These Mumbai youngsters gave Ed Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' an LGBT makeover and it's lovely

Though India is still very anti-LGBT in terms of our laws, there’s a movement taking ground within the country where people are becoming more tolerant towards alternative sexuality. One such effort in the movement that is helping change the way people perceive the queer community is a lovely video put out by ‘Gansgta Gudiya’ and it’s done in a much better way than that disastrous ‘Project Shiver’ campaign started by musician Monica Dogra. This beautiful song by ‘Gangsta Gudiya’ and Co. is a celebration of love and of being able to love without regressive bounds and about being proud of who you are. [caption id=“attachment_2397150” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Screengrab from the video.[/caption] YouTuber Gangsta Gudiya collaborated with performers Nikhil D’souza and Ugoeze to make a beautiful song about being queer. They were accompanied on the guitar by Hartej Sawhney, one of the lead guitarists from Mumbai band Spud in the Box. The song called Out and Proud is a new rendition of Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud, and was conceived by Natasha Vakil, who is popularly known by her online pseudonym, Gangsta Gudiya. " I’m tired of seeing hatred and negativity in the world today. People are just not willing to accept that there are many ways of living one’s life. If someone is considered different, it is seen as a bad thing and they are rejected, abused, even vilified. We wanted to stress the importance of love and acceptance without judgement. And thus, this song was born." says Natasha to Firstpost.

Singer Nikhil D’souza who is currently on tour in the US says,“It feels great to be a part of something significantly more tangible than the usual Facebook/Twitter post about rights violations or an outcry against a political ruling.”

“I haven’t been able to do this before - use my music talent to show support for the LGBT community. Bear in mind though that the theme of the song is more about the freedom to love, responsibly, who you choose - whether straight or queer - and to send a message to the powers that be to not underestimate how fundamentally important this is,” he says to Firstpost.

" I like the fact that this song was a quick way to explain to the ignorant people out there that there is another  kind of love. And for some people this love is inevitable and it’s out there," says Hartej to Firstpost. “They should be allowed to love whoever they want.” This video also has some beautiful performances by queer Indians and LGBT rights supporters. One of the performers in the video, Justine, told Firstpost that, “I feel like the video will definitely bring about more awareness to the fact that regardless of our sexuality we’re all the same people and belong to the same human race so there shouldn’t be any discrimination just because most people are not used to something.” “I received a few messages after the video came out from people that are not out yet but were really happy to see this sort of thing. So for me the video was also about being that person that someone can see and think okay its not so bad, I can do it too. No one should feel any pressure to come out, they should do it in their own time but just remember that its not always the worst,” adds Justine. Another collaborator on the project Princeton “Ugoeze” Aguocha believes that this video will help people see that love is love, no matter what form it’s in. “Sadly, people just interpret the emotion wrong,” he said to Firstpost. This project has got over 5,000 views on YouTube till now. “It’s been humbling to see the entire video come together with so much love, hard work and encouragement from the entire community - whether they were on camera, encouraging us along the way, or giving us such a warm reception when we released the video at The Acceptance Meet. We’ve been absolutely overwhelmed, and inspired. We do hope that this video makes people smile, laugh and talk about what it’s like to be queer in India. Continuing these conversations and making people aware of the struggle is so important, to affect change from the inside out,” says Anisha Sharma, who was a part of the team that conceptualised the video. Watch the video here: