Gay Bombay, Queer Ink and the Hive present the Queers Pets meet!
As we recover from an amazing Pride 2015 Gaybombayhas a fun and interesting
meeting lined up for this Sunday @ The Hive, Khar:the first Queers Pets Meet!
Anyone who knows queer people know how we love ouranimal friends. Dogs,
This very well written piece brings up a subject that matters to most
middle-class Indians - the servants who are the ubiquitous, if often
un-acknowledged parts of our lives:
http://www.ndtv.com/article/blogs/a-hole-in-the-heart-of-my-family-641504
It reminded me of a piece I wrote some years
Pearls Before Swine, an engagingly offbeat comic strip that runs in Mumbai
Mirror, recently had this strip which referred to a LGBT sandwich (thanks to
the lag that Indian newspapers run comics, the strip came out in September, but
only ran here this month):Pearls Before Swine by Stephan
Just in case you ever happen to be photographed in an intimate position with
someone of the same sex and happen to need to explain it away you might want to
use this masterful explanation from Vivek Mishra, who seems to be someone
intent on making himself a celebrity by becoming India's first
This recording of a RedFM show is really worth listening to because the host
manages to connect with the wife who filed a S.377 case against her husband
when she learned he was gay.
https://soundcloud.com/redfm-bengaluru/disha-oberoi-explores-section-377
There has been quite a lot
When the Supreme Court upheld Section 377 one of the immediate reactions was
that this was a shocking case of the court empowering blackmailers. Throughout
its history S.377 - and similar laws across the world - has been used extremely
successfully to extort money from gay men who are too
An interesting article from the excellent online news magazine Scroll.in on how
children's and young adult books in India are starting to include lgbt
characters:
Gay characters, single-parent families: Books for Indian kids begin to reflect
real life
Gay characters, single-parent
For those who haven't discovered this MTV US comedy show, just find some way to
watch it! It is, sadly, not showing in India and I wonder if it ever will
(70:30 chances I think, since MTV India sometimes likes to push the envelope
and the show doesn't show explicit sex, even if it hints at a
In advance of Children's Day on November 14th, the Indian Express' Sunday
supplement published a collection of letters from parents to their children.
This is a particularly moving one from a mother to her queer son. (Please
consider posting comments about it. All too often we leave online
This is just to tell everyone to mark their calendars for Sunday November 30th
when GB will be having one of its super popular Film Club screenings. It will
be happening, as usual, at National College in Bandra from around 1.30 pm to 8
pm. This is a free event, but entrance is restricted to
A piece by me in response to Tim Cook's coming out:
Will Singapore, India continue to disregard LGBT rights?
Will Singapore, India continue to disregard LGBT rights?
As multinationals become quiet advocates for equal rights for LGBTs how long
will investment and technology hungry
An article that really should be read to alert us to the threat that these
ex-gay organisations might pose to use in India. As this article notes, because
they are facing a dead end in places like Australia they are shifting their
focus to places like India. And far from providing just an
Here are two recent attempts to take on homophobes which are worth seeing,
though this first one is frankly a bit of a train wreck:
Check Out This Irish Senator's Awesome Smack Down of Russia's Anti-gay
Propaganda Ban: VIDEO |News | Towleroad
Check Out This Irish Senator's Awesome Smack
When queer Indian kids come out to their parents they sometimes say that one of
the problems they had is they didn't have the words to explain the concept of
being queer to their parents in the language they speak. What words they could
think of often had negative connotations which they felt
Goolam Vahanvati, the ex-Attorney General of India passed away yesterday from a
heart attack. He was much in the news in the last years of the previous
government particularly for having to defend some dubious legal decisions. But
what should matter to us is that he was a supporter of
The trailer of Pride, a new British film about an unlikely alliance between gay
activists and striking miners during the Thatcher years has been getting a lot
of publicity. It looks like its going to be a really great film to watch, Billy
Elliott with much more gay interest (Billy did have that
For all of us who were in court during the Supreme Court hearings on the Naz
case and remember the awfulness of hearing Justice Mukhopadhaya responding to
our lawyers arguments with total ignorance and prejudice, the audio in this
link affords a certain irrational satisfaction.
