Marriage Equality in a South Asian Context – the Debates, the Issues

Mala Nagarajan and other panelists

This session will provide a venue for lively and deep debate about the issues surrounding marriage equality for queer South Asians as members of communities of color.

 

Hidden Voices: The Lives of Queer Muslim South Asians

Faisal Alam and other panelists

A panel discussion which will explore the complexities of being queer, Muslim and South Asian in the United States. Our dialogue will focus on how these many identities intersect with each other, creating intricate and often complicated lives for desi LGBT Muslims.

 

Mainstreaming Gay Issues in India

Sylvestar Merchant

The purpose of this workshop is for participants to learn how to mainstream gay issues and become visible in society in a peaceful manner without taking too many adversarial positions. Humsafar Trust's strategy had a two-pronged approach . (1) Advocacy with government and (2) starting up evidence-based health interventions that backed its claims.

 

Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the LGBT Community

Khurram Hussain, MD

In this workshop, we discuss the symptoms, prevalence, risks and treatment options available and to educate the South Asian LGBT community about STDs.

 

Speak Up! How to Become an Effective Spokesperson for Your Organization!

Andy Marra

A GLAAD training on how to become an effective spokesperson. The interactive training uses multi-media clips and role-playing to provide skills on speaking to the public about your organization.

 

What Will Your Mother Say?… if she found out what her ladla/ ladli has been up to!

Ritu Primlane

This workshop will have audience participation, a sharing of our most scandalous stories celebrating sex and sexuality. We might even speculate what a chosen auntie might say if she found out!

 

Fighting for Immigrant Rights

Debanuj DasGupta

We will take a brief look at the history of immigration in the US, and discuss ways in which immigrants are currently organizing across the country, current issues, and legislations that are pending.

 

Fuzzy Boundaries: Gender, Sex and Sexuality among South Asians.

Ayush Gupta

In this workshop, we will watch movie clips and engage in group discussion and activities to gain a better understanding of gender, sexuality and how they entangle in the South Asian culture. From being straight acting to gender benders, gender roles to sexual roles, we will talk about it all, share personal stories and experiences.

 

Open Caucus/Forum

Come meet and talk as a group if you are seeking to represent a specific interest or influence a particular area related to better understanding and celebrating your ancestry and sexual orientation.

 

Morality of 377: The Presence of Consent and the Absence of Harm

Alok Gupta and other panelists

The presentation looks at two basic faults in the anti-sodomy law in India, its lack of contemplating the possibility of consensual homosexual sex, and therefore no actual harm to anyone that would substantiate its existence as a criminal law.

 

 

Delectable Diva Dykes (Women only)

Meera Dhebar

This workshop was so popular in 2000 that we had to fill a room with hot desi women and do it again. This is a fun workshop where we will talk about cruising, flirting, and share pick up lines and other hot stories. Come wearing your sexiest clothes and be prepared to have fun!

 

Non-South Asian Allies in LGBTQ South Asian Organizations: A Presentation & Discussion

Theron Gilliland, Jr.

Explore and discuss the role of non-South Asian allies in LGBTQ South Asian organizations. This presentation is based on articles examining the role of whites in antiracism, articles examining South Asian identity development, personal experiences, and interviews with members of a LGBTQ South Asian group with non-South Asian leaders.

 

Radical Reconciliations: South Asians and Politicizing the Diaspora

This talk/speech is based on a paper I am writing that captures a number of important moments in the history of South Asian queer activism, arguing that our diasporic identities allow us to transcend, and hence transform concepts of nationhood and citizenship.

 

To Wed or Just to Bed – On Human Spirituality and Sexuality

Ranjan

Workshop participants will acquire the intellectual tools for making healthier emotional choices pertaining to their sex lives through a clearer understanding of: 1) The purpose of sex; the convention that it is reproduction versus neuro-scientific research that it is limbic revision; and 2) The perspective of the Asian spiritual tradition, in particular Tantra, that relates human sexuality and spiritual growth, and the contribution that scientific research makes to such a perspective.

 

Addressing HIV Stigma: The Banyan Tree Project - Rooted in Acceptance

Bahar Kumar and other panelists, API Wellness Center

We will collectively share our experience with HIV & AIDS through facilitated dialogue in a relaxed cafe-style environment. Through this exchange you will learn strategies to address HIV stigma by supporting South Asians living with HIV/AIDS and advocating for HIV testing within our communities.

 

Creative Writing

This workshop will explore new senses of what the desi LGBT experience includes through a set of creative expositions: in-workshop writing and sharing of stories, with simple prompts.

 

Domestic Violence/Relationship Violence in the Queer API Community

Hediana Utarti & Ganga Dharmappa

Since images of domestic violence put forth by the mainstream movement do not reflect the intricacies of same-gender relationships within communities of color, many survivors might not know the current resources or even how to identify the different forms of abuse. This workshop thus attempts to acknowledge the larger systems of oppression and the culturally specific needs of the community while also addressing how and why abuse occurs in queer DV. In addition, it will offer ways to help survivors and develop support systems through community education and advocacy.

