00a0secular\u00a0thinkers and religious minorities …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":7279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[621,490,11],"tags":[524],"class_list":["post-7278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-slider","category-world","tag-lgbt"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7280,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7278\/revisions\/7280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}