Because
Curatives to be heard in open court!
Judges accepted our request
for an open court hearing of the curatives. There will probably be a
date given next week, but after that the recess starts, so then it will
continue after. Judges will be Lodha, who is the next CJI, Dattu and
Mukhopadhaya (who
A bit belated, but BIG CONGRATULATIONS to all our trans friends and members of
these lists for the
NALSA verdict.
I think its a particular point of pride for us in Mumbai that people we know
well like Laxmi were petitioners in NALSA. From the little I know
about the case, it was Laxmi's
This is a really well researched story of what happened in Hassan recently done
by Lester Feder of BuzzFeed with the help of on the ground work done by
Bangalore based activists. The story was only lightly reported in the national
media and a lot of the nuances and details were missed out. When
Vikram Seth has just written a poem that is perhaps the most powerful, moving
and fitting response to both the Supreme Court's decision to recriminalise
LGBTQ people, and its refusal yesterday to reconsider this. The last line says
as much as longer articles and op/ed pieces would. He has
Today, 28th Jan, the Supreme Court
will decide on whether to review the shameful decision written by Justice
Singhvi in Koushal vs.Naz.
The Court has been urged to do this by a huge
outpouring of voices from the public expressed through mainstream and social
media, in India and abroad, by
This is from NDTV - the SC bench of Justices Dattu and Mukhopadhaya have
apparently rejected the review petitions filed by the government and by LGBTQ
groups and their supporters. Its as expected, but still disappointing.
I'm typing this just after noon on Monday and I am getting many calls from
people asking me when the Supreme Court verdict is due. Some of them tell they
have heard from other people who say that the verdict will definitely be
tomorrow (Tuesday) while others says they have heard it will
Listed for tomorrow. Say your prayers (if you believe) tonight.
Here's a link to an article I did in Sunday Times of India that tries to get
straight men to look at the world from a gay viewpoint for a moment...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/stoi/deep-focus/What-straight-men-can-learn-from-gays/articleshow/27054410.cms
What straight men can learn
Just received word. They've sent it to Parliament, where it will probably
remain indefinitely. DIsappointing, though not the worst outcome.
Supreme Court cause lists out and we are not listed for tomorrow. That means
Wednesday or never.
The judge iss actually hearing a case involving the Indian Body Building and
Fitness Federation and not us! Couldn't he at least have clubbed us with them?!
Vikram
And as we wait for the SC verdict, what better way to divert ourselves than
this fascinating study on which US states are the largest... on a parameter of
some interest for these lists.
http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/12/03/which-state-is-the-biggest/
I know one Indian gay guy who was in North
So, unless everyone on these lists is totally tuned off news and only to things
like Tom Daley's coming out as bisexual (yay!) we can't have escaped getting
involved in the many debates thrown up by the Tehelka case.
I don't particularly want to get into the actual Tehelka case here, but more
An excellent piece from Michael Specter that is also worth reading for the
comments at the end that carry on the discussion in very honest and
illuminating ways. Also worth reading is the NYT piece that prompted Specter's
piece. Here are the links:
Many people are asking when theSupreme Court will be delivering its verdict in
the Naz India case. And the judgment is clearly nea, since Justice Singhvi who,
we are assuming is writing it, retires in the middle of next week. Tomorrow is
a court holiday for the Delhi elections, and the case
Depressing news from Singapore where they have been trying to get the judiciary
to strike down their anti sodomy law, which is almost the same as India's, also
inherited from the British, but called Section 377a. But the High Court judge
there declined to do so, saying it was something that
GB announces the latest in its always super popular
series of free film screenings – and seriously SUPER popular, at the last
screening we had not only every seat in the around 100 seater auditorium full,
but every step and bit of floor space taken up. So make sure you come early to
get a place
Has anyone seen this Malayalam film Mumbai Police where the actor Prithviraj is
one of the policemen of the title and also plays gay?