 

Queer Spaces, Places, and Gender: Gender Queer Topologies

Roksana Badruddoja

Much queer theory is based on the white male experience and privilege, excluding people of color and severely limiting its relevance to Third World activism. A majority of people who identify with the GLBT community cannot make sense of this discourse. Doubly marginalized women like Gloria Anzaldúa have been thinking and writing about their experiences at intersectional locations, but the way their experiences are framed in philosophy and social theory remains uncomfortably simplistic. Much queer theory continues to be “thin” on gender and race. We will examine works, visit paradoxes, difficulties, unity, and diversity by unraveling the lives of gender queer people.

 

Understanding the Psychological Needs of South Asian GLBT Clientele

Dr. Ravi Mehta

The purpose of this workshop is twofold: 1) to provide a general overview of psychological and psychosocial needs of South Asian GLBT individuals; and 2) to provide psycho-education on topics such as the use of psychotherapy to address guilt, identity issues, and acceptance, and to talk about the types of community resources that are available.

 

Englishpur ki Kothi: Class Dynamics in the Queer Community in India

Alok Gupta

The presentation examines the unavoidable class differences in which the Indian society functions and its inevitable parallels in the queer community.

 

Family, Community & Sexuality – The South Asian Family Experience, PART 1

Mala Nagarajan and other panelists

This 2-part workshop will explore Family, Community, and Sexuality in South Asian families. An open discussion between South Asian parents, siblings, and their queer family members.

PART 1: Panelists will prepare and address questions asked of each other: questions they always wanted to ask their parents or family member.

 

Integrating an Anti Oppressive Framework: Towards a Healthier Workplace

Meera Dhebar

This talk is geared to those working or volunteering in social service agencies, or other types of activist work. Meera will look at how integrating an anti oppressive framework can help build communities, do effective work with service users, and allow us to seek support in our workplace.

 

Sharing Field Experiences of Documenting Profiles of Lesbian Women and the Formation of Parma Women’s Same Sex Relationship Support Group, Gujarat, India

Indira Pathak and Maya Sharma

 

The paper, “Sharing Field Experiences of Documenting Profiles of Lesbian Women and the Formation of Parma Women’s Same Sex Relationship Support Group, Gujarat, India,” will share some of the findings of the research undertaken by Vikalp, the grass root women’s organization based in Baroda. It will briefly dwell on who the researchers were, their identities and their relationship with the autonomous women’s movement that provided the context for selecting the subject and determining the nature of the questions asked and explored by us. In conclusion we would talk of the group Parma that works in the rural, tribal areas of Gujarat.

 

Transgender in the South Asian Context

Babra Khan

In this workshop, we will discuss issues specific to a transgendered person of South Asian origin, which have been neglected.

 

Appreciating and Understanding Kathak Dance

Rann Shinar

A lecture demonstration of Kathak Dance and its basic techniques, this class will touch on the history and theory of Kathak, and demonstrate and explore all the various elements that make up the Kathak dance.

 

Family, Community & Sexuality – The South Asian Family Experience, PART 2

Mala Nagarajan

This 2-part workshop will explore Family, Community, and Sexuality in South Asian families. An open discussion between South Asian parents, siblings, and their queer family members.

PART 2: Exploring our own spaces (group will be split into “parents/family-only” and “queer South Asians-only”); sharing our space; exploring how we can work together; and building next steps.

 

Looking at the Self/Looking Back: “Muslim” Women on War, Faith, and Sexuality

Sarah Husain and Tina Zaman

This workshop will engage the construct of “Muslim woman” in the contemporary culture of war. We explore how we are repeatedly being written off by dominant discourse and how we are resisting the tendencies that seek to reduce us to monological stereotypes and to define us in one homogeneous way.

 

Organizational Development for Movement Building

Debanuj DasGupta and Russell Roybal

Learning how to develop and sustain organizations through their life cycle process in order to build coalitions, stronger movements.

 

Queer Leathersex or What Makes Kinky Sex Hot!

Gayathri

Do you have an interest in learning what it means to top/bottom, tie someone up or be tied up? Spank or be spanked? Ever go to Folsom? Wonder what those hankies mean? This workshop is an introduction to hot leathersex and what it means to me, exploring what it might mean for you.

 

Creating Change*, Desi Style

Prajna Paramita Choudhury and other panelists

Starting with panel presentations by representatives from Satrang and South Asian Network in Los Angeles, who have been funded to improve the health and well-being of queer South Asians in Southern California and to decrease homophobia in the general South Asian community; and then opening up the floor for questions and discussion of other individuals and organizations doing similar work; we will share strategies, lessons learned, and resources to help and inspire each other to create positive social change in the queer South Asian community and beyond.

 

*Creating Change is the name of the annual conference held by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. This panel presentation seeks to discuss culturally and community specific strategies South Asian queers are engaging in, to do just that.