QueerCampus India (QCI)- Delhi public meeting- December 18, 2010

Time:

Saturday, Dec 18, 2010

3 pm - 5 pm

Place:

Yodakin

2, Hauz Khas Village

Hauz Khas

New Delhi

◄QueerCampus India invites you to join us for our public meeting at Yodakin Bookstore ►

Come and wish us happy six months!

Our regular public meetings are informal support spaces for queer youth. And we wholeheartedly invite participation from everyone who believes in what we stand for! This is your space to speak your mind, share your experiences with respect to coming out to family, friends, realization of your sexuality, your specific interests or what you expect from a queer youth support group like QCI.

Being young and queer in India can be tricky. You often feel left out in your circle of friends. You struggle to come out. You pore over numerous google searches to find that iota of information which will give you a sense of identification and belonging. Ever since our first public meeting on June 12 this year, we have seen participation from many people- people from the entire spectrum of LGBTIQ(age no bar!), students studying in Delhi, youth who work and of late, people who are from a less privileged background. We've participated as a group in public LGBT events including July 2nd celebration, Delhi pride parade and Nigah Queer Fest.

It has been a mosaic of ideas, fun, heartwarming life stories and most importantly, hope - a hope for the queer community and especially for queer youth out there! A hope that says out, loud and proud- here, in India, it is getting better!

Join us to make it better!

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YODAKIN is a bookstore which is an independent publishing house that focuses on urban studies, sexuality and gender, among other subjects. Yodakin is a Queer-friendly space and will be hosting this QCI meeting and more in the future.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Delhi-India/yodakin/218073975901



Contact us: qcampus.india@gmail.com


The venue can easily be reached by a 10 min walk from the nearest metro stations i.e. Green Park.

QueerCampus India (QCI)- Delhi public meeting- Dec 11, 2010

Time:	Saturday, December 11 · 3:00pm - 5:00pm

Location :