Yes, you read that right, this is the same ridiculously hunky Prithvirajwho was
the lust object in the film Aiyyaa (written and directed, as it happens, by an
Manil Suri and I had companion pieces in today's Sunday Times of India's
Special Report on the US Supreme Court decision on same sex marriage and also
on what an amazing - but in a few places depressing - couple of months it has
been for lgbt rights and what, hopefully, the Indian Supreme Court
My piece in today's Sunday Times of India's Special Report on same sex
marriage, lgbt rights and what we hope the Indian Supreme Court might take from
the last few months:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/stoi/special-report/Same-sex-same-rights/articleshow/20839555.cms
Printed from
The two decisions that the US Supreme Court has handed down today are complex
and nuanced and are almost definitely likely to lead to a lot more litigation,
but at their most basic they count as a win for lgbt rights.
The key win was in the Defence of Marriage case where, essentially, the
And, as it happens, a straight couple. Yet its not without resonance for lgbt
mailing lists as this link, and the piece following after which I wrote for the
Times some years back (and probably posted here before) explains:
There have been plenty of stories in the media to mark the 60th anniversary of
the first ascent of Mt.Everest. And quite a few have noted that the only
(British) survivor is Jan Morris, the celebrated travel writer and journalist,
who was the Times of London's 'embedded' reporter. Most other
I don't know if people are getting this Google Doodle on their computers - I
don't seem to be getting it on mine here in Mumbai. But its worth checking out
since its one of the most elaborate and beautifully executed Google Doodles I
have ever seen, and it happens to be for the birthday of a
Ramki has posted links to the story on the problems Indian transmen face when
they want to get their breasts removed - in contrast to the relative ease with
which Angelina Jolie seems to have had her double mastectomies done. This is
not to diminish her decision or the reasons she did it, but
Asghar Ali Engineer, who has just passed away in Mumbai, has been much lauded
for his efforts in trying to promote progressive Muslim viewpoints and ensure
interfaith dialogues on a number of issues. And this included attitudes towards
homosexuality when, after the Delhi High Court gave its
OK, this isn't gay, but it does involve a gay icon. Here is Rekha (and Urmila)
pitching for Snickers chocolate bar. Is it offensive to women? Is there a
gender bending angle that is rather camp? Is it just brilliant use of Rekha's
difficult diva image? Is it so over the top its really cool?
France passed same sex marriage yesterday. This has been one of the most
puzzling and contentious votes, which no one was expecting.
French friends of mine have been totally shocked at the level of protest and
violence that has come out against the bill, even though polls show the
majority
This is not specifically lgbt related, but I thought this piece I had done
might be of interest to people because it is a question we often get asked
during GB meets devoted to legal issues: people want to know if it it illegal
to possess pornography?
Many queer people have faced problems
Last mail on the New Zealand same sex marriage vote, I promise, but I had to
post this. As more and more countries pass lgbt rights bills there are more and
more videos of the news when the vote passes or the result is announced and
everyone breaks out cheering and dancing. There was one from
...for no other reason than that its cute and charming and why do we need
excuses to post pix of two hot guys kissing anyway. What is a bit odd is that
both these guys, who are British actors, are I think straight and they are both
at the launch of a film they acted in where they were best
The Parliament of New Zealand has just passed the same sex marriage bill - and
not just passed it, but passed it by a huge margin of 77 to 44. It now just
needs to formality of Royal Assent to become law and for marriages to start. So
for all the guys here who have looked at those sexy NZ
A really beautifully written piece where a gay Italian boy talks about his
family, food and coming out through constructing a ABC. What sort of ABCs could
people here write?
