First dating Web site for Indian lesbians launched

India’s first dating Web site exclusively for lesbians and bisexual women in that country has been launched, reports GayAsiaNews.com.

The Web site which began in February but launched recently caters to only women in India and women of Indian origin across the world and offers a professional matchmaking service in a very private way.

Avashya.com also reports that an interested woman’s information is kept privately on the Web site database and unlike other normal matchmaking services where users can see photos and details of other users, no photos and details are shown to the public.

Women have to drop an email to connect@wonderfulthingshappen.com with a brief intro about themselves.

Within 48 hours, the personal matchmaker finder will get in touch with them and schedule a 45-60 minute in person consultation via call/Skype. After understanding and determining the candidate’s needs, a profile will be created and stored on the Web site database privately.

Once the matchmaker has a serious candidate, it  will start screening for potential matches. The Web site does not entertain married women and is open to only singles.

Connecting and creating profiles is absolutely free, however there are pricing options for customized matchmaking services.

Apart from professional matchmaking, the Web site also offers a discussion forum which encourages lesbian, bisexual women and their families  and friends to chat, discuss and support each other through shared experiences.

Priyanka Singh is the Web site’s founder, a 30-year old married woman and non-resident Indian based in the U.S. who said she wanted to start such a Web site after the Indian Supreme Court  upheld Section 377 last December, a British colonial-era law that criminalizes same-sex relations with up to life imprisonment.

India saw a window of opportunity in equality laws when the Delhi High Court in 2009 decriminalized same-sex relations.  However, that was reversed by the Supreme Court past December.

India is a highly conservative patriarchal society that mistreats women and where topics regarding sexual issues pertaining to women are considered taboo.

Statistics show that women and minor girls are raped every hour, a bride set on fire every six hours  and that 80 percent of illegally aborted fetuses are female. Sexual violence against women include kidnapping, torture, molestation and sexual harassment.

Hence gay women are doubly discriminated against, by their gender as well as sexuality.