Gopi Shankar Madurai

Gopi Shankar at the World Pride in Madrid 2017

Gopi Shankar Madurai (born Sarvapunya S. Mukhopadyaya am 13. April 1991 in Madurai , Tamil Nadu ) is an Indian intersex person who is an activist for intersex and LGBT uses privileges.

Life

Shankar was born intersex, registered as a boy on the birth register and raised as a girl until the age of 7. At the age of 14, Shankar joined a Ramakrishna order to learn about Indian philosophy and spiritual traditions.

Shankar studied Religious Studies, Philosophy and Sociology at the American College in Madurai from 2010 , but dropped out of the course due to experiences of discrimination . Together with other students, Shankar founded the Srishti Madurai organization in 2011 , which campaigns for the rights of intersex people and other LGBT people. First, the organization set up a counseling hotline for LGBT people in several South Indian languages . The organization is committed to awareness-raising and educational projects around non-binary gender identities and made the corresponding name " genderqueer " known in India. Shankar explained in 2019: "I needed some time to come to terms with the fact that I can remain non-binary (genderqueer) because I am not comfortable with either a female or a male body." In 2017, Shankar asked for it in an interview , to be designated with the gender-neutral pronoun "ze" . Srishti Madurai's message declared Shankar to be "the ability to see the innocence of a child who knows nothing about socially mandated gender role expectations" (India ranked 44th out of 167 countries in 2019 for LGBT tolerance ).

From 2013 Shankar campaigned for the rights of the intersex athlete Santhi Soundarajan and started a campaign for the rights of intersex athletes. Because of the activism, there were public death threats against Shankar at the university.

2015 Shankar sat ensure that intersex rights within the Indian Parliament would be discussed, and filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission of India (Indian human rights skommission) against the genital mutilation one of intersex children. In 2019, Tamil Nadu state banned genital mutilation of intersex children based on Shankar's activism .

In 2016, Shankar participated in the elections for the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu , making him the first intersex and non-binary person to stand for election in India.

2016 Shankar Commonwealth Youth Workers Award ( "received Commonwealth -Jugendarbeiter-Price"). In 2017 Shankar was elected to the board of the international transgender association ILGA Asia and acted as her mouthpiece for intersex issues. Shankar has been on the ILGA Youth Board since 2019.

Brazilian director Viviane D'Avilla made a short documentary film about Shankar's life and activism in 2018.

Web links

Gopi Shankar: What I Learnt By Fighting The Queer Thought Police In India. In: SwarajyaMag.com. February 11, 2020 (English; "queer activists in India are adopting an antagonistic approach which can never create coalitions").
Shalini Nair: Start with education system for change, says intersex activist. In: The Indian Express . June 6, 2019 (English).

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Soma Basu: Lonely in a crowd. In: The Hindu . April 12, 2017, accessed March 20, 2020; Quote: "Gopi Shankar, who was born as Sarvapunya S Mukhopadyaya [...]" To be able to see the innocence of a child who knows nothing of society's prescribed gender expectations, "he pleads. [...] "if possible please use the gender-free neutral pronoun 'ze' for me". "
↑ ^a ^b Program announcement: Global Shorts Program: Gopi. In: ConnectBeyondFestival.com. April 7, 2019, accessed March 20, 2020 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c Shalini Nair: Start with education system for change, says intersex activist. In: The Indian Express . June 6, 2019 (English); Quote: "Shankar says his assigned sex at birth was that of a boy but was raised as a girl until he was seven years old. [...] "It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that I can remain non binary (gender queer) as I am not comfortable with either a female or a male body". "
↑ ^a ^b ^c Pheba Mathew: This intersex person is contesting TN polls, “ze” wants to change your mind on sexual minorities. In: The News Minute. April 24, 2016, accessed March 20, 2020 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Srishti Madurai: Official website. 2020, accessed on March 20, 2020 .
↑ Message: Intersex activist Gopi Shankar Madurai to speak at 40th ILGA World Conference in New Zealand. In: The Times of India . March 11, 2019, accessed on March 20, 2020 .

personal data
SURNAME	Shankar Madurai, Gopi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Gopi Shankar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Indian intersex and LGBT activist
DATE OF BIRTH	April 13, 1991
PLACE OF BIRTH	Madurai , Tamil Nadu , India

[Hindu_2017-04-12-1] Soma Basu: Lonely in a crowd. In: The Hindu . April 12, 2017, accessed March 20, 2020; Quote: "Gopi Shankar, who was born as Sarvapunya S Mukhopadyaya [...]" To be able to see the innocence of a child who knows nothing of society's prescribed gender expectations, "he pleads. [...] "if possible please use the gender-free neutral pronoun 'ze' for me". "

[Gopi_2019-2] Program announcement: Global Shorts Program: Gopi. In: ConnectBeyondFestival.com. April 7, 2019, accessed March 20, 2020 .

[IndianExpress_2019-06-06-3] Shalini Nair: Start with education system for change, says intersex activist. In: The Indian Express . June 6, 2019 (English); Quote: "Shankar says his assigned sex at birth was that of a boy but was raised as a girl until he was seven years old. [...] "It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that I can remain non binary (gender queer) as I am not comfortable with either a female or a male body". "

[Mathew_2016-04-24-4] Pheba Mathew: This intersex person is contesting TN polls, “ze” wants to change your mind on sexual minorities. In: The News Minute. April 24, 2016, accessed March 20, 2020 .

[Srishti-Website-5] Srishti Madurai: Official website. 2020, accessed on March 20, 2020 .

[timesofindia_2019-03-11-6] Message: Intersex activist Gopi Shankar Madurai to speak at 40th ILGA World Conference in New Zealand. In: The Times of India . March 11, 2019, accessed on March 20, 2020 .