Gay parties in India have often been criticised for being discriminatory towards transgender people, with many of them often putting conditions like “No cross dressing, No trans”. However, a gay party in Delhi that is being organised on 4th May by a group called QRGuys has gone a notch further and are advertising itself as anti-poor.
The highly offensive party invite, which is being circulated via Whatsapp and has the tagline, Anti Poverty’ reads, “With Jaguars, Porsches cars, five stars for company, this once Royalbash chooses exclusivity over inclusivity.” The invite further reads, “We are pampering our patrons who wish well a dose of high life, a bit of class rather than mass.”
While the LGBT community keeps fighting for equal rights and inclusion in society, it is highly shameful and condemnable that the community should be so discriminatory from within. A large population of the country still lives below the poverty line, and even those that do not, often struggle to make ends meet. World over, the gap between the rich and poor is widening. That party organisers should think it to be OK to show their disdain for the poor and so shamelessly say that they choose “exclusivity over inclusivity” not just points to their moral bankruptcy, but also brings to fore the many discriminations that the LGBT community practises. The LGBTQ movement has at times been termed as elitist, and such party messages will only further cement such views. It is high time that while we fight for our space in the society, we also look inward and make sure that we are taking along everyone, and not just building spaces for the rich and affluent.