Faith, poetry and the making of queer identity

A new anthology of writings from south Asia celebrates LGBTQ+, Muslim and other marginalised voices

- Somak Ghoshal

Writer Kazim Ali begins his introduction to On the Brink, an anthology of queer writing from South Asia, with a question: "Why the word 'queer' when that is a word others have used to describe us and not always kindly?" Recently, a bench of the Madras High Court echoed the same sentiment recently while delivering a judgment: "Any standard dictionary defines this word as meaning 'strange or odd.' To a homosexual individual, his/her/their sexual orientation must be perfectly natural and normal... Why then should they be called queer?"

Over the centuries, the word assumed various shades of meaning, but it was during the 20th century that it began to be claimed by people who broke sexual norms. Members of the Bloomsbury set in London used it liberally, especially writer Virginia Woolf, who turned it into a pun for homosexuals as well as eccentrics.

The political notion of being queer, Ali goes on to explain, refers to the umbrella of identities and genders that belong to the LGBTQ+ community, including people who are questioning, curious and non-binary. Speaking for himself, Ali says, "I am 'queer' for two reasons—because I am gay and because my body—a half-Pakistani body by law if not by blood or ancestry—lies outside the mainstream of what the mother country now considers acceptable."

By radically extending the definition of queer beyond its familiar connotations of sexual and gender identities, Ali sets the tone for the diverse voices that feature in this anthology.