Queer

“Only for Families, Madam”: A House for Mrs Kulkarni, Divorcee
An illustration of a woman sitting in an unfurnished house by herself, framed by a window looking out into the night in a city. Around the woman, there are unopened boxes marked ‘FRAGILE’.

The only hitch was that neither the agents nor the landlords who lurked behind those rentable flats were particularly keen on leasing their precious properties to a – what! Divorcee??!! No, no, madam, but this flat is only for families.

By Curated Content
February 15, 2021
“Only for Families, Madam”: A House for Mrs Kulkarni, Divorcee
इच्छाओं की विरोधी, इच्छाएँ
poster that says, 'just had my first legal sex'

वापस फिर एक बार, पोस्टर पर लिखी गयी घोषणा पर लौटते हुए – पहली बार ‘कानूनन’ सेक्स कर पाने के अपने अनुभव को ज़ाहिर करने की इस घोषणा में एक बहुत ही शक्तिशाली सांकेतिक संदेश निहित है जो हमें सेक्स में ज़्यादा चरम आनंद लेने में भले ही मदद न करे लेकिन मुक्ति के चिन्ह हमेशा धनी लोगों द्वारा किए जा रहे दिखावे की तरह नहीं होते, उनमें एक प्रभावी संदेश निहित होता है।

By Oishik Sircar
September 2, 2019
इच्छाओं की विरोधी, इच्छाएँ
 Navigating love, loneliness and singlehood
A photograph of an individual’s neck and shoulders, with a focus on the collarbone.

I believe that queer friendships and intimacies are sheer resistance, which not only swallow the despair and pain that might be perpetrated on gender-nonconforming people by their families, but also recognise all the lies about love that have been sold to us.

By Anonymous
February 1, 2021
 Navigating love, loneliness and singlehood
Yaarana: Befriending Queer Literature And Hoshang Merchant

Through our discomfort, shame, and often stubborn refusal to rise above heteronormativity, we unpacked a lot of these negative emotions by critically analysing texts that were neither the Kamasutra nor discourses such as Foucault’s on sexuality.

By Aditi Padiyar
March 16, 2020
Yaarana: Befriending Queer Literature And Hoshang Merchant
Windows: My Introduction To Sexuality Through Literature
book cover of 'out' - a book of queer stories

All these works have made me acutely aware of how gender, sexuality, and religion, are so deeply intertwined in the social fabric. Also, how conditioning can significantly influence one’s understanding of literature, or the lack of it.

By Asmi
March 2, 2020
Windows: My Introduction To Sexuality Through Literature
Why singlehood is meaningful: Three voices
A photograph of Kalpana Sharma, Sharda Ugra, and attendees at an event around the book ‘Single by Choice: Happily Unmarried Women’.

By the end of the evening, the room was suffused with the celebration of singlehood, rather than any explanation or apology for it. It appeared that the solitary life was envied and extolled by those who have opted out of it as well as many who haven’t.

By Curated Content
February 15, 2021
Why singlehood is meaningful: Three voices
Why Drag?
A drag queen dressed in a long dress and with a red wig and makeup

In my 27 years of existence, I’ve embodied various personas and roles. Even today, I behave slightly differently in the office, around parents, at a party and when I’m alone in my room. In the mornings I’m often a lawyer, whereas during evenings I become an artist.

By Curated Content
May 15, 2019
Why Drag?
What Came of a Conversation about Queering Mothering
A black and white furry cat with its kitten.

There is something incommensurable about the phrase ‘queering mothering’ – the two words put together, ‘queer’ and ‘mother’. We think of motherhood as a relationship between a ‘woman’ (the biological mother) and her child. Nevertheless, there are a number of people who form bonds with a growing child.

By Tanya Singh
October 17, 2016
What Came of a Conversation about Queering Mothering
Video: What Is Intersectionality? | Queer 101 | The Advocate

Would you be able to describe yourself in one word? The Advocate’s Ashley Jiang begins by telling us she has…

By Curated Content
September 1, 2021
Video: What Is Intersectionality? | Queer 101 | The Advocate
Video: Sonali Udaybabu – Which Came First
the image is a screenshot from the video and has the shadow of Sonali Udaybabu holding a phone and recording themselves. on the left is the shadow of another person who appears to be a passerby. the text 'or my queerness?' appears as a subtitle.

Which Came First is a film about identity, desires, queerness–it captures the essence of self-discovery.

By Sonali Udaybabu
December 12, 2022
Video: Sonali Udaybabu – Which Came First
Video Page: The Issue of Trans Victimization – Bittu
Dalit queer activist Bittu speaking into a mike at a podium.

Is Brahminical patriarchy present in queer spaces? How can marginalised groups effectively advocate for themselves without relying too heavily on…

By Curated Content
October 3, 2017
Video Page: The Issue of Trans Victimization – Bittu
Video Page: Lost & Found
Two men in a public bus facing each other, one of them standing behind the other and they are looking at each other fondly.
December 1, 2014
Video Page: Lost & Found
Video Page: In A Heartbeat
Still from an animated video with two small boys sitting by a tree, looking wide-eyed with love at each other.

In the short animated film In A Heartbeat, a young man is quite literally torn between his heart and his…

By Curated Content
September 15, 2017
Video Page: In A Heartbeat
Tomboy Femininity
A photograph of the author, Di Sands

When I finally came out to myself at age 16 and made it to a free queer youth space, I couldn’t wait to be accepted among folks who didn’t play by society’s heterosexist rules of masculine and feminine as polar opposites.

By Di Sands
December 1, 2020
Tomboy Femininity
Through the Non-Heteronormative Looking Glass
Sunlight coming through the glass, and falling between the two set of straightly lined chairs.

No one ever really talks about how queer people in STEM fields navigate hostile spaces. ‘STEM’ stands for ‘Science, Technology, Engineering, Math’. We Indians, of course, are well aware of what these fields entail because our parents, neighbours and teachers often push us towards them. Pursuing a career in the humanities/arts means deviating from the norm, so it makes sense that sexualities and gender identities which are considered ‘deviant’ often flourish in these fields.

By Kavya Kartik
July 1, 2016
Through the Non-Heteronormative Looking Glass
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