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Friday, June 1, 2012

Chennai Rainbow Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride 2012





“Can love be shackled?” - Thiruvalluvar

Chennai hosts its fourth annual Rainbow Pride in June 2012, a month celebrating visibility of
alternate sexualities and gender identities.  In India, the first Rainbow Pride March took place
in Kolkata in 1999, and currently Pride is celebrated in nine cities and towns of India:
Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and Thrissur.

Several formal and informal collectives have joined hands to organize a month-long series of 
events in Chennai this June. These include a panel discussion on parents and their LGBT 
children; a cultural festival; a three-day film series,  performances in memory of LGBT 
people who have lost their lives, and poster and placard-making sessions. The Chennai 
Rainbow Pride march will be held on June 24th, 2012




CHENNAI: Recently, transgender activist Anil Sadanandan, also known as Mariya, was murdered in Kerala. Fellow activists say it was a hate crime. Two years ago, trans-woman Sowmiya from Chennai committed suicide. Unable to complete her education, she had turned to sex work and begging to eke out a living and was dependent on alcohol. 

Short documentaries on the lives of Sowmiya and Mariya will be screened at Colors of Sexuality: Chennai Queer Film Festival 2012 to be held from June 1 to 17. The festival is part of the Pride Month celebrations to be organised byChennai Rainbow Coalition, a collective of groups that work for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community. This is the fourth year Chennai is hosting Pride Month, which is celebrated across the world to commemorate the anniversary of Stonewall riots of 1969, when the LGBT community members in New York fought police harassment. 

"Films help us take our concerns to a wider audience," said Kalki Subramaniam, founder, Sahodari Foundation, which works for the transgender community, at a press meet on Friday. "I had spent time with Sowmiya and Mariya and had video footage of them. So I thought of making films on their lives." 

Around 23 Indian films in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali will be screened at the fest, said L Ramakrishnan, a volunteer with Orinam, which is organising it with Chennai Dost and Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan. 'Logging out', made by a teenage boy using a handheld camera, is about the perils and pleasures of online dating. "One of the most moving films is 'More Than A Friend' by Debalina Majumder, who is from an organisation for lesbian and bisexual women and trans-people," said Vikranth Prasanna, founder, Chennai Dost. 

The struggles underline the importance of legal support, said the activists. "We urge the Supreme Court to uphold the historic Naz Foundation verdict of July 2, 2009 that read down section 377 of the IPC," said Ramakrishnan. The Delhi high court ruling, which decriminalised homosexuality, is being challenged in the SC by various organisations. "We need the SC to secure the rights of India's LGBT citizens so they could live with dignity." 

The Chennai Rainbow pride march will be held on June 24. Other events include photo and art exhibitions, panel discussion on family acceptance of LGBT youth and the release of 'Thirunangai', a Tamil magazine.

Courtesy: Times of India

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Join our Rainbow Group Dance practice session on May 20th



Do you love to express?
Do you long to dance but waiting for the right time?
Here we go, Join our Rainbow Group Dance practice session to perform in Flash mob and Cultural Dance program for the Fourth Chennai Rainbow Pride
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenders are all invited
Practice session starts on May 20th
For details contact: 95516 30213

Cheers
ChemistryClub Chennai

www.facebook.com/chemistryclub

Monday, May 14, 2012

INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST HOMOPHOBIA/TRANSPHOBIA -A Candle Light Vigil





As Saadi Shirazi said,
"Human beings are all members of one body. 
They are created from the same essence. 
When one member is in pain, 
The others cannot rest. 
If you do not care about the pain of others, 
You are not worthy of being called a human." 

Homosexuality is found in 450 species and homophobia is found in just one, humans. Its hightime we open our hearts and accept people for what they are, and help them to stop living a lie.

Chennai Dost invites you to join hands for “Stop Homophobia/Transphobia” - a Candlelight Vigil on May 17th, International Day against Homophobia/ Transphobia . Irrespective of gender, sexuality and other differences, let us all unite to celebrate the diversity and put an end to the inhumane act– Homophobia / Transphobia.  Let the light we hold, bring an end to the darkness that dwell in many hearts and parts of our society. 

This is an effort of Chennai Dost, to increase the awareness on alternate sexuality & gender issues and to develop a better tomorrow in which no individual is discriminated or humiliated of one’s gender or sexuality. Let us try and build a society in which no one is forced to hide behind a mask and let everyone live with the dignity of who they are. 

Come let’s all get united and show our solidarity to STOP HOMOPHOBIA / TRANSPHOBIA.

VENUE: Opposite Chennai Press Club.
DATE: May 17th.
TIME: 6 pm.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

"COLOURS OF SEXUALITY" : Call for film submissions

Chennai has been organizing LGBT film screenings since 2004, including
film festivals in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Local groups have also
regularly organized film screenings both during Pride month and at
other times of the year.

This year, we are pleased to bring you Colours of Sexuality: Chennai
Queer Film Festival 2012, a collaborative effort between local
collectives Chennai Dost and Orinam, in partnership with Goethe
Institut/ Max Mueller Bhavan.


The festival will be held on three evenings from June 15-17, 2012, and
will showcase Indian and international feature films, shorts and
documentaries. There will also be a photography/art exhibit at the
venue, and a panel discussion on June 16 on the topic of acceptance of
LGBT youth by their families.

We invite entries of feature-length films, shorts and documentaries
for screening at the event. Entries will be reviewed by a panel, and
selections notified by 30 May 2012.

If you are interested in having your work considered for this
festival, please contact chennaiqueerfilmfest@gmail.com.

Visit http://chennaiqueerfilmfest.blogspot.in/  for updates.


"COLOURS OF SEXUALITY" : Call for photographs and art entries for exhibition

As part of Chennai Queer Film Festival June 15-17 2012,  local
collectives Chennai Dost and Orinam are conducting a photography and
art exhibition in partnership with Goethe Institute/ Max Mueller
Bhavan.


We invite you to send photographs or art work on the theme 'Colours of
Sexuality', encompassing issues of alternate sexual orientation and
gender identity.

- All photographs and images submitted must be original and digital.
- All images must be of size 5 MB or smaller with a resolution at
least 1,600 pixels.
- Last date for the submission of photographs is 30 May 2012.

Entries may also be displayed at other events during Pride month.

Please mail your entries to art.chennaidost@gmail.com

Monday, March 19, 2012

Few drops of the ocean




As I believe in Mahatma Gandhi who said “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

When the tamil world was crying for the demise of a 80 years old ‘Paati’ in Vijay tv’s ‘Saravanan-Meenakshi’, I was watching the news of Sri lankan tamils being stripped naked and getting killed in short range by Sri Lankan army. At the same time my friend was busy fishing for his prey in Planet Romeo, the hot guy who pinged him sent pictures of all his body parts, I donno if he excluded his armpits etc. Sorry I couldn’t peek long to give you more details about the body pictures of the hot guy (which obviously you will be interested to know).

Recently some of my friends paid a short visit to Nungambakkam by 11pm. don’t ask me what they were doing at that time. Probably they wanted to measure the length of the high road. But unfortunately Police patrol interrupted them, they mistook my gay friends cruising for transgender. They provided some valuable advice about AIDS, Indian culture etc and then let them go after getting Rs.1000 from them. This reminded me about the Supreme court hearings on section 377 case, the Indian government stated that they don’t want to oppose the High court judgement since it helped them to work on AIDS prevention. Of course the government care about our lives, but they are not going to give a shit about our civil rights. According to them our only civil right is to vote for them once in every 5 years.

