Pink rights now a national crusade

Unique nationwide advocacy group Mingle launched to push for equality for gays, lesbians in every sphere of public life; 3 Puneites already members

Here is some good news for those who would like society to be more LGBT-friendly. Fed up of discrimination and being termed queer, members of the gay-lesbian community have launched MINGLE, short for Mission for Indian Gay & Lesbian Empowerment, a nationwide advocacy group and think-tank that promises to push for equal rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in all spheres of public life in India.

Started by a group of like-minded people spread across the country and even abroad, the group has identified seven core areas to work on and promote an inclusive atmosphere.


Fight for equal rights: Started by a group of people spread
across the country and even abroad, MINGLE has identified
seven core areas to work on and promote an inclusive
atmosphere. Representation pic

From college campuses to workplaces, families to religious places, the group has announced that it will take up causes to ensure the creation of spaces that are friendlier towards gay-lesbian people.

The group has three members from the city, besides the city-based ezine The Queer Chronicle lending it support through media partnership.

Scientific approach
Udayan Dhar, Bangalore-based editor of gay magazine Pink Pages and one of founders of the group, said that one of the prime objectives of MINGLE was to scientifically gather data and present a clearer picture of LGBT issues.

"Right now the issues under discussion have no scientific data backing it. It is either anecdotal or unscientifically gathered. MINGLE will be collecting data and information about LGBT people in India through surveys in educational institutions and workplaces, and will use the data effectively, with the help of our statistical analysts, to present a clearer understanding of the nature of issues faced by our community and how they bear upon the effectiveness of our education, the productivity of our businesses, and a healthy family life," he said.

Talking about how MINGLE is different from the other organisations working for LGBT groups, Dhar explained that they would help create a space for such organisations to function better.

"What we are attempting is to go out of our comfort zone, and unlike other organisations that work for and with people within the community, we are going to involve straight people as well so that real change can happen," he said. "We will help these organisations communicate better and get results by providing support."

The group has enlisted the support of some well-known rights activists, lawyers and international business heads on its advisory panel. Kishore, one of the volunteers from the city, said that one of their first tasks would be to take the help of support groups like the Queer Campus to bring about awareness among the youth through activism on and off campus that will help promote healthy attitudes and friendship between various communities.

"Other important areas include workplaces, where we hope to bring a change in attitudes with the help of drives that promote dialogue and also the adoption of non-discriminatory attitudes by corporate houses," Kishore said. "Besides that, we will be advocating egalitarian access to public healthcare services and enforcement of laws ensuring the welfare of the LGBT community."

About their plans, Dhar said that the first step would be creating better atmosphere on college campuses.
"We are going to do a survey of students across campuses in at least two major cities to begin with. We will gather data on how many of the students are LGBT, how many have come out, issues they face on campuses, what could be done to help them come out or deal with it on campus," Dhar said.

"We will present our findings to principals and tell them with factual data and ask them how they could ignore such a crying need. Secondly, we will approach corporate bigwigs who have friendly policies for LGBTs abroad but not in India and ask for implementation."

The group also plans to do a survey of workplaces that have friendly LGBT policies and its advantage versus those that don't have such policies.