The link, and some of the letters:
An excellent list to get the same week when one of my closest friends from
Mumbai got his green card. He started transitioning from female to male a
couple of years back and got married last year to his partner of five years in
San Francisco (totally legal, since she's a woman and by then he
This ad from Fastrack watches has just released. The support is admirable, I
guess, but it would have been nice if the women seemed less likely to have been
selected from the point of view of titillating straight men. What do people
think? :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmk9D53G6F8
Here are the details for the films to be screened at the GB Film Screening
tomorrow. Brief descriptions, plus some links if you want to get more
information.
As always, the film screenings will be at National College in Bandra. If you're
coming for the first time, just get off at Bandra
William Saletan on Slate.com, always a thoughtful writer and one willing to
pick at easy positions, has posted this interesting piece on why sexual
preferences like Bondage and SM will always remain subcultures and not
becoming mainstream in the way that being gay or lesbian is becoming
The Justice Verma Committee, consisting of ex Chief Justice of India J.S.Verma,
retired Justice Leela Seth (first woman chief justice of a High Court) and
retired Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam has just submitted its report in
the case of the horrific gang rape and murder in Delhi. It has
President Obama's second inaugural speech immediately caught the attention for
its open acknowledgement of lgbt people and their struggles. His use of the
words Seneca Falls, Selma, Stonewall was just brilliant for their
alliterative rhythm and the way they acknowledge three immense civil
Happy New Year to all on these lists...and lets hope it is! Because one thing
we know for sure, the Supreme Court will have to give some sort of verdict or
ruling in the 377 case. Justice Singhvi, the senior judge on the bench that
heard the case will retire in mid December, 2013 so something
This excellent piece from Slate.com shows how lgbt activists and supporters in
the US managed to turn around a long losing streak on gay marriage with today's
hands down win. It comes down to making human connections with people, talking
about common human issues rather than just demanding
Alex Ross is the New Yorker's music critic and a wonderful writer. If you have
any interest in Western classical music - or even if you have not much
interest, but like good writing - you should read his history of 20th century
Western classical music, The Rest is Noise.
Ross is also openly
It isn't just the Obama re-election, which most LGBT people are likely to have
supported, other than the Staunchly Selfish Queens (hey, there Jimmyji!) But
its also the slew of other victories across the country in all kinds of other
races:
- Tammy Baldwin won the US Senate seat from
With Student of the Year FINALLY about to hit the screens, Karan Johar take on
sexuality - including his own sexuality - comes up again in this interview with
Rishi Kapoor who, its been widely reported, plays the principal of the school
who has feelings for the male PT instructor. Read the
This coming Sunday (14/10) GB presents its latest Film Club screening. And this
is one of the best packages we've ever had. Usually the films which we mostly
get from friends abroad have a mix of strong and weak ones, but this time I
think they're all really good.
They are also all feature
A friend of mine recently had to have a minor surgical procedure done for which
he had gone to a surgeon in one of Mumbai's leading hospitals. My friend is
HIV+ which, of course, was known to the specialist who had no problem doing the
procedure.
This surgeon said the procedure would require
This coming Sunday (14/10) GB presents its latest Film Club screening. As the
many people who are regulars at these screenings know I have a bad tendency to
keep pushing the final selection of films till almost the day before. I thought
this time I wouldn't do that, but a friend is coming
I haven't seen either of this week's Bollywood releases, but I'm betting there
were several here who have and may even have been in line for
first-day-first-show for English-Vinglish and who can blame them (on the other
hand, if someone here was doing first-day-first-show for KLPD they may not
Congratulations to Akkai for getting this honour. I hope the judges who are
deciding the 377 case take note! As it happens, in addition to all her other
excellent work, Akkai helped recruit the mothers of two Bangalore based
transgenders to sign the parents petition that we filed in the Supreme
This column by Jai Arjun Singh should draw up some memories, even if we didn't
collect the He-Man dolls. But how many of us had a crush on him? Or did you go
for Skeletor instead? Or that hunky captain?
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/he-man-nostalgia/480332/
I'm guessing that even the least sporting inclined among us here is watching
the Olympics, even if India is crashing out almost completely. The reason of
course is - Hot Bodies! In Skin-tight Lycra Singlets, or even less.
I mean, did you see the Tom Daley photos? Since he's Brit at a Brit
Someone who wasn't able to attend the last GB Film Club Screening asked me how
it went off so I'm happy to be able to post this glowing review from someone
who was there (thanks to Dee for posting it to me from FB). So for those of you
who want to come for a film screening, but aren't too sure
A link to a long piece from Slate.com, but very well worth reading because it
will strike many resonances with people here. The piece is about the exposure
in the early 1960s of a massive organised criminal racket, involving crooked
police officers (or criminals pretending to be them) in the US
The formal mail will follow, but here's a quick heads up for all the many fans
of GB's Film Club Screenings. Next Sunday, July 22, we'll be having one at our
usual venue at National College in Bandra, from 1.30-8 pm. I will try and post
the list of films by tomorrow, but I can confirm that one
Apologies, I had hoped to finalise the films for this coming Sunday's GB Film
Screenings, but just yesterday a friend gave me some very new and little seen
films for the screening, and I'm still working my way through them. But one
which I saw is definite or the first film because. while in
The Hindustan Times and Times of India both featured pieces on the Naz India
case as lead op/ed pieces to mark the 3rd anniversary this week. The HT piece
is by Gautam Bhan, the ToI piece by me. I specifically link the archaic nature
of 377 to the archaic laws that ACP Dhoble is digging as
This article from Slate about evolving - or maybe evolving - attitudes
towards homosexuality in the Mormon Church may require some suspension of
disbelief while reading it, but its worth doing because I kept finding
behavioural parallels with some of the attitudes of Mormons and many Indian
This report from the Times of India about the fall out from the rave party in
Juhu today confirms what GB has been saying for a long time now, which is that
if you are going regularly to parties it is best to get a permit.
For those who don't know what this is, its a rather absurd document
The GB Special Meet on Cancer Awareness combined with HepB inoculations went
off very well. I'll try and post a longer email with the specific details that
Dr.Prasad spoke about, but this is just to give some idea of what it was like
and raise one of the points that he made.
This was a new
Here's a truly inspiring and moving speech to listen to, even if you don't know
much or don't care about the issue that's causing it - a move in the state of
North Carolina to pass a referendum that would ban recognition of any kind of
relationship other than that of a heterosexual couple.
There are several doctors on this list who might find this gay doctor's
description of the prejudices he's encountered in his profession familiar and
depressing reading:
http://www.towleroad.com/2012/04/a-brief-examination-of-homophobia-in-medicine.html
The Orinam website has been kind enough to post my mail about Anjali Gopalan on
their website. There's space for comments below, and it would be nice if people
could consider using this to thank Anjali directly or if they have any memories
of dealing with her during all these years, to post a
This piece, written by a guy who has quit a world of extreme orthodox Judaism,
is not really gay related (well, almost, there's one rather staggering bit
about male on male oral sex). It is about his interactions with guys who are
still stuck in that world, even though they want more than what
After first round of comic geekery with Archie and Alison Bechdel, here's round
two with an online gay comic strip I recently discovered - do others know of
it?
Please be warned, if you are at all inclined towards comic geekery, then only
click on the link below if you are willing to waste
For the gay comic geeks on these lists - I can't be the only one around.
First, there's a wonderful bit of news. Alison Bechdel's new graphic novel is
out in May. For anyone who's read and loved her Dykes to Watch Out For series,
and then read Fun Home, her truly remarkable graphic novel
It is absolutely fantastic to see Anjali Gopalan on this year's Time magazine's
100 Most Influential People list!
A lot of people will be going 'who?' and a lot of people in Bengal will be
going 'huh? she scores higher than Didi?' (Lets just hope that the Trinamul
doesn't throw a tantrum
Guys, this is a general message I am putting out after encountering a couple of
cases in the last few months of gay or bi guys who have tested positive in
circumstances when they were not expecting it.
In both cases, not being prepared for this has greatly complicated the ways in
which
A wonderful clip - this is what Youtube exists for! It shows a long term gay
couple who aren't afraid to show the depth of their love for each other by
dancing on TV, in front of one of Britain's top shows. If this link doesn't
work, just google Youtube and Sugar Dandies - you won't regret it:
In the run-up to the GB Parents Meet later this month, here's a story worth
reading about how one mother confronted her deepest prejudices and changed when
her son came out to her:
http://www.danoah.com/2012/04/a-teens-brave-response-to-im-christian-unless-youre-gay.html
(Perhaps I shouldn't
Finally this Tuesday morning, around 12.30, the Supreme Court hearings in the
377 case came to an end.
After the arguments from our side wound up last week the procedure is that the
opposing parties, who are the petitioners in this case (since it is an appeal
against the Delhi High Court
My article from ET today on the Supreme Court hearing the 377 case. No new
information for people on these lists, but a sense of what being in the SC is
like. This is from the main paper, and it should be up on my ET blog soon:
FINALLY!
I heard this from the Court about an hour back and this Times report now
confirms it. The Attorney-General Ghoolam Vahanvati has finally confirmed that
the government of India has no objections to the Delhi High Court verdict:
Nothing very much more to add at the moment. Its been evident for a while that
the GoI is OK with the Naz India verdict, but didn't want to have to say this
openly. But ironically it looks like its hand was forced by ASG Malhotra during
these hearings when he got up and repeated all the stuff
Some of the mails and messages I've been getting in response to the news that
the GoI is supporting the Naz verdict seem to suggest that people imagine we
have won in the Supreme Court.
I wish it was that simple.
The GoI's support is important and a bit of a breakthrough, but it certainly
Apologies for not posting reports about the last three days hearings on the 377
case in the Supreme Court. (The case is heard on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday).
Ironically this is because, for the first time, I've been in court myself,
rather than receiving reports from others who have been in
With the Supreme Court hearing the 377 case there has been a lot of talk, in
the Court, and outside as well, about Lawrence vs.Texas, the case that
decriminalised consensual same sex relations between adults in the US. We are
now where Lawrence was when it was being argued, and the question is
As I had posted earlier last week I was not able to post reports on the
proceedings partly because I was out of town and partly because once it became
clear that the judges were speeding up the case and our opponents would soon
have finished speaking, most of the people on our side became
First, apologies to everyone for not being able to post updates on the 377 case
this week. The reasons are both personal and general and I'll do my best to
rectify them. For the record, the case was heard over Tuesday (28/2), Wednesday
(29/2) and Thursday (1/3) and now is on hold for 10 days
In yesterday's arguments in court the one really interesting, perhaps loaded
moment was a brief exchange between the Bench and assistant solicitor-general
PP Malhotra, who was in the midst of his attack on the Naz decision, acting on
his quite misguided assumption that this was the Ministry of
Please could everyone note urgently that there seems to be a lot of confusion
flowing from what is happening in court today. Several channels are carrying
reports that the Ministry of Home Affairs has opposed the Delhi High Court
verdict and has asked for the continued criminalisation of
Since there seems to be a lot of confusion emanating from Delhi on the
government's views on the 377 case, I thought it might be useful to post this
report about an event where the PM clearly stated the need to support groups
like homosexuals against social prejudice.
This was from 2008, the
This is just a quick mail to note that today was Day 4 of the 377 case hearings
in the Supreme Court and quite a lot of time, around four hours, was given to
the case. The counsel for the Delhi Commission on Child Welfare continued to
speak right through, and the Bench posed a lot of questions
This account of the Oshiwara party raid has been forwarded to me with the
suggestion I post it on the mailing lists. It is very well written and moving,
while also giving tips on what not to do - this guy's attempt to run away was
perhaps natural, but also rather dumb and he was lucky not to
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