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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Queer protesters refuse to be a meme. Armed with painted nails & defiance

Attacks against the queer community are launched with twin purposes: to strike the fear of endless memefication in the hearts of trans people and dismiss the political movement they’re a part of.

Last week’s Cockroach Janta Party protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi was a media spectacle. Reporters captured the crowd, asked founder Abhijeet Dipke some tough questions, and heard from the angry students, parents, and concerned citizens gathered. Some, however, found a shortcut to cheap views: shoving the camera in the faces of queer folks and calling them transphobic slurs.

“Are meetha (fruity) people like you going to bring change in the country?” Anjani Vats from 99 Khabar asked 19-year-old Ujjwal Singh in a horrific video Vats shared on Instagram.

One could see the hurt and indignation on their face even as they raised a finger in defiance—their long nail painted a delectable maroon—and refused the slur. In a telephonic conversation with ThePrint, Ujjwal, who has just passed class 12, called Vats “a pathetic excuse for a journalist.” They also said they’ve noticed a trend among the comments.

“I’ve received support from around the world—the US, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan. But the hate comments are only from India, though. And most of the trolls are from accounts with zero followers, or from people with ‘RSS, BJP, Brahman, Jai Shree Ram, and Jay Mahakal’ in their bio,” Ujjwal said.

The video isn’t the first of its kind. After every other pride march or protest, incel influencers post clips of queer people with slurs, malicious commentary, and overused sound effects—the “FAAA” phenomenon is a recent example. But over the past three months, the hate seems to have........

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