There is this pub in Chennai opened recently; we don’t know their real motive to open up such a pub. But I heard it has become a gay heaven lately. There are two types of groups, one the so called heterosexuals who come here expecting some gay friends for a short term relief in the pub rest room and then the stereotypes who become straight acting queens back home wanting to dance to any horrible tunes and get some fresh meat (they don’t believe in types) after the party. Last week there were nearly 3 gay parties in town and my phone kept ringing inviting me for their parties. Frustrated, I told one of the organizers that I am bed sick and I couldn’t get out of the house. The guy asked me to send my boyfriend instead (for him I am just a party ticket, my health is an unnecessary news for him). Honestly I didn’t think that I would become a victim of all this when I introduced the gay party trend in the city 3 years before.

Before I fell sick, I witnessed a gay party. Gay scene in Chennai has changed. But the class difference still prevails. Everybody wanted to showcase glamour, money, costume and whatever they could to attract someone hot. The moment some new hottie arrives in a party, you can watch that fake arrogant faces, attitude behavior from the queens desperate for that fresh meat. Nobody spoke about Supreme court case neither anyone seems to be worried about Srilankan tamils. There is this new guy from Coimbatore who seems to be picking up people randomly; he didn’t even bother to enter the dance floor. All night he stood by the window trying to pick up whoever he could. Thanks to the organizers hospitality who have provided plenty of dark rooms for the participants facility. I felt ashamed of fighting for their civil rights. I tried my level best to find a safe room to sleep myself off, but got disappointed because of the pre-occupancies of the party lovers with their multiple partners of that night.

On the other day some of the activists protested against the Chennai Pride planning meet citing the reasons that transgender community is going through Police harassment and it is not right time for celebration in the city now. As I mentioned I was in sick bed for a week, just to take some rest I went back home, meet my family and have some home made food. I travelled in a local train where a bunch of transgender got in and started their ‘thanda’ (which means asking for money). One transgender grabbed a man’s crotch who refused to give them money impolitely. Another day a bunch transgender had beaten a man who refused to give them money after sex work. As I have been labeled as transphobic, I started seriously thinking about the current scenario. Unless until all these activists work on empowerment, education and employment opportunities to transgender community it would be difficult to eradicate sex work and police harassment. I hope some people stop working on making self glory, cheap media publicity etc and focus on the real issues. There is no point in justifying sex work. The kind of mental and physical stress that these transgender need to go through because of sex work is huge. I don’t know if anyone seems to be care about it.

Just to get some peace of mind, I went through my mails and Facebook profile. There were full of drama queens screams trying to suppress their anger towards their own life, celebrity closeted queens photographs with their fag hags, some teenage queens displaying their face-pictures in various poses awaiting for cute comments from their beloved fans, activists and NGOs trying to pull each others mistakes and making ‘I know it all’ statements. I shut my PC off and also my mind.

I received a call last night from an anonymous caller. He is 19 years old, scared about his homosexuality. He fallen in love with his straight friend, who had no clue about his homosexual tendencies or feelings. When his feelings towards his straight friend became unbearable, one night he expressed his desire by keeping his hands on his straight friend’s sexual organ. Though his straight friend responded positively that night, next morning the situation changed. His friend stopped talking to him and made homophobic comments at the college. I just had to comfort the 19 year old guy and told him his feelings are normal and there is nothing to be scared of. I asked him to come to attend one of our Social meet-ups.

We are waiting for Supreme court judgment on section 377. We don’t know how the judgment is going to be and how it is going to reflect or impact in our day to day lives. We don’t know if the new state government rehabitate transgender community rather than treating them as criminals. But before that If we need acceptance in the society we need to start cleansing the community first. Because a 19 year old guy is scared about his sexuality, he is living in fear and we have are plenty of issues to handle.

As Charles Horton said “Our individual lives cannot, generally, be works of art unless the social order is also.”

Written by: Vikki

Monday, February 20, 2012

Boyz at Bay



Written by: Vikki

He’s just not my type

Episode - 1

I was in a hurry, I admit. No matter how hard I try I never been able to be on time for anything in my life. Well, there is nothing wrong in my genes you know and my folks did nothing wrong in bringing me up this way. I just couldn’t do it. Similarly as I am being gay even though I was born for a heterosexual parents and brought up in a conservative family, I just couldn’t help myself from being attracted towards men. Oh yeah, I forgot to say, that I am gay, I am gay and I am so gay…
And it never really bothered me. What really bothers me when I miss the Sunday meetings at the beach? For last 3 years it has become a weekend ritual to meet my friends at our favorite Besant Nagar Beach. One of the main reasons for choosing Elliot’s beach is Men. You can find all types of good looking men passing by while you are busy chatting with your friends on the footpath. Every Sunday evenings we will gather around and discuss things, things that really mattered to us. Only things we talk about are men, fashion, food, love and sex, we are gays after all and we are privileged to gossip . If we don’t talk about men then who else?

When I was almost there, I heard their laugh. There they were the great three whom I love to the core. Ok, let me put things straight first and foremost (I am not straight though, but my thoughts are not bend), the love between we four is something that we cherish, there is nothing chemistry about it. Just because we are gays that doesn’t mean we have to be attracted to every men on earth and especially not those three, isn’t it? And yes you guessed right they are not my type. They are my friends, friends with whom I share everything, who have been my life and there after. They have been with me for everything my happiness, my worries, my troubles, my struggles, my successes, my failures, I really mean, for everything.

Ok, let me introduce my great friends to you. Do you see that guy who is wearing grey pants, light green shirt in formal attire, Fine. Let me give you his ASL. His name is Vijay (well it’s just a nickname), Age: 24, Stats 30waist/5.8ft height/Fair Complexion/Clean Shaven/ Toned body/ Wearing specs/Short hair and he is versatile. Vijay is working for a MNC as a Marketing Executive for a mobile network. Oh, I am sorry that was 5 months before Citi Bank. Recently he joined in an Insurance Company located at Mount Road. That’s Vijay for you never satisfied with onething in his life, he could never stick with anything in his life.

The guy who is wearing a pencil fit jean and a sleeveless tight tees sitting next to Vijay that is Abhi. Fine, I agree that by first sight you thought he is a woman, oh come on he is just little flamboyant that’s all, ok fine he is a lot flamboyant. His flames are all over the place most of the times, his hands gestures are bit girly ofcourse all the times. But she is a man after all. Abhi aka Abhishek is the eldest one in our group, his real age is something that a secret he kept close to his heart. There is nothing possibly existing that he didn’t know in the gay world. Details and whereabouts about every profile in Planet Romeo are on his finger tips. Though he is cynical and can be irritative at times, his passion towards Fashion must be appreciated, he can give you an insight about everything from the dress you are wearing or the compact which suits to your skin or the speciality of the nearby Chinese restaurant. And oh yeah he is a pussy boy in denial.

And finally Sam, he is an aspiring model. He is young, hot and happening in our Chennai Gay world. I know you are now desperate to know his ASL, here we go.

Sam/23/6ft/32waist/70kg/Fair/shaven with a goatee/long hair/gym built/seductive eyes and lips and what not else. And he is TOP, something that is hard to find in Chennai. There is no wonder he is happening now. And above all he is rich, party freak and seriously not into relationships. Sam loves his friends, hates his parents. His dad is a successful businessman who travels abroad frequently and rarely stays at home and his mom like any other upper class woman likes to be in the social circle and pretty much engaged herself in social activities, like Green Peace etc. What we like most about Sam is that he owns this giant called Audi. Sometimes I wonder how many women he would have slept with by now just because of his looks and car if he isn’t really gay. And Sam love to have sex almost every night with boys ofcourse, I wonder where he gets all those twinks probably from Yahoo Chat Room no.9

And about me, I came from a small town somewhere nearby Coimbatore which I never admitted to my friends. I am a software engineering graduate with a first class and got my placement at TCS through campus. I came to Chennai 2 years before and rented an apartment nearby Tidel park which is my workplace. Something that I am proud of is love for art. I like paintings, music, books anything which can come under that category. I admit I am an addict to romantic movies, henceforth I am one of those boys who love to fall in love madly. Hence I am waiting for my Prince Charming for a very long time.

Lets get back to the scene, Abhi as usual greeted me with his popular hand gesture to clear his hair falling over his forehead.

Abhi asked me, “Hi Rahul, so what delayed you today? Did your Prince Charming came to Tidel Park entrance riding a horse to take you out for a coffee?” (I told you the bitch is very cynical)

And once again I forgot to introduce my name to you. This is Rahul (what else it could be?)

“Oh come on Abhi, We all know that Mr.Prince Charming never going to come in my life to sweep my heart” I said calmly

Abhi asked me again “So what happened to that hot_majnu you were chatting with in the past few weeks?” (well, we generally refer other people by their Planet Romeo profile names)

Suddenly all of them Vijay, Sam, Abhi were looking at me anxiously waiting for my reply

“he is not my type” I replied

Abhi who must be really enjoying this moment was putting up an act as if he suddenly feels sorry for me

Abhi said “I told you, he is not your type, he is nobody’s type, sometime back, he was hitting on me big time, but I said big NO to him. Infact I had to block him from sending me messages” (and when he said that we all know that it is a big fucking lie, but nobody wanted to hurt him, so we just ignored what he said.

To change the topic I have asked Vijay “So did you go to Redbull’s place last night?”
Vijay said as usual with his sarcastic tone “Oh yeah, I did and it turned out to be Mr.Redbull is just a Redcow in the end”

We all laughed then

But it made me think for a while about the so-called ‘types’. Does type really exist? Why is that ‘Type’ so important in Gay world, unlike the heterosexual world?
It is understandable among heterosexual men they are not really bothered about opting only for their type of women and vice versa. Especially in a country like India it is difficult to sleep with their opposite sex before marriage and they rarely find opportunities to do so. So the heterosexual men go for whatever which comes in their way, even if they didn’t get any women, they are not even bothered to sleep with men these days. This is not the same case in the Gay world, where they have plenty of opportunities. Can you believe that there are nearly 5000 men profiles in Planet Romeo in Chennai alone? So here comes the types Twinks, hunks, gym built, bear etc and then there is this huge tug of war to get one. A guy like me who cannot really categorize into any will be finding hard to find someone of my type.

So lets deal with it. I am into hunk guys who are between 22 to 26 and I wanted them to be versatile in bed

Sam likes twinks especially teenagers and even if they are top, he will easily convert them into brand nelly bottoms in one night

Vijay is into dark manly men since he is not sure of his sexual preferences, he almost go for anyone he gets

And Abhi is very typical he likes men who are tall, toned and fairer in complexion and we had no idea what he prefers in bed

Oops, thinking about types really made me go crazy for a while.

Of all this time Sam was keeping quiet and suddenly he said

“Ok, come on Cow-boys we need some grass to chew, I am starving, any suggestion for a good restaurant nearby”

Abhi said “A good restaurant in Besant Nagar? None. Probably we can find one if we go to the other end of the shore”

Sam asked “So what to do now? Hit the same old Corner House again?”

Abhi replied him “Not really, I heard there is this new restaurant open next to Corner House is pretty good. People said it’s so gay, so can we go and check in?”

We all hurried to that new restaurant by Sam’s Audi in few minutes, I must say Sam is terrific behind the wheels, though Abhi never really admitted it.

Few months back Sam brought someone to one of our Sunday meetings.

He is a 18 year old boy, who looked like he came out of the kindergarden fresh. But he was strikingly cute and adorable. His profile is sweet_twinkie. He’s a spoiled rich kid who knows nothing about the electricity bill that his dad is paying every month neither about minister of Electricity, all he knew about his latest video game and his Facebook friends list. Unfortunately he met Sam through FB ofcourse, the easily available social networking site to find teen gays.

The boy was totally confused about his sexuality neither his preferences. And the moment he saw Abhi he was totally lost then.

Few days before Sam brought sweet_twinkie to Bessi, Abhi challenged Sam to find a twink who can be his short term boyfriend atleast for a period of 3 weeks. The Great Challenge project came from Abhi’s honey tweeted tongue when we were in the middle of an argument about ‘Types like twinks can be a best bet as a boyfriend material’. As usual Abhi couldn’t acknowledg it. He thought twinks are the most confused souls in the gay world and they cannot even sustain a relationship for more than 2 weeks. So the Great Challenge project was taken over by Sam just to prove Abhi was wrong, even though Sam never wanted to be in a relationship.

The boy seems to be so much in love with Sam, he was infact madly in love. You cant complaint sweet_twinkie someone like Sam who can sweep your heart with his charming looks and precious gifts, well you have to be a trained professional in Love-Defense Academy not to fall in love with him.

Few days later Sam called me over the phone when I was busy using my office chatting facility to find out if my next floor hot colleque whom I met in the cafeteria on the other day is free to booze with me that weekend.

Sam’s manly husky voice was literally shouting in the phone line “Listen, I have a problem. Sweet_twinkie is giving me a headache for past 2 days” (oh yes, we all have problems)

I was half listening what he was saying then “Why? What happened?”

Sam “He wanted to introduce me to his parents as his boyfriend tomorrow, but I cant tell him that I am not really in love with him and this is just a bet”

I was keeping one eye on my computer screen waiting for a response from the hot guy next floor, still I haven’t got any green signal from him.

“I thought you liked him too” I said innocently

Sam’s husky voice again “oh yeah I liked him, in bed…Oh come on dude, you know me very well, I don’t fit in, definitely not for relationships….”

I was positively confused then, the hot guy next floor was typing so slow possibly one letter every minute and I was still waiting for his go ahead. I was damn sure if I take the hot guy for a booze at my place it would undeniably give me a chance to check how hot he can be without clothes.

I had no idea what Sam was babbling about in the phone line. My mind was in disarray.
Sam had to ask me twice if I am really listening to him and then I replied Sam “Bravo dude, this is not about your relationship thing, this is all about The Great Challenge…its just 3 weeks and you have almost crossed 3 days now. And I think sweet_twinkie is really a cutie, you can ofcourse fuck him every night for another 18 nights…so what’s wrong?”

From the chat box, I noticed the next floor hot guy deleted everything he was typing to send me and he started typing again something new. Oh my god, now I have to wait for another few painful minutes all because of this Stupid Sam

Sam said “Nothing is wrong and nothing is right. He is just not my type”

And then the next floor hot guy went offline for the entire day on Friday.

