The DSNLU Queer Alliance (DSQA) at Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University (DSNLU), Visakhapatnam has received official recognition from the University days after a Constitutional Law faculty member made derogatory remarks on queer relationships.
DSQA said that Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof D Surya Prakasa Rao accepted all its demands at an October 8 meeting. A committee has also been set up to inquire into the incident.
The Alliance had demanded official recognition, an apology from the professor and the VC, mandatory sensitisation workshops for staff and an official statement that the University is safe and inclusive for LGBTQIA+ people.
In a statement posted on Instagram earlier this week, DSQA said that Assistant Professor Dr A Nageshwara Rao made dehumanising and derogatory remarks in two separate classes on September 29, while discussing Supriyo Chakraborty v. Union of India, the Supreme Court judgment that refused to recognise same-sex marriage.
In one classroom, he purportedly said,
"After 20 years man will ask for marriage with dogs, elephants and horses too.”
In another classroom, students claim that he said,
"The next thing they will ask for is people want to marry their pet dogs and pet cats."
The statement called the remarks "an incredibly distasteful kick at same-sex relationships."
DSQA also said that the VC visited a classroom on October 1 and defended the remarks, saying that teachers have a duty to express different opinions. It is claimed that the VC then remarked,
“In a heterosexual society, homosexuality is immoral and in a homosexual society, heterosexuality may be immoral.”
Speaking to Bar & Bench, the VC denied defending the professor. He said he quoted Aristotle, “Plato is lovable, truth is more lovable,” to tell the students that they could dispute a teacher and submit a complaint or a representation. On the line attributed to him, he said it was not his view but a statement from the Hart-Devlin debate on public morals which might have been taken out of context.
Teachers may express opinions after discussing a judgment, he said, but “nobody will support statements which unnecessarily expose the dignity of a particular class in society,” he added.
Yes, We Exist India, a civil society initiative on LGBTQIA+ rights, wrote to the VC on October 8, calling the alleged remarks a "demeaning and dehumanising comparison".In his reply the same day, the VC said that the committee will report within a week under Dr B Soma, Dean (Academic Affairs and Research). He said that Rao had tendered an unconditional apology, said that he had no disrespect towards LGBTQIA+ people and would be cautious in the future.