“It’s important for people to know that people of the LGBTQIA+ community are, first and foremost, people. They need to be protected and they need dignity just like everyone does.”
I have worked at YQA since 2024, but I have been a member of YQA since 2021. The second time I attended an event by YQA was for a focus group around legal matters concerning the LGBTQIA+ community. During this workshop, I found out that hormonal treatment is offered in hospitals for free and I was shocked. I found this impressive.
When I was doing research for my last year of studies, I did about the LGBTQIA+ community and I asked YQA for help to facilitate sessions and I also used YQA’s research work to better understand the reality of queer people in Mauritius. These were some of the reasons why I wanted to work in YQA. The work that I personally do is more focused around trans people.
Beyond stereotypes
Some trans people are seen within the stereotype of ‘glamour’. I don’t really want that for myself, I feel like I am a simple person. There are trans women in their 40s or 50s in Mauritius have adopted children, but that reality is not visible or talked about. A trans person is a person before anything else. I don’t want trans women to be perceived in the way that patriarchal society has historically imposed the portrayal of women.
People often think the LGBTQIA+ community is a hypersexualised community. That is not what we need. We want people to recognise that even though our experience is different, that doesn’t mean that there is only one valid sexuality.
“It is not only sexuality that procreates that is valid. To love people of the same sex is also valid, it is a part of the diversity of living beings. It is normal.”
Strengthening the community through inclusivity
To give support to and strengthen the community also means bringing in more people. There are many trans men in Mauritius, for example, that do not have spaces to speak up.
The trans community is also inclusive of the non binary community, not only of trans women. I understand that trans women have more visibility, but visibility is also important for other trans people as well.
By being more inclusive, I am able to give support to and strengthen the LGBTQIA+ community in Mauritius, especially by not ignoring identities that are not as visible.
Janaka
Communication Volunteer YQA
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