Coming back to the restaurant, it is ofcourse a new one, decorated with a Mandarin theme. Chinese pots, wall hangings, red sashes gave us a Chinese ambience. Since it is new, the tables were pretty much empty except bunch of mallu guys sitting in the corner of the restaurant and a Sardar family which includes 2 bulky kids in wheat ccolor complexion in the other end.

The waiter who must be from Sikkim or Meghalaya came to our table, poured water into our glasses and left. He looked kind of cute must be in his early twenties or in his late thirties (it is difficult to find their age by their physic and faces, they all looked like the same to me)

We were gazing at the mallu guys who were busy chatting
Even after several minutes passed by nobody was on sight to take the order from our table.
Abhi was staring at the mallu guys who was sitting in the corner and said to Vijay “Look at that blue shirt, your type I think”
I wonder why mallu guys are all sexy and if it is anything to do with the coconut oil. There were nearly 6 mallu guys in the gang and almost all of them were hot. feminine lips, shining skin and hot bodies dressed in stylish menswear. The blue shirt guy was dark but he was sexy and manly. If I were a fashion designer I would have chosen him for the next D&G assignment.
Abhi’s predictions never went wrong, No wonder in sweet_twinkie’s case Sam failed.
Vijay said “oh yeah, I would do anything to take him to my place tonite”
I interrupted and said “but you don’t have a place, you need my help for that. And I wouldn’t mind a threesome if it is that blue shirt guy”

Both Sam and me looked at our watch and asked Abhi “What happened to this restaurant people, we have been sitting here for more than 32 minutes now, nobody bothered to take the order?”

Abhi’s tone shown the same irritation and said “yeah, I think they found out that we are gays and trying to insult us. This is total discrimination, so lets move”
Everybody got up except me, I refused to move from the restaurant and anchored myself in the seat “Come on Abhi, nobody can recognize our sexuality here, though they can easily recognize you. And above all I already drank half glass of water and used 2 tissues from the table, so I am not moving out as if I am a criminal” (I was really adamant then)

They all sat back giving me wild look. Just to hide his irritation Sam looked at the mallu guys and added “I wouldn’t mind exchanging my Audi car to that blue shirt guy even if he has poor Nano”

Abhi calmly said “I wouldn’t mind being a versatile for him in bed even if he is a top”

By then we all chuckled, Sam burst into laughter

Once again I lost in thoughts.

Finally waiter came and took the order from us. They served the dinner after another 40 horrifying minutes. The burger they served was cold and the pepsi was warm. We pledged not to return back to that restaurant again in our life.

While I was returning back home I was keep on thinking about the blue shirt and the response from my friends

Vijay, Sam, and even Abhi who generally find errors in everything wouldn’t mind sleeping with someone sexy even though if he is not their type. I guess the ‘Type theory’ is wrong. We are no different than a heterosexual guy when he is so desperate to sleep with any woman, we do the same. Well, on an any given day, if we are so horny and desperate we wouldn’t mind who we were sleeping with whether he is our type or he is somebody’s type or the guy has no face at all, we will just go for it. God forbidden, we wouldn’t mind sleeping with a woman and may even call ourself as a lesbian.

So lets just say, Type is just a hype, created in the myth of the mysterious gay world.

To be continued

Written by: Vikki

Friday, February 10, 2012

My dreams! is it too much asking? ' a letter to Chennai Dost' by Siva

On 2/10/12, siva kumar wrote:

> Hi Vikki,

> This is my recent feeling on a news in the news paper. If it befits your standards I wish YOU to put it on the chennai dost.....

MY DREAMS! IS IT ASKING TOO MUCH?

It was really sickening when I read recently in the news papers that a lecturer was murdered by a person known to him when the lecturer (under influence of liquor)compelled his friend to have gay sex with him. It is not that there are no such acts by a straight person on a lady. There are many such news day in and out. But then when the party affected is a gay then it is "taken for granted" that he deserved such "punishments" and the other party is looked upon as if he was justified in the act of such hideous crime.

Please do not mistake me. i am not for a moment saying that act of forcing sex is not a crime. But the point I am trying to make is that such acts are 'seen' as crime only if there is no indication of gay action. Papers , media are really biased and make it appear that any atrocity against gay people is fair enough. In fact the Indian Express was regularly alloting a page on week ends giving gay news. But I came to know that it was stopped due to some pressure.

I really long for reading good news about gays in newspapers. I long to read news like " Gay men achieve laurels in sports for India' 'Gay men top ranker in University" "Gay man rescues a child" Gay men do service to children/ down trodden"
I sincerely feel that such projections of gay men would give a better blending of gay with the society.The Indian society will begin to see the gays as human beings like them. Why should it always be only Gay parade or some sex issue? I think that nowadays there are lots of guys (gay) who have come out in open. Why not they try for such achievements?

I hope I am justified in my having such dreams? OR Am I asking for too much.?

SIVA


Hi Siva

Nice to see your mail after awhile. I can understand your outburst and the anguish on the below issue.

But to my little understanding on the community and the society which it is connected to it, i have few things to say here...

Since Delhi highcourt repeal in section 377 in 2009, community and activists has been trying to sensitize the media on the gay issues and we have seen plenty of development in that regard. Except few regional language newspaper, we are widely seeing a support and neutral stand on gay issues by the Indian media in general.
But as we have understood media too is commercial and any kind of sensitive news is a news for them...so we cannot avoid such news been published by the media. But media coverage on out and open gay men about their achievements and activities has been ongoing. And i have seen several media approaching Chennai Dost and many other groups for interviews which showcasing our community in good light. But we have to accept the fact that there are few out and open gay men who are willing to share their experience in newspaper about their success. This does not mean gay men have no success and achievements in their life. They just fear to come out in public, which is understandable in a conservative society.

Since from British rule, gay men has been portrayed as a child molestar, rapist and sex maniac infact they have created section 377 to project us in a bad light to the society. though since from independence we have seen only few cases been registered under this section.

Child abuse and Rape cases has been higher and increasing day-by-day among hetrosexuals in India. If there are any few incidents on sexual assualt by gay men which is due to suppressing their sexuality by our society.

Overall the society needed to change its outlook on gay men, if it is done most of the issues can be solved, but this cannot be done by reading lesser number of rape cases or sexual assaults by gay men in the media. This can be only achieved if the society provide a space to the gay men to live free, legalising homosexuality and consider their love as normal and natural. As we have been stressing the fact sexual identity, coming out and financial independence is very important for gay men to make these changes in the society. To make these changes and gay men to be out and proud, the society needed to provide them a free space and understanding. A space where they can live without fear and shame.

But to begin with we need a free world and legal rights to live...I hope your dreams will become true oneday…We hope for a change, hope for a better world to live…
Cheers
Vikki

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Top 10 reasons 'WHY U SHOULD GO TO CD PARTY DA'



Dear Dosts

When we asked our team to come up with ideas to provoke you guys to come to Chennai Dost’s fund raising Valentine’s day party on Feb 4th Saturday, our cheerful gang came up with some funny ideas that might inspire you to turn in to our party. Here are the top 10 reasons

WHY U SHOULD ATTEND CHENNAI DOST PARTY DA?

