Bringing Sexuality and Rights Out
in the Open: Building a Platform in
Bangladesh
Sabina Faiz Rashid
Mahrukh Mohiuddin
Farah Mahjabeen
James P Grant School of Public Health
BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
May 18-19, 2009

Background
• How does one bring sexuality and rights
issues out into the open, particularly in an
environment of conservatism and culture
of silence in the country?
• There is a culture of collective denial of
the existence of same sex sexualities in
Bangladesh, therefore stifling any public
debate about same sex sexualities in the
country.

Background
• Lack of protection of sexual rights of
homosexuals, transgender groups by the
State
• Results in harassment, silence, shame
and fear around any discussions
regarding sexuality, pushing many
issues underground

Create open climate
• Since 2007 working to create a climate for
open discussions on sexuality and rights at a
larger scale
• Embarked on a series of activities, including
workshops, conferences, meetings, training and
research activities with different stakeholders
• Trying to put in place mechanisms for
monitoring influence on policy and practice –
working with core groups, participants of
workshops/ training activities

Workshop, International Conference
• Local workshop in 2007
– Assess what is the interest? What is the
situation?
– Informal networks – huge response, realization
that many groups were interested in pushing
forward the platform
• CREATE PUBLIC VISIBILITY ON SEXUALITY
• International conference in 2007
– University hosting provided legitimacy
– 150 participants (Dhaka and outside);
international speakers
– Presence of BOB; transgender community
– Positive response and widespread coverage

Interest generated from…
• Interest shown by International Women’s
Health Coalition (IWHC) to FUND the School to
continue building a platform on Sexuality and
Rights in the country
• Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights
(CSBR) invited School to become member of
its international coalition
• Two staff at School funded by IWHC and CSBR
to receive training on Sexuality and Rights in
2007 and 2008

Focusing on Core groups
• Target three core groups - academics
from outside Dhaka; media persons
(journalists), and sexual minority groups
– Academics - Share materials with academic
and students on sexuality and rights; develop
education/training modules
– Journalists - Encourage more writings by
journalists on sexuality (award system)
– Sexual minority groups – build capacity and
space to argue, and build own agenda to
fight for basic rights

Research and building a CORE
network
• RESEARCH on sexuality and rights in 2008 to
understand local constructions of sexuality and rights
– inform workshops and research and advocacy
efforts.
• Brainstorming session with network of core actors
working in or interested in taking forward sexuality
rights issues
• Mental health professionals, researchers,
academics, activists, queer groups, students,
journalists, ad agencies, clinical psychologist
(practitioners), and health educators (SMC),
health activists, lawyers

Organized training workshops
• Media and Sexuality and Rights (March 2009)
– Journalists, ad agencies, Salma Sobhan journalists
• Gender, Sexuality and Rights (May 2009)
– Participants from core group
– Network - researchers, academics from outside of
Dhaka; clinical psycho-therapists, NGO professionals,
Activists, BOB, self identified ‘lesbian women’;
transgender groups; students, health educators, sex
workers union, garment workers union, lawyers,
School counsellor
Pre and post evaluation questionnaires to monitor
and track changes, progress (individual, work and
community

Some successes
• CD resource pack - a compilation of all the presentations
from the International conference in 2007.
– CD was distributed to more than 150 participants all
over Bangladesh and internationally
• A database of participants/core network
– Received emails and phone calls from activists and
researchers from within and outside of Dhaka asking for
materials and resources.
– Academics outside of Dhaka specifically requested for
more training to develop their own modules on
sexuality.
– Clinical psychologists and doctors expressed interest in
receiving training to be sensitized to sexual minorities;
requests from journalists.

Some successes
• Rajshahi and Khulna University academics will
be sharing materials/resources and possibly
offering sessions on sexuality and rights in
respective departments this year
• MPH program at the James P Grant School of
Public Health, BRAC University has been
integrating sexuality and rights within
reproductive health course
– Also in module taught at the Masters of International
Health and Society at Charite, Berlin.

Some successes
• Research
• Sensitizing of groups; created a space for frank and
honest discussions amongst respondents themselves.
• Significant interest generated among the students in
terms of wanting to know more about sexual
diversity and rights, and its linkage to health and
wellbeing.
• Main successes of the research approach was
gaining credibility and trust among the sexual
minority groups.
– Utilising some members from the queer community to gain
access to ‘underground’ members of the communities who were
more reluctant to participate directly.
– Ensured better confidentiality and anonymity of the participants

Some successes
• Gay and lesbian rights groups - very reserved and
cautious in terms of allowing access to people
outside of their communities has trust in the School
– Invited to a two day workshop (Sexual Diversity and
Coalition Building) organized by a gay rights activists
group. This was an unpublicized meeting with
important representatives from the LGBT
communities aiming to build a network
– School has been approached to provide
support/venue for their trainings and access to
resource materials for their members
– A more striking indicator of success in breaking some
of the silence was the presence of two members of
the ‘lesbian’ community at the Gender workshop in
May 2009

Tracking of participants
• Tracking of participants
– Pre/post evaluation questionnaires
• Challenges remain
• How does one develop appropriate methodologies to
measure/track impact on an issue which is socially taboo
and considered invisible in the larger environment?
• There is an absence of a larger movement on
sexuality among mainstream advocacy and activist
organizations.
– In the NGO sector, development interventions that
address reproductive and sexual rights are health-
focused with the rights approach largely missing.
– Realization of the importance of a rights-based
approach exists, but not been translated into practice.

Challenges
• Moreover, sexual minorities struggle to cope with
violence in the public sphere, especially by the police
which, instead of protecting them, routinely subject them
to violence, extortion and sexual abuse.
• In the case of transgender groups, the situation is
complicated by the fact that they cannot have passports
as they don’t fall neatly into binary categories of male or
female.
• Time, resources and capacity

Despite this…some
achievements
• Successful in creating a new space for open and frank
discussions on sexuality and rights in the wider sphere.
• ‘Now we are sitting together with all of you and talking
about these issues…thanks to James P Grant School…
who else has done this? member of transgender
community
• When I sit in the University canteen… next time
someone makes fun of someone who is they think is
gay…I will explain to them how important it is respect
sexual diversity…student club forum leader

Achievements
• A key to the success has been the
ability in bringing increasing
numbers of people from diverse
backgrounds, including those who
are usually invisible or silenced, to
come together, speak freely, and
critically reflect on sexuality and rights
issues

Conclusions
• While this is going to be a long transition, we
have managed to create an initial platform
which we hope will lead to the foundations
for institutional building of various groups in
the larger society.
• The mandate to push forward the agenda on
sexuality and rights has also created
opportunities for future collaboration and
networks, which in the long run may give
way to specific policy changes in the
country.