Lesbian couple to lead V-Day celebration on Kerala varsity campus

Thiruvananthapuram: Breaking away from the clichéd love letter writing competition, the students of Kerala University’s Kariavattom Campus have arranged a special Valentine’s Day celebration on Friday.
The institute has invited lesbian couple Ashitha and Sulfath to the campus to interact with the students. They will be interacting with the students on the topic ‘Love and Boundaries’.The event is organized by departments, students’ union and researchers union at aquatic biology hall at 11am.
Ashitha Dhavanya, is a final year student at School of Drama, Thrissur, while Sulfath A, is a third-year graduation student of Chemistry at Sanatana Dharma College, Alappuzha.
“Every year we organize some activity to mark the Valentine’s Day. While planning the event this year, we thought of making it a platform for people from LGBTIQ community to communicate with the students,” said Ramshad Khan, chairman of departments students’ union.
“When the government supporting them (LGBTIQ) and adopting policy, we as students have some responsibility towards society and those who are part of the society. We believe that love does not have any boundaries. Being a special day, we decided to invite a couple. We reached out to Ashitha and Sulfath through our network of friends,” added Ramshad.
The couple will share their story with the students, which will be followed by the interactive session.
“We (Ashitha and Sulfath) met during queer pride events and later fell in love. Her family was supportive when she came out, but I did not get the same support. Now, I am working with government agencies to meet the expenses of my education. It is our first Valentine’s Day and we are glad to be invited to the University of Kerala campus in our own identity. The campus is always associated with liberals and we are glad to be part of the V-Day event. We both are busy with our studies and research and will be meeting each other after a long time at the programme,” said Sulfath.