1.You are tired of listening to ‘Kolaveri da’ song again and again, its time you come to our party and enjoy some beautiful mix of tunes from our young DJ
2.‘Maanada mayilaada’ has become a stage for streaming drama queens lately, we have a stage to catch some heart throbbing real dance performed by our CD Dance group in the party choreographed by a professional.
3.You do not waste your time asking ‘Can we meet?’ and ‘ASL’ in Planet Romeo to few good looking profiles they are never going to respond, when you get a chance to check plenty of hot Twinks and Hunks, muscle and blood in our party.
4.Stop playing games with your straight friend, he is never going to bed with you…Our MC gonna lighten you up with some interesting interactive games.
5.You don’t have to stand in a corner like a lonely island, our team and MC will make sure that you are part of the Chennai Dost party.
6.Stop staring secretly at male models photos in the internet, its time you come and enjoy real show at Mr.Valentine male beauty contest in our party.
7.You don’t have to worry about returning back home late night or do not want come up with inane reasons to your dad or drunk and driving opposite direction to your place. We will take care of you
8.Yes we know that Valentine’s day is forcing your harmones to fall in love with anyone you notice. We are giving you an ambience and floor decoration to give you that romantic mood. So better wear your Cindrella shoes.
9.Lets just say you are too polite to turn down our Party invitation or a party demon possessed your body or your brain needs a night off. Well, we just wanted to tell you ‘Its not just another gay party’
10.Above all, we are organizing this for a good cause to raise funds for Chennai Dost for plenty of projects which provides a shelter, counseling, support and to fight for gay rights. We know that you guys are wasting money in shopping, purchasing a party ticket and get some entertainment is not going to be too difficult for us after all. To know more about our projects visit http://www.chennai-dost.blogspot.com/2012/01/chennai-dost-projects-2012.html

So lets go to Chennai Dost party on feb 4th, Saturday and buy the tickets before we shut the ticket counter on or before Feb 2nd evening. Call us for tickets at 95516 30213, 99401 66486, 97901 05692

Let me not waste your time anymore, I am logging off. See you at the party

Cheers
Chennai Dost

Thursday, January 19, 2012

The College Diaries



Written by: Arun

It was the year of 2003, first day at my college, well my engineering college. I was feeling a bit excited, playing various scenes in my mind about how the first day will turn out. I was hopeful that that i will meet somebody, well hopefully a guy and that it will follow a typical dramatic sequence you see in movies. I guess i always knew ..i was gay, never realised that it was deviant though, conflicting with commonly accepted norms of society not that I ever cared about it. Well until the age of fifteen, I thought everyone is like that. I mean the talk about sex and love of any kind is a taboo in the country, I never knew wanting to be with a boy is any different than wanting to be with a girl. As to my knowledge open discussion of any kind of attraction is off limits till today, though cities are facing a different scenario present days. I was doubtful that being caught kissing a boy would be any different than being caught with a girl in my parents eyes. The knowledge and education about homosexuality is almost next to nothing that time, well it still is. Caught in the act with a boy , my parents would have thought it’s a phase and it will pass, no matter how much I scream or how many boys I got caught with. I mean two days before I came out to one of my very good friend and colleague with an engineer degree , he was not totally shocked or traumatised by the information and was very supportive (guess the degree helps), but the first thing he said was “my friend, you can lead a very good life , why are you choosing this”. Prejudice can be a very powerful thing without acknowledgement. Sexual orientation is not a choice, it never is and no one should share guilt for that . If only they would cover a small session of this in our science class, it would have saved a lot of explaining and moral shock to both of us. Somehow past fifteen , it was vividly clear to me that there is a word called gay to refer to people sharing similar sexual interests as mine and a hundred other words to offend them (god knows why, past & present both harbour plenty of records of great gay personalities actively contributing towards the benefit of society, science, culture etc.) . I felt alone, very alone at first and retired myself to solitude, but internet helps…though it’s addictive and can be a slow-poison to your real social life, the one outside internet. My loneliness was pretty enlightening and eventually I came to terms with it, now I clearly understand and accept that I am gay. During my child hood, I always wanted to be special, you know like spider man, superman, shaktimaan.. etc.. etc.. , but never thought the god of homosexuality will answer the door. Well now I understand that , the god shared his blessings long before I could talk or walk or feel for that matter.

My first year in college went like an one hour flight and the second year kicked in. One the first day of my second year I saw a new guy in my classroom, he was a transfer student and his name was...well let’s say Jeevan. i noticed him as i would notice anybody, not sure he saw me though. I was staying in hostel throughout the course of my engineering degree and the hostel was in college campus. When i came from college that day evening i saw him again, Jeevan in one of the hostel room that was vacant until now. I, as usual tried to bring humour in my attitude, went near his room and knocked. The door opened after a few knocks. “Hi i am Sameer, you are Jeevan right , roll no 48" I said . He pleasantly replied " hi, yes how do you know “. “ Just you are the new student and it’s the last roll no, so I noticed" I replied. Then we went on talking about various things, mostly about him being new to the campus and a few minutes later I left. I wanted to continue talking, but didn’t want to ruin the first impression with my almost apparent desperation.

But since then we became very good friends. I , slave to my age would attempt some kind of flirt with him every now and then. He never reciprocated the same but didn’t seem to mind it either. The second year of my collage was half way through, when my friends had a plan to go for picnic to this beautiful place with a small waterfall on new year. The plan was to start around 5:00 in the morning. I still remember, It was very cold in the morning and everyone looked their best with lots of woollen and leather clothing’s wrapped around. There were a few of my friends who had a drinking plan after we reached . I was in the no-drinking club and he was in the drinking one. He asked me a few times if I would drink with him and I, as arrogant as ever responded with straight forward no to him without the need to give any excuses. He went with the others to drink. Before we knew, it was lunch time and we rounded up for the food. He was sitting next to me. I don’t know , it was may be the alcohol but he said “ let’s eat in one plate” in a very casual voice like it happens every time. I was surprised, though some where I had always hoped he would ask me these kind of things. I reluctantly agreed keeping very causal voice like his. The picnic was over by evening and we were all back to our rooms, but somehow I couldn’t get the idea of him asking me to eat in one plate out of my mind. Even if it was just a casual friendly invitation, it was my mind falling so desperately for him triggered the idea that he may think of me more than just friends.

That night when we returned we talked about things. A lot of things. I was waiting for an opening to put the topic of us eating together with a hope to get to know his feelings towards me. I tried to be casual and with a humorous attempt asked him “ Hey you surprised me today at lunch time, what was that , I never thought you care I live or die. Was it the alcohol talking “. I don’t remember what he replied but, boy we talked that day. Every two hours or so I would consider ending the conversation and leave, but it continued somehow until morning 5 AM. I still felt like continuing when I left to my room and slept. The following day I invited him to bunk in my room, since his roommate was not available and mine never stayed much. He came around 8:00 in the night, we talked a bit and finally we turned off the lights. I tried my best to sleep but certainly couldn’t and my hormones were boiling. In due time I made some feeble attempts to touch him and he reciprocated with mutual efforts. After what it felt like ages, I found the palm of my right hand sliding against his skin near the pelvic area . As aroused as I had in those little attempts, I was still too shy and unsure to continue. Obscure to me, but somewhere in those attempts i had fallen asleep and i woke up with sunlight spreading on my bed. I felt like I have not slept the entire night. Even though physically I stopped at first base of my adventure the previous night, I highly enjoyed waking up next to him.

