In a first, NCP sets up LGBT cell

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Monday formed a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) cell that will push for their rights. With this move, NCP is

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Monday formed a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) cell that will push for their rights. With this move, NCP is claimed to be the first political party across the country to have set up a dedicated cell for the community.

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State NCP president and water resources minister Jayant Patil and party MP Supriya Sule launched the cell at the party headquarters. The party has also declared a 15-member body headed by Priya Patil, a community activist.

“NCP was the first party to experiment by setting up Yuvati Congress (young women) cell and now it has established an LGBT cell in an attempt to bring justice to the deprived section,” Patil said at the event, adding that the party declared forming a dedicated cell for the LGBT community in its election manifesto.

“Glad to announce that NCP has launched an LGBTQIA+ cell in order to voice the issues of the queer and bring them to the mainstream. Unfortunately, the LGBTQIA community is subjected to bullying and violence due to prejudice,” said Sule in a series of tweets.

“We must eliminate the prejudice that we have towards the queer community and be more inclusive towards alternative gender identities and gender expression. Work needs to be done to make a more inclusive society free of prejudice, homophobia and transphobia,” she said.

LGBT activist Harish Iyer said every political party should have such cells with adequate representation from the community. “Every party should have a cell for queer people, and even within the queer people there needs to be adequate representation of all the LGBT communities that come from different caste and communities. We need such cells to include diversity within the LGBT community with a focus on not just working on issues but also the intersections of the issues,” Iyer said

“It is a much welcome step taken by the NCP but we hope to see a system to map progress of the community in the coming future. The Maharashtra government has established a Transgender Welfare Board as well, but nothing happened later,” said Ashok Row Kavi, LGBT activist.