Queer Community

The Queer Take: When a community's lives are bigger than the law, celebrating legal 'victories' can feel like settling for 'enough'

If the Law must arbitrate on Life, then it must be bigger than it, or roomy enough to make space for it.

Two years after Section 377 decision, the queer narrative must make space for voices from semi-urban India

'Queer lives in small-town India are not visible enough for anyone to take notice. So, nobody knows what our stories look like.'

How COVID-19 is changing queer spaces: Opening doors to some, while shutting out the more vulnerable

Increased attendance and the occurrence of conversations in multiple languages have been positive developments in the queer world. However, it has been observed that though spaces have shifted online, they continue to remain trans-exclusionary.

Same-sex marriage gets a push in India, but some in queer community feel other rights require more urgent attention

The most prominent criticism against the campaign for the legalisation of same-sex marriage is that it doesn't top the list of priorities for the queer community, as opposed to job reservations or providing shelter to those abandoned by their birth families.

For LGBTQ creators and users, TikTok was space — even if imperfect — to reclaim identity, sexuality. That is now lost

'TikTok inspired me to come out to my mother. It was thrilling to see so much talent in one place,' says one queer user

Indian law invisibilises, discriminates against queer people; one project reimagines legislation to make it more inclusive

A project titled Queering The Law, by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, looks at the ways in which queer people can have better legal representation, in order to be able to better access the law and other civic institutions. It identifies laws that patently discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community, as well as ones that operate on the male-female binary, thereby invisibilising anyone whose identity does not fall within this binary

The Queer Take: In making themselves devoid of the sexual, safe spaces are inherently limited

Those in the queer community most likely to pass off as straight are less preoccupied with safety than those like me who don’t pass easily, or at all. Safety is an issue for those of us with physical presentations that cause pause, that demand a retake, that bleed from the cutting questions | Joshua Muyiwa writes in 'The Queer Take'

The Queer Take: Questions straight folks ask LGBTQ people — and what it says of power dynamic

Over these many years, as a queer femme person living in this world, I’ve come to understand that the privacy granted to me by the general public is starkly different from the kind granted to other so-called 'normal' people.

A new guidebook on mental health for LGBTQ community tackles associated stigma, misinformation

White Swan Foundation’s e-book Mental Health 101: LGBTQIA+ Edition aims to serve as a guidebook for members of the community. It details issues and causes for the queer community, discusses methods of self-care, and provides tips when coming out or seeking help.

The Queer Take: How the stories of our lives traverse truth, lies, and the many-splendoured places in between

In truth, not all of our stories are sad. It is just that we — and I — have been told that sad or striking stories will get us seen. And for a community who has been hidden away for so long, we might do anything to be seen.