Next 2 to 3 days, I was mentally replaying the scenes from the other day trying to understand how it was all to him with various questions like…. was I too forward….is he really interested…blah!, blah! blah!. Not very long after that one day, me & some of our friends were gathered in his room for a movie around 10:00 AM. His room was a frequent hang out for many of our friends. There were two beds in his room arranged in 90 degree and I was sitting next to him on one corner of a bed. He played the movie, turned off the lights and locked the doors from inside. The room was sufficiently dark. Only light spreading in the room was the light emitting from the computer. The movie was great but my mind was never in the movie. I was playing with him with my hands, sniffing around his neck like a dog.. I was gradually increasing the frequency of my playful actions and after a while he gave faint smile and eye sign in a way that alerted “they can see” though nobody was noticing anything so I thought. This made me wonder as to what limit can I continue, if we were to be alone, though no verbal consent existed from his side. The movie was about two kids playing a board game they found in a new house they transferred to, which brought imagination in to reality with every single move and the kids being unaware of it made a mess. Finally when good wins over evil and the movie was about to end , there was a scene where the male protagonist says “ I’m sorry” to the female protagonist and they kiss. At that very moment, I lowered my head close to his ears and whispered “ I also want to say I’m sorry to you” . He looked in to my eyes and gave me a smile that I have seen rarely, beautiful and enticing, signalling agreement and invitation. I was in no control after seeing that expression. Some thing was beating very fast inside me. My body seemed to resonate with that beat. A stream of anticipatory and amatory emotions were flooding through my entire entity. The movie ended five minutes after that but it seemed like an hour. Without any further wait, he went to switch off his computer commenting that it was a great movie and he needs to go for lunch. Everybody left, I was still sitting in the room pretending like searching for something. The light was still off. He went to lock the doors after the last person (apart from me) left. I quickly got up from the bed and walked towards the door like I was leaving. In a moment, I heard the doors locking from inside and the room was completely dark, after an instant I felt his breadth against mine, hot and intense, I was motionless for a moment and before I realised we were kissing. My lips were on fire, well so as some other body parts. My eyes were closed, even if it was completely dark and my hands were rummaging through his body. I didn’t know the science of kissing or never gave enough attention to it, I mean I always imagined the other activities while I savoured my solitary plays, but never the kiss, (that certainly changed after that) yet I wanted to freeze in that moment ……..and after what it felt like a few seconds, we collapsed in the bed.

Written by: Arun

Saturday, January 14, 2012

சென்னை தோஸ்த் தமிà®´் புத்தாண்டு பொà®™்கல் வாà®´்த்துக்கள்



உங்கள் வாà®´்க்கை கருà®®்பை போல் இனிக்கவுà®®்
உங்கள் ஆரோக்கியம் என்à®±ுà®®் தை போல் புத்துணர்ச்சி பெறவுà®®்

உங்கள் அனைவருக்குà®®் எங்கள் (சென்னை தோஸ்த்) தமிà®´் புத்தாண்டு பொà®™்கல் நல்வாà®´்த்துக்கள்...

Cheers
சென்னை தோஸ்த்

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Chennai Dost Projects - 2012

Chennai Dost Projects - 2012

Chennai Queer Fest Project

Chennai Dost would like to organize yearly Queer Festival along with its allies to showcase the art & literature talents of the community. This will include Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual men and women, Bi, Gay-curious etc. The events will comprise of Queer themes and will be organized every year.

Objective

To begin with Chennai Dost along with its allies would like to organize Queer Festival 2012 to showcase the artistic skills of the LGBQ community. This will help them to provide a platform to exhibit their talents and also help the public to have awareness on Queer issues and talents.

Queer Fest Programs

To begin with Queer fest 2012 will provide an opportunity for the people who would like to exhibit their talents in areas like Dance, Drama, Paintings, Photography, Video, Music and Poetry. Queer themed drama and video will be encouraged to be on stage at Queer Fest 2012.

Queer Fest Competition

Queer Festival will conduct a competition for the performers. Exciting prizes will be given which will encourage them to showcase their talent. Announcement about the competition will be circulated to the community through Chennai Dost's media and online presence.

Need for the project

As we understood the enormous financial and manpower need for this project, Chennai Dost is currently looking for funds to conduct Queer Festival in 2012.


GLB Stop Violence Project

Violence against homosexual men and women can be difficult to identify and on most cases not being recorded or approached in Police stations by the victims fearing on social environment in India. Since the Delhi High court judgement on Section 377 (Criminalizing homosexuality), the number of homophobic incidents, gay extortion, harassment, blackmailing, identity theft of personals in online media, forced marriages, forced medical therapy, emotional blackmailing by the family, forced religious rituals and prayers against homosexuality are increasing. From 2009 - 2011, Chennai Dost alone have recorded more than 21 such cases in and around Tamilnadu. Recently we have done a sample survey and we believe that there are 7 to 10% LGB population in Chennai alone, which is approxiamately 700000 to 1 million LGB people in Chennai. Also we would like to take this project to non-metropolitan cities such as Hyderabad, Vizhagapattinam, Pondicherry, Coimbatore, Madurai, Thrissur and Calicut which will cover four major states in India.

Objective

Chennai Dost would like to stop these violences against fellow homosexual men and women, hence our GLB Stop Violence project will focus on helping, supporting and preventing such victims from their emotional, physical, financial, educational and mental stress.

People sometimes misunderstand violence and think it is only physical abuse when actually it can be emotional, financial and/or sexual abuse as well. It can be of any form harassment,

Stop Violence Project

GLB Stop Violence Project works directly with victims and survivors.

Our direct services include:

Legal advocacy and court accompaniment
24-Hour emergency helpline
Crisis intervention and safety planning
Housing and employment advocacy
Emergency safe home
Emotional support and support groups
Counseling

Education and Outreach

Equally important is the work Chennai Dost conducts to raise awareness – empowering victims/survivors to self-identify the abuse in their lives, educating the service providers they will encounter so the service providers respond appropriately, and educating the GLB community so it can provide support and acceptance. Chennai Dost offers community organizing and education; and professional training in GLB cultural competency and violence.

Political Advocacy

Additionally, Chennai Dost advocates for policy reform to ensure that GLB victims of violence have access to equal government-funded services and to ensure that government policies on GLB violence are written or re-written to be inclusive of all violence victims regardless of their sexual orientation.

Legal Assistance for Victims

The GLB Stop Violence Attorney Program provides free and sliding-scale legal assistance to eligible gay, lesbian, bisexual men and women victims of such violence in and around Tamilnadu. Through direct representation and the utilization of a pro bono network of attorneys, the program aims to ensure GLB victims of violence are able to enjoy full access to the legal system and allow victims to pursue all legal remedies. The program provides safety planning, referrals and legal representation.


Need for the project

For the above services Chennai Dost needs funding for counselors, legal advisors, outreach workers, helpline attender. And also it needs funding for renting an emergency safe home, helpline centre and monthly helpline phone bill. Currently Chennai Dost has been a self-funded organisation, through our limited resources and financial help we are supporting and helping homophobic victims, but to make this project to be more effective and continue our services, Chennai Dost needs manpower and financial help.



MAGZHILAGAM Project

Objective

Chennai Dost is planning to open up a physical and also an online library for LGBTQ related books and also to encourage LGBTQ Indian Literature to flourish. Thus our Magzhilagam project consists of four core activities. So far in India there have not been sufficient facilities for LGBTQ related books neither any support system to encourage LGBTQ literature. And also there has been very few LGBTQ related books and literature in India.

Magzhilagam Library

Chennai Dost is planning to open up a physical library located in Chennai, the capital of Tamilnadu which consists of more than 700000 LGBTQ people. Travelers from abroad, researchers, students, health professionals and the LGBTQ community will have access to LGBTQ related books. A free library for its members to access LGBTQ related books which includes sexuality, fiction, non-fiction, biography, literature, drama etc in English, Hindi and all other Indian regional languages. Thus this will help people to understand more about alternate sexuality and sexualities.

Magzhilagam Online Library

We would like to have an online library for people who access internet. This will enable people to have access to LGBTQ related books and literature who may not be able to reach the physical library.

Magzhil Publishers

Through Magzhil Publishers Chennai Dost will help new authors and writers to publish their books which help them financially for publications related to LGBTQ themes. Also it will identify and encourage such writers and authors for LGBTQ literature. Every month there will be atleast one publication from Magzhil Publishers.

Magzhil Awards

To Support and encourage authors and writers on LGBTQ literature, Magzhil Awards will presented for the best writings, books, poems and artists. Artists who have continuously performed arts such as music, dance, crafts, paintings etc based on LGBTQ themes will be given award every year for their Best Services.

Need for the Project

To begin this great project Chennai Dost needs financial help. The operations needs majorly financial help to buy books, fund for publishing, Cash awards for Magzhil Awards and employees to run these operations


ENNIYUR THOZHA PROJECT

Objective

The Enniyur Thozha Project operates three core program areas in order to provide life-saving and life-affirming resources for LGBQ youth and to create safe, accepting and inclusive environments for all young people, regardless of sexual orientation. 'Enniyur Thozha' is a regional tamil word which means 'My dear friend'.

WE SAVE LIVES of Millions of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Queer youth

Enniyur Thozha Lifeline

The Enniyur Thozha Lifeline will become the only statewide, around-the-clock crisis and suicide prevention lifeline for LGBQ youth. The Enniyur Thozha Lifeline is a free and confidential service that offers hope and someone to talk to, 24/7. Volunteer Lifeline counselors staff our call center, Each year, tens of thousands of calls will be fielded from young people across the state of Tamilnadu.

ASK Enniyur Thozha

"Ask Enniyur Thozha" an online, non-time sensitive question and answer resource for young people with questions surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity. And also outreach program to reach out to the non-educated, non-internet users to provide sex education and awareness to those who need it.

Enniyur Thozha CHAT

Enniyur Thozha Chat is a free, confidential, secure online messaging service that provides live help through our website. Enniyur ThozhaChat is only intended to assist those who are not at risk for suicide. It will be available 24/7. Connect with a volunteer who can support you with your concerns and questions. And a Support Center for the people who would like to meet the counselors for assistance.


YOUTH ADVISORY COUNCIL

Currently Chennai Dost's Chemistry Club operates as its Youth wing having representations in various colleges and universities operating as a unofficial group. The Youth Advisory Council (YAC) serves as a liaison between youth statewide and The Enniyur Thozha Project, as it relates to young people and the issues surrounding suicide, sexuality and gender identity. The YAC submits recommendations to The Enniyur Thozha Project in an effort to increase Enniyur Thozha visibility and best serve the LGBQ youth population..

PUBLIC POLICY

The Enniyur Thozha Project actively participates in advocacy initiatives at the state and national levels, aiming to influence public policy to meet the needs of LGBQ youth, especially in the areas of mental health and suicide prevention. The Enniyur Thozha Project continues to work toward its goal to mandate suicide prevention programs in every colleges and universities for students who are above 18 years of age.

RESEARCH

The Enniyur Thozha Project will commit to ensure more suicide prevention reseach studies are conducted that focus on critical issues faced by LGBQ youth. Additionally, we are conducting our own research using data from our ET Project and other programs.

THE LIFEGUARD WORKSHOP PROGRAM

The Enniyur Thozha Lifeguard Workshop Program will use a structured, age-appropriate curriculum with trained facilitators to address topics including sexual orientation and gender identity, the impacts of language and behavior on LGBQ youth and suicide prevention skills in colleges and universities.

Need for the project

For the above services Chennai Dost needs funding for counselors, legal advisors, outreach workers, helpline attender. And also it needs funding for renting an emergency safe home, helpline centre and monthly helpline phone bill. Currently Chennai Dost has been a self-funded organisation, through our limited resources and financial help we are supporting and helping our fellow men and women, but to make this project to be more effective and continue our services, Chennai Dost needs manpower and financial help.

Cheers
Treasurer
Chennai Dost

Monday, January 9, 2012

CHENNAI DOST- Valentine's day party


LETS PARTY !

FOR THE BEST IS ON 4TH FEB, SATURDAY !

Chennai Dost presents,

<<<<<<< 69 degrees - season 3 >>>>>>>>

-It is a fund raising (Valentine's day) party for Chennai Dost projects ! (for details about our projects www.chennai-dost.blogspot.com)

-As always Chennai Dost stands different this time also n offering u all the below !

*Secret roses !
*Surprise proposals !
*Mr. Valentine contest!
*Special dances
*Exciting games!
*Enthusiastic crowd dressed according to the theme RED ON TOPS !
*Lots of surprise events and prizes !
*Non stop music n fun from 8pm onwards !
*A free drink
and much more........


-You get all these for just an entry of Rs.499 only(includes one free drink) !
-Get ur entry passes on or before 25 th jan and avail ur discounts.
-venue: ECR

For details and entry passes:
+91 9551630213
+91 9940166486

visit: www.chennai-dost.blogspot.com

Cheers,
Chennai Dost !

Chennai Dost gay party - 69 Degrees on Feb 4th, 2012


Secret Roses
Surprise proposals

Your Prince Charming is awaiting!!!

Chennai Dost presents

69 Degrees - season 3

(a valentine's day theme party)

on Feb 4th 2012, Saturday

Book your tickets in advance

Its like never been before

For details Contact: 95516 30213, 99401 66486

Longing in dark

Written by Sri



Written by Sri

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

LGBT Highlights of 2011


Dear Friends

As we have completed the year 2011, We thank you all for the wonderful support and wishes on whatever we have done in this entire year. Without your help, support and encouragement we are not sure that we would have achieved most of our goals of this year.

But at the same time, We would also like to express some of my concerns over the past few months in regards to LGBT issues and rights. Before expressing you our concerns we would like to bring some of the few incidents happened according to our knowledge which has been giving us sleepless nights in the last few weeks. All these below facts are true and real, none of the fact is over-stated here.


1. In September 2011, mumbai police raided a gay party happened in a sub-urban and arrested close to 130 gay men. They have been charged under 'Indecent behaviour' and fined Rs.1200 each. Though we dont know what really went in that party, but there were very few voices against the police raid.

2. Recently one of our close friend who is doing college came out to his relatives when he visited them. He has been hospitalised in a Psychiatric hospital for 3 days without his consent and then taken to a Prayer house several times in the name of Converting his sexuality into hetrosexuality.

3. There were quite a few legal seperation of bisexual men from their wives when their sexuality has been found by their spouses in Chennai. There were not adequate legal aid or information for these men to protect themself or save their marriage. Atleast to our knowledge there were 4 cases in this year in Chennai alone Neither we had no idea on the mental stresses that these men and their spouses had gone through. And we had no idea about the future of the men, their spouses and their kids.

4. In October 2011, 5 gay men have been asked to leave Hotel Accord just because they were carrying men's bag. When some bangalore activists approached the hotel asked for an explanation they simply refused to give an apology letter in written.

5. And there has been atleast 4 active gay men who have been forced to marry the opposite sex in Chennai in the past 6 months. And within few weeks they became very active in Planetromeo looking for sexual partners.

6. Gay Relationship break-ups forced atleast 2 gay men tried to committ suicide in the past 3 months. Some of them even went through legal actions and they have been forced to hide their sexuality neither the real reason for their suicide.

7. We have personally met minimum of 30 gay men who had no clue on safe sex, gay relationship, Legal rights, 377, coming out, bisexuality or cross-dressing etc.

8. According to our knowledge there were atleast 4 gay men who have been extorted by a gang near KK Nagar and one in Coimbatore. The money that they have lost was ranging from Rs. 3000 to Rs.1,00, 000. Not even a single victim came forward to file a FIR. The Extortion gang still roaming around the city free.

9. Police harassment on gay men in Trichy in public places including Bus stand still persists. Recently 3 gay men were beaten up by police for cruising.

10. One gay man who called us few weeks back from a small town near by Madurai informed us that he was severely beaten up by his friends and relatives when they found him having sex with another guy.

11. There were several other homophobic incidents happened in the City which includes 19 year old gay boy was tried molested by an auto-driver when he was returning back home at night because he looked bit effeminate.

12. And an openly gay college student who has been attempted for molestation by his seniors, they even used scissors to tear off his jeans and underwear. And another effeminate gay boy has been forced to remove his jeans to show off his genitals in his campus.

13. Atleast one gay party have been raided by police on the account of non-permit for organising parties some 8 months back. Another gay party has been raided and all the participants have been questioned and asked to leave their phone number, home address etc by the police few months before.

14. When Chennai Dost approached some of the hotels like Diesel, Checkers and one more resort in OMR etc to throw parties, the hotel management rejected us stating that they cannot encourage unnatural behaviour, unethical community. We have even received an official mail from one hotel stating the same.

15. Few months back our union Health minister honorouble Mr.Ghulam Nabi Azad stated that homosexuality is a disease, unnatural and a western import, though there were protests all over India by the LGBT groups against his statement, we have yet to receive any kind of apology from the minister on the same.

16. After the 2009 Delhi Court ruling on section 377, the central government yet to take a stand on the same issue. The appeal against the ruling in the Supreme court yet to begin its hearings and we have no idea how long we had to wait for the judgement.

The below incidents has been worrying us in the last few months, though there has been a ruling from the High court to decriminalize homosexuality, we yet to get a legal status. Chennai Dost has decided to raise these issues in 2012 and we need your support to take things forward.

Cheers
Public Relations
Chennai Dost
www.chennai-dost.blogspot.com
www.chennaidost.com
www.facebook.com/chennaidost
www.twitter.com/chennaidost

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

"Longest Red Ribbon Human Chain"



Dear Friends,

In this AIDS awareness month of December, Chennai Dost is making a record breaking "Longest Red Ribbon Human Chain" on Sunday the 11 th December, 2011 at 7.30 am at Marina Beach near the Labour Statue.

There will be a mobile testing booth for whoever wanted to get tested. As an initiative, all our Chennai Dost members are getting tested.


Doubt! - the biggest syndrome distressing a lot of us.

How many of us know that we have to be tested atleast twice every year?

How many of us have got tested atleast once in our life for HIV?
... well Dost, If you are

Willing to be relieved!
Willing to be confident!
Willing to feel Good!

This AIDS awareness month of december

Join Chennai Dost's campaign for HIV awareness ...

GET TESTED! GET LIFE!

A one month long campaign insisting the importance of safe sex and getting tested for HIV.

Join us for

Your Happiness which is our Objective!

Be a part of history by joining hands with us to hold longest Red Ribbon at our very own Marina Beach

Where: At Marina Beach near the Labour Statue

When: 11-Dec-2011 Sunday at 7.30 am

For more information:

Call our Public Relations team @ 9551630213, 9940166486
www.chennai-dost.blogspot.com

Monday, December 5, 2011

God must be really crazy



Written by: Vikki

3 years before i met him. I still remember those minutes. It was a freezing December night, i was sitting with him facing his face opposite. It was a crowded sunday at Besant nagar beach, still i felt there were no one else except him and me. He was dangerously young, wearing a white shirt and jean, listening to me patiently. I was not dressed properly for a date as usual.

I was not attracted to him in the beginning except his youthful age and slender body, i didnt even notice his beautiful eyes then. I was the one who was talking mostly and i had no clue if he was even listening. I spoke to him for more than 2 hours. I asked him on his sexual orientation, he said 'I am bisexual'. Then i continued ranting. Probably that was the only thing he spoke in the entire evening apart from shaking head and nodding everything i said.

I took him to a restaurant nearby and had burgers. I was never a good one in eating burger, call me a 'burger animal'. I dropped him at the bus stop and went home peacefully. I had chat with my roomate about a recent tamil movie, had my dinner with him, went to bed for sleep. And then he called me, i forgot to tell you his name, i have stored his number as 'Rahul'.

My roomate shouted at me for disturbing his sleep, so i went to the terrace and spoke to him on the phone. Something about his voice made me realize he found the date romantic. Then i spoke to him about the sky, stars, moon, astronomy, terrace, my roomates, job and i finished saying ' i think i like you, what do you think?'.

I had no idea where that came from, might be angels were over my head, driving me to say something that could change my life forever. May be God finally answered all my silent prayers and drove me to a point to say something stupid like that...but i did and he responded to me very quietly the way he behaved in the entire evening 'i feel the same'.

It came all of a sudden, i didnt take him for a date keeping the proposal in mind neither i was expecting it. Nor the things i spoke to him was pre-planned, it just came from nowhere. And then my world changed thereafter. I spoke to him non-stop till morning. And then the next day we spoke for more than 6 hours non-stop. Before our first date i already met him at one of our Chennai Dost party but i didnt recognize him then, neither he knew i was the party organizer.

We didnt meet again for a week, mostly we spoke on the phone. About my dreams, vision, writings, parties, Chennai Dost etc. I have no idea what he thought of me then, may be as a stupid useless guy who has no romantic sense. One evening i invited him to accompany me for a Christmas celebrations at Magdalene's house. I asked him to wait for me at Loyola College and went to pick him up. He was standing there wearing a black shirt and faded jean, looking younger than i met him first time. I realized the 10 years age difference between me and him. Whoever passing him looked at him atleast twice, he must be the most good looking boy i have ever met, honestly he must be the most good looking boy in that place. He was standing there patiently for more than 2 hours wearing that gentle smile that knocked me off forever.

And that night while returning back he said 'you have no idea how much i love you'...God must be really crazy...



Written by: Vikki

P.S: This article has been dedicated to my beloved boyfriend on our 3rd year anniversary...And i promise him to hold his hands legally and get married shortly...Hope that day will come soon...Here is a poem dedicated for your wonderful love and journey with me...




There were days i was left alone, searching for my lost dreams.
And then you came...returned my soul and spirit

... Friends and foe, came and left
You were always there holding my hand with a gentle smile.

Whatever i have done today, a vacuum without you
The wonderful world i built, a lonely island if i am not with you..

Thanks for being my heart all these days and continue to be a part of my life...