Orinam’s stand against caste
Orinam is an all-volunteer unregistered collective of LGBTQI people and allies based in Chennai. It functions as a support, cultural and activist space. As a collective, Orinam is against any kind of discrimination, not limited to caste, race, colour, religion, sexual orientation, age and disability.
Orinam also opposes prejudice based on community, caste, place of origin, ethnicity, ability, religion, and other visible and invisible markers of identity.
In light of recent facebook conversations in our page on caste, caste-based discrimination and casteism we were jolted into a realisation that a re-articulation of the values we abide by was essential. Orinam wishes to restate its position that we are firmly committed to confront the prejudice originating from caste. The caste system continues to be an exclusive institution that exploits and oppresses people systematically. Caste is institutionalised segregation of a people; not a preference. This is a problem plaguing the entire Indian population, and it has become impossible for us to confront other forms of oppression, i.e. patriarchy, religion, ability, class, etc., while ignoring caste.
We are firmly committed to the tenets of self-respect movement on which Tamil Nadu Queer movement is based on and to uphold the Constitution of Union of India, which assures its commitment to the dignity of the individual in the Preamble, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that ‘all human beings are free and equal in dignity and rights’. Our vision is a world where individuals of all sexual orientations and genders are able to access their human rights free of discrimination. We see the caste system as antithetical to this right to individual dignity and freedom from discrimination based on birth. Hence we resolve to work towards confronting caste in its many manifestations and the prejudice originating from the privilege due to it.
