LGBT Bangladesh: From Celebration to Persecution
The Centre for Industrial Relations & HR Library participated in the University of Toronto’s #DisplayYourPride Event
To honour the Roopbaan Rainbow Rally (2014-2015) we featured a parade which included Bagladeshi Rickshaws, a gift to the library from a MIRHR student. Please see our “parade” here (and don’t forget to click on the arrow for more pics)
Roopbaan Rainbow Rally
“April 14 is celebrated as the first day of Bangladeshi new year. Xulhaz Mannan organized a Rainbow Rally to celebrate a more inclusive new year in 2014. The colors of the rally created a natural camouflage for the community, and yet LGBTQ people could walk as themselves in a public space for the first time. It was only after the rally ended that the country and world noticed what happened. The incident proves how, if not being singled out, LGBTQ people are not any different from others. Despite the country’s violent reaction in 2014, Xulhaz organized another rally in 2015. The 2016 LGBTQ rally was canceled under pressure from the Government of Bangladesh amid threats from religious extremist groups.”
Roopbaan, September 12, 2017: “Roopbaan Rainbow Rally” (2014, 2015)
“Roopbaan is a Bangladeshi non-profit, non-political, volunteer-based platform for LGBT individuals and their allies. It works to raise awareness about Bangladeshis who represent sexual and gender diversity, and advocate for their human right to love.”
“Against all odds, the magazine was launched on January 18, 2014, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The goal of the magazine was to create a safe space where a mostly silent minority group in Bangladesh can express themselves without harassment. Roopbaan, the literary publication soon became the most visible LGBT venture in Bangladesh. As the publication process started to engage more people, Roopbaan eventually remodeled itself as a community-based platform in January 2015.”
Roopbaan: Advancing LGBT community’s right to love in Bangladesh
Founder of Bangladesh's first and only LGBT magazine killed
“On April 25, 2016, five men murdered Xulhaz Mannan [editor of Roopbaan Magazine] and Khandoker Mahbub Tonoy inside Xulhaz’s apartment in Dhaka. The incident took place in front of Xulhaz Mannan’s mother. The security guard was injured as he tried to stop the murderers from entering the apartment. A CCTV camera installed about 300 yards from the house captured footage of five men running away with their alleged accomplices standing by. A police officer who was patrolling the area snatched the backpack of one of the men and was assaulted in the process. Two years have passed by since the gruesome incident and the relevant authorities have failed to arrest a single murderer. The slowness of the investigation into the murders of Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Tonoy attests to the slow death of human rights in Bangladesh.”
Roopbaan, April 25, 2018: “Statement on the Second Year Anniversary of the Murders of Xulhaz and Tonoy”
