LGBTQ culture in Hyderabad

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.^[1][2][3][4] Slowly, Top MNCs have been introducing LGBT friendly policies in their Hyderabad offices.^[5]

Organizations

There has been a few organizations/informal support groups setup in recent times, doing good work in LGBT rights in Hyderabad. A Couple of them are listed below.

• Wajood^[6]
• Suraksha
• Queer Nilayam
• Queer Campus Hyderabad
• Hyderabad For Feminism
• Hyderabad Queer Swabhiman Yatra
• Queer Women Collective

Queer Nilayam

Queer Nilayam (నిలయం) is a Support Group for the LGBTQIA+ and Queer community in Hyderabad, India. It was established by a few queer folks to provide support to the community. This is an open space and participants are encouraged to provide more direction for queer folks to socialize and create a sense of belonging.

The Firefly Community

Started in the year 2018,^[7] The Firefly Community is a Hyderabad based NGO which works on issues related to "Gender & Inclusion".^[8] The Community works on raising awareness by creating safe spaces and includes the medium of art to discuss issues which are a taboo in the society.^[9] The Co-Founders include Alifiya Khan, Lawyer, Ayesha Syeda, Medical Student at VRK Medical College, Neeti Sudarsi, Medical Student at Apollo Medical College and Aaliya Syeda, Architecture Student at GITAM University.^[10] The Community aims at raising awareness through the medium of art and worked extensively on topics such as LGBTQ, Mental Health, Indian Sign Language, Sexual Abuse, Menstrual Health etc.^[11]

Mobbera Foundation

Mobbera Foundation is a registered unfunded organisation which is led by Sandipan Kushary and Anil which works for human rights, exclusively for LGBTQIA+community through Arts and cultural programs.^{[12][13][14][15]}

Dragvanti

Dragvanti ^[16] is a non profit organization from Hyderabad which is a safe space for all the drag practitioners within the city. Hyderabad drag club has started the drag scene in Hyderabad and been organizing drag events in the city and awareness sessions through drag on AIDS, safe sex,^[17] queer story telling and open mikes.^[18][19][20]

Homophobia/Transphobia in Hyderabad

There have been numerous instances of incidents of homophobia and transphobia in Hyderabad.

Back in 2011, a local news channel TV9 (Telugu) carried out a sting operation on gay dating websites and gay clubs, presented a very demeaning and homophobic view of Gay culture of Hyderabad. Following this news report, there have been many protests in Hyderabad and across India. News Broadcasting Authority of India issued notices to TV9 channel, following which it aired an unconditional apology which can be said as the first win of city's LGBT community.^[21][22][23]

In early 2013, a Kashmiri student in the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, allegedly committed suicide because of homophobia of university authorities, students and faculty.^[24]

In 2015, Few queer and trans persons were restricted from entering the GVK One mall. Included in the group was trans activist Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli, who filed a complaint about the discrimination and asked GVK to apologize for the discrimination.^[25]

Hyderabad's LGBTIQ History

• 2012: LGBT support group Wajood setup^[26]
• 2013: First Queer Pride held in the city
• 2014: First Queer Carnival (Festival) by Queer Campus Hyderabad^[27]
• 2019: India's First Drag Con, Hyderabad Drag Con 2019 by Hyderabad Drag Club^[28] has organised indian's first drag conference in 2019 at Hylife Brewery in association with Humans of Nirvana called Hyderabad Drag Con in 2019.^{[29][30][31][32]} the event featured based drag artists and performers such as Patruni Sastry, Colonge and Sajiv Pasala.
• 2021: Setup of Queer Nilayam - a support group for the LGBTQIA+ community in Hyderabad.
• 2021: First Queer Magazine of Hyderabad - QueerNama. Visit ^[33]

References

1. Ramavat, Mona (February 11, 2013). "Gay pride and a colour riot: Hyderabad gets its own first queer parade". India Today. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
2. "LGBT community gears up for February pride parade - The Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 2014-01-09. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
3. "Out in the open, they long for acceptance". The Hindu. 2013-02-04. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
4. "Hyderabad Queer Pride 2013". Gaylaxy Magazine. July 24, 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
5. "MNCs in Hyderabad becomes LGBT-friendly". Deccan Chronicle. 2013-10-17. Archived from the original on January 19, 2014. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
6. "WAJOOD". Wajoodlgbt.blogspot.in. 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
7. "Firefly Community- Speaking the unspoken".
8. "Firefly Community raising awareness on sensitive social issues". 6 January 2021.
9. "#YouGoGirl: This girl-powered club in Hyderabad is starting conversations on Islamophobia, Discrimination and more". May 2019.
10. "Creating a safe space to talk mental health". 19 December 2019.
11. Nadadhur, Srivathsan (16 June 2018). "The Firefly community : A platform for a conversation". The Hindu.
12. Murthy, Neeraja (8 April 2020). "Pride Art Showcase by Hyderabad-based Mobbera Foundation goes online". The Hindu.
13. Pendyala, Sweta. "City's LGBT community celebrates SC verdict with free hugs - Times of India". The Times of India.
14. "At the root of activism". telanganatoday.com. Archived from the original on 2020-12-13.
15. "They need our empathy, not sympathy: HR on making workplace more inclusive for LGBTQ+ community". 8 September 2020.
16. "It's TIME for 'Drag' shows to begin". telanganatoday.com. Archived from the original on 2019-12-04.
17. https://telanganatoday.com/lets-talk-about-sex ^{[dead link‍]}
18. "Poems, music, standup and more at queer open mic at Cafe Rasasvada". 23 December 2020.
19. "Drag Show Sizzles Hyderabad". 18 June 2019.
20. "South Asian drag stars demand visibility with Brown Drag Exists campaign". 5 May 2020.
21. "TV9's Homophobic Coverage - Gaysi". Gaysifamily.com. 2011-02-23. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
22. Vaishalli Chandra (2011-04-03). "TV9 ordered to air apology for sting | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". Dnaindia.com. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
23. "TV9 fined, ordered to broadcast apology on 3 days for 'gay exposé' | Gay News Asia". Fridae.asia. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
24. "Mourning Mudassir's suicide: The tragic tale of a Kashmiri student". Sify. Archived from the original on July 3, 2014. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
25. "Transwoman to File a PIL against GVK One". The New Indian Express. 29 October 2015. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
26. "WAJOOD". Wajoodlgbt.blogspot.in. 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
27. "Hyderabad Queer Carnival ends on gay note". Deccan Chronicle. 2014-01-19. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
28. "Everything you need to know about Hyderabad Drag Con 2019". 24 October 2019. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
29. Bhavani, Divya Kala (25 October 2019). "Hyderabad to have its first-ever Drag Con". The Hindu.
30. "The year Hyderabad notched up several notable firsts - Times of India". The Times of India.
31. "Hyderabad to have its first-ever Drag Con – Business News". 31 October 2023. Archived from the original on February 13, 2023.
32. "Hyderabad's First Ever DragCon has Us Squealing! - FIFTY SHADES OF GAY". fiftyshadesofgay.co.in. Archived from the original on 2019-11-06.
33. "Home". queernilayam.org.

External links

• Wajood's blogs link
• [1]