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…
INDIA — A public service video campaign using transgender women to get motorists to use their seat belts while driving on Indian roads has gone viral on the InterneT, reports GayAsiaNews.com. Almost 2 million people have watched the video of transgender women dressed as cabin crew exhorting Indian motorists at a traffic crossing to buckle…
NEW DELHI — Today, the Supreme Court in India has agreed to make an exception and hear in open court a special petition on decriminalizing same-sex relations, reports GayAsiaNews.com. Gay rights activists and organizations had filed a “curative petition” requesting the Supreme Court it to correct its earlier verdict that upheld a colonial era “Section…
Speaking before an audience at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Richard E. Hoagland, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs stated in a Press Trust of India report that appeared in Siasat.com, “We monitor the situation in India, where the Supreme Court overturned a landmark ruling…
NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court’s ruling recognizing transgender people as the third sex might pave the way for decriminalizing same-sex relations in India, say gay-rights lawyers and activists in India, GayAsiaNews reports. In a landmark ruling on April 15, a Supreme Court bench comprising Justices KS Radhakrishnan and AK Sikri directed that transgender people…
NEW DELHI — Today, India’s highest court has directed that transgender people be recognized as the third sex, besides male and female and be accorded social acceptability and an equal standing under Indian law, reports GayAsia News.com. “The spirit of the Constitution is to provide equal opportunity to every citizen to grow and attain their…
NEW DELHI– More than 100 community stakeholders and activists came together today for a national consultation on Section 377 and the launch of Pehchan’s new advocacy campaign, ‘207 against 377’. The ‘207 against 377’ campaign initiated by Pehchan brings together the 207 organizations implementing the Pehchan program on a common platform to undertake advocacy at…
BANGALORE, India, — Tuesday, India’s Supreme Court upheld its ruling to criminalize sexual activities “against the order of nature,” including same-sex relationships. The decision occurs concurrently with talks being held by Selisse Berry, founder and CEO of Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, in Bangalore to discuss workplace equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The purpose of the cross-organizational meeting…
Speaking before the annual Indian Psychiatric Society meeting, prominent psychiatrist and last year’s president Dr. Indira Sharma labeled homosexuality ‘unnatural.’ The comment, which she reiterated on Monday, created a firestorm in a country still under attack from a major High Court decision which reinstated the ban on same-gender sex. According to the Times of India, Sharma unapologetically decried the…
NEW DELHI, — At an event at the Akshara Theatre in New Delhi Jan. 8, Shaleen Rakesh released the book at a quiet function with family and close friends. “Today is specially chosen as the day to release the book since it’s my father’s birthday,” said Shaleen Rakesh, the son of celebrated Hindi writer, Mohan Rakesh. The book is…
