‘WE NEED TO BE IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE LGBTQIA+ COMMUNITY’
Kubbra Sait curates an interactive session on the queer community this Pride Month
In 2018, Kubbra Sait redefined the representation of LGBTQIA+ in the Indian content space when she played a transgender in the web show, Sacred Games. Her performance was met with wide appreciation from the queer community. “The love we received from the community has always overwhelmed me and left me at a loss of words,” says the actor.
This Pride Month, Sait is curating an interactive online session for those still ignorant of the community where she will interview four prominent personalities. She elaborates, “The thought behind this concept was to normalise the fact that I’m a dummy when it comes to knowing more about the community. I often make mistakes with pronouns. I also unintentionally make mistakes by making a comment which is not correct or doesn’t fit with the guidelines of the community.”
The actor points out that Bollywood, over the years, has normalised homophobia and that has culturally impacted minds. “I think homophobia is a state of mind. It is a conditioning,” she says, adding, “The films in the 1990s or even the early 2000s used to have a gay joke thrown in just for the sake of laughs. I don’t think that was okay.”
She believes that it’s her responsibility to spread awareness about the community to the society at large: “We need to develop a tune in our minds against discrimination when it comes to how we talk to and about the queer community. I’ll correct somebody if they don’t fully understand the concept or make an initiative where I actually reach out to people.”
Sait urges all to keep their prejudices aside and come together and lend support to them. “The community is so strong in their own skin and they’re already doing enough. We just need to stand there and support them and be in solidarity with them at the least. It’s their time to shine,” she ends.