LGBTQ culture in Bangalore

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Bangalore is a multicultural city and has experienced a dramatic social and cultural change with the advent of the liberalization and expansion of the information technology and business process outsourcing industries in India. With much expatriate population in the city, Bangalore is slightly more relaxed.

Contents

Multinational corporations including Google, Goldman Sachs, Royal Bank of Scotland, Cisco, Dell, Micro Focus International, General Electric and Microsoft strive to create LGBT-friendly workplaces. Companies come together to share best practices for fostering a culture of LGBT inclusion in their organisations. The informal collaboration like this in Bangalore marks a first-of-its-kind endeavour in India’s corporate sector. [1]

Organizations

Several organizations voice the concerns of LGBTIQ community and provide forum to openly share topics of interest.

GoodAsYou

GoodasYou is a social, intellectual and cultural group that promotes equality, acceptance and self-confidence among LGBT individuals of Bangalore. Many activities of this informal support group are described in the following sections. [2] [3] [4]

Weekly meetings

These meetings serve many LGBTIQ individuals to discuss emotional, social, health and other issues concerning the queer people of Bangalore/India. Many individual have come to terms with their sexuality and/or Gender Identity by participating at these meetings. [5]

Swabhava

Swabhava is an NGO working for LGBT rights and providing counseling support to queer individuals.

Jeeva

Jeeva in an NGO setup by Umesh, an LGBTQ rights activist in Bangalore. Jeeva (which means life in Kannada), registered on 5 November 2012 works for sexual minorities with special focus on working class sexual minorities. [6] Their activities and work are in many areas ranging from issues of mental health, livelihood, community media through Kannada magazine called Ananya [7] and radio program called Jeeva dairy on radio-active community radio, [8] co-organizing Bangalore's LGBT pride called Namma Pride/Queer Habba, [9] organizing on-the-road-protests [10] and fighting for legal rights in courts [11] [12] on behalf of many underprivileged trans and other queer members of community.

Amour Queer Dating

Amour, a platform for LGBTQ people to find long term companions all over India, launched in Bengaluru in June 2016. [13] [14]

WHAQ!

WHAQ! (We're Here and Queer!) is a support space for women loving women (les/bi/trans/queer/questioning) to voice concerns, ideas, and issues together. [15]

Maya for Women

Maya for Women is a feminist collective trust dedicated to building community through supporting the empowerment, interests, visibility, and choices of women living in the Global South. They provide support, counseling and assistance to all women in Bangalore, regardless of their sexuality. WHaQ! is one of 4 support spaces for LBT women that is run through Maya for Women. [16]

Sangama and Samara

Sangama (an NGO) and Samara (CBO) works for marginalized sections of LGBT population of Bangalore and other towns of Karnataka.

Queer Campus Bangalore

Queer Campus Bangalore is a support group and safe space for youth of non-conforming sexual orientations and gender identities in Bangalore. It caters to the school, college, and university going crowd of the city.

Activities

GRAB (Gay Runners and Breakfast)

Many enthusiastic Queer individuals jog and run every weekend at the local park. Following the early morning healthy run, they gather for breakfast at a nearby restaurant, chit-chat, socialize and discuss the fun side of their life. [17] [18]

WHAQ weekly meetings

WHaQ (We are Here and Queer) holds support group meetings for queer women every other Sunday in addition to weekly social meetings on Wednesdays.

Women's outdoor activities

Maya Outdoor group has Queer women interested in fitness meet every Sunday and participate in a large variety of team sports, such as cricket and football. There are also women who run or walk together, or practice yoga.

outandabout

India's first queer inclusive travel community based out of Bangalore.

Events

Bangalore Queer Film Festival

Bangalore Queer Film Festival happens every year in February. It is a three-day fest, where in a variety of LGBT themed movies from across the world and across many languages in India, would be played. A close to 1000 people are typically expected there. [19]

Pink Divas

Pink Divas is a dance group that does the closing day dance performance every year at Bangalore Queer Film Fest.

Bengaluru Namma Pride March

Bengaluru Namma Pride March, the queer pride march of Bengaluru, happens every winter along with Delhi and other pride marches of India. Close to 1000 people, both LGBT members and supporters walk with colorful banners in the Bangalore streets, ending with a meeting and celebration, typically at city town hall. [20]

Bangalore's LGBT history

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delhi Queer Pride Parade</span> Annual LGBT event in Delhi

Delhi Queer Pride Parade is organised by members of the Delhi Queer Pride Committee every last Sunday of November since 2008. The queer pride parade is a yearly festival to honour and celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and their supporters. The parade usually runs from Barakhamba Road to Tolstoy Marg to Jantar Mantar.

This is a timeline of notable events in the history of non-heterosexual conforming people of South Asian ancestry, who may identify as LGBTIQGNC, men who have sex with men, or related culturally-specific identities such as Hijra, Aravani, Thirunangaigal, Khwajasara, Kothi, Thirunambigal, Jogappa, Jogatha, or Shiva Shakti. The recorded history traces back at least two millennia.

Chennai has LGBTQIA cultures that are diverse concerning- socio-economic class, gender, and degree of visibility and politicisation. They have historically existed in the margins and surfaced primarily in contexts such as transgender activism and HIV prevention initiatives for men having sex with men (MSM) and trans women (TG).

Hyderabad is a conservative city when it comes to LGBT rights, compared to other Indian Metros. But since it slowly started becoming the second IT-capital after Bangalore, there has been a continuous influx of people of all cultures from across India. In the past few years, there has been some increase in LGBT activism in Hyderabad, including pride marches of 2013 and 2014. Slowly, Top MNCs have been introducing LGBT friendly policies in their Hyderabad offices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Good As You</span>

Good As You is a support and social group for LGBTQ people and others questioning their gender and sexuality in Bangalore. It started in 1994 and is one of the longest surviving groups that advocates equal rights for homosexuals and other gender and sexual minorities in Bangalore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangalore Queer Film Festival</span> LGBT film festival in Bangalore, India

The Bangalore Queer Film Festival is an annual LGBT event that has been held in Bangalore, India since the year 2008. The event carefully selects queer films from all over the world and brings them to an ever-growing Bangalore audience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queer Pride Guwahati</span> LGBT event in India

Queer Pride Guwahati was organised for the first time by the members and supporters of the local LGBT community in Guwahati, Assam on 9 February 2014. The Queer Pride Guwahati was the first LGBT Pride in the entire North Eastern India. The Pride is now an annual event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orinam</span>

Orinam is a non-funded, social, and activist collective that works to enhance understanding of alternate sexualities and gender identities among families, communities and society. It was founded in 2003 in Chennai under the name MovenPick and is one of the oldest collective of its kind in India. People affiliated with Orinam are from or trace their ancestry to the following geo-cultural: People of Tamil Origin from Tamil Nadu, India. Orinam provides a platform for creative expression, personal and social commentary by Queer people of Tamil Origin and of Indian Origin primarily. Orinam also acts as a local support group in Chennai for the queer community. Orinam also partners with the city-, state- and national initiatives around decriminalisation of homosexuality by amending Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and LGBTQ rights.

Jaya Sharma is a queer feminist author based in New Delhi, India. She identifies as a queer feminist activist, working on issues of gender, education and sexuality. As the founder of Nirantar and part of the sexuality education initiative within Nirantar, she is involved with capacity building, research and advocacy.

The first Pride March in Gurgaon, India was hosted on 25 June 2016, at Sector -29 Leisure Valley. It was created in order to fill the vacuum of spaces that are queer friendly and pave way to creating a culture of LGBTQIA+ community meets and open dialogue. The LGBTQ community all around the world is under constant threat of abuse, discrimination and even criminalization. Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code considers homosexuality as unnatural or against the order of nature.

Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk (KRPW) is the oldest pride walk in India and South Asia. The first march in Kolkata was organised on 2 July 1999. The walk was called The Friendship Walk. Kolkata was chosen as the first city in India to host the march owing to Kolkata's history of movements for human and Political Rights. Currently, Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk is organised by the Kolkata Rainbow Pride Festival (KRPF).

The Chandigarh LGBTQ Pride Walk is an annual march held as part of the "Garvotsava" pride week celebrations in Chandigarh, the capital city of the northern Indian states of Punjab and Haryana. The event aims to celebrate and bring together the LGBTQ community and its supporters.

Hyderabad Queer Pride has been celebrated on one of the Sundays in February since 2013. First held on 3 February 2013, Hyderabad became the 12th Indian city to join the queer pride march bandwagon, fourteen years after the first Indian pride march was held in Kolkata. In 2015 it was renamed as Hyderabad Queer Swabhimana Pride, emphasising the self-respect and the acceptance of the community of themselves, as they are. In 2016 it was altered to Hyderabad Queer Swabhimana Yatra and has been retained since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bengaluru Namma Pride March</span> Annual queer pride march in Karnataka, India

Bengaluru Namma Pride March is a queer pride march that is held annually in the city of Bengaluru in Karnataka, India, since 2008. The march is organised by a coalition called Coalition for Sex Workers and Sexuality Minority Rights (CSMR). The pride march is preceded by a month of queer related events and activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queer Campus Bangalore</span> Support group and safe space for queer youth in Bangalore, India

Queer Campus Bangalore is a support group and safe space for queer youth in Bangalore, India. It is open to school, college, and university going youth in the city.

Chennai International Queer Film Festival is a three-day LGBT- event that usually takes places on the last weekend of July as a part of the city's pride events. The main organizers are SAATHII and Orinam in partnership with Goethe-Institut, Chennai. The other volunteers include various community groups and NGOs, including Nirangal, East-West Center for Counselling, and RIOV. The last day is usually performances along with a panel discussion, usually to discuss and bring out the challenges faced by community members.

Akkai Padmashali is an Indian transgender activist, motivational speaker, and singer. For her work in activism, she has received the Rajyotsava Prashasti, the second highest civilian honor of the state of Karnataka, and an honorary doctorate from the Indian Virtual University for Peace and Education. She is also the first transgender person in Karnataka to register their marriage.

References

  1. ↑ "Forbes India Magazine - Print". Forbesindia.com. 27 June 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  2. ↑ Chandran, Vinay (13 April 2011). "As good as it can get". The Hindu. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ↑ "Good As You". Geocities.ws. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  5. ↑ "Time Out - Novidades do Dia a Dia - Encontre tudo sobre as novidades no empreendedorismo, cursos superiores, as melhores séries, emagrecimento e muito mais". Time Out - Novidades do Dia a Dia. Archived from the original on 19 December 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  6. ↑ "Jeeva ಜೀವ". Jeeva ಜೀವ. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  7. ↑ Correspondent, Special (5 November 2014). "A magazine for and by LGBT community". The Hindu. Retrieved 25 June 2017.{{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  8. ↑ "Here's How Bangalore's First Community Radio Station Is Different from the Rest in the Country". Thebetterindia.com. 17 February 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  9. ↑ "Queer Habba revellers paint City in rainbow colours - Deccan Herald | DailyHunt". M.dailyhunt.in. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  10. ↑ "Condemn the police violence and brutality on transgender community members in Kerala. at Bangalore - Events High". Events High. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  11. ↑ "Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum v State of Karnataka & Ors. - CLPR". Clpr.org.in. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  12. ↑ "Courts Recognizing Transgender Rights - OHRH". ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  13. 1 2 "Now, a dating platform for LGBT community - Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". Dnaindia.com. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  14. ↑ "Amour - A dating platform for Queer". amourqueerdating.blogspot.in. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  15. ↑ "What We Do". Maya4women.org. 9 July 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  16. ↑ "Who We Are". Maya4women.org. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  17. ↑ "Time Out - Novidades do Dia a Dia - Encontre tudo sobre as novidades no empreendedorismo, cursos superiores, as melhores séries, emagrecimento e muito mais". Time Out - Novidades do Dia a Dia. Archived from the original on 14 January 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  18. ↑ "Good as You Bangalore". goodasyoublr.blogspot.in. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  19. ↑ "Bright Lights, Pink Cinema - Deepika Arwind - Tehelka - Investigations, Latest News, Politics, Analysis, Blogs, Culture, Photos, Videos, Podcasts". Tehelka.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  20. ↑ "Bangalore Pride". Blrpride.blogspot.com. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  21. ↑ "About | Bangalore Queer Film Festival". Archived from the original on 31 July 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  22. ↑ Julie Fairless (5 July 2008). "Bangalore Pride". Youtube.com. Retrieved 25 June 2017– via YouTube.
  23. ↑ "WHaQ! - WHaQ! Gurls during Bangalore Pride. First time in..." WHaQ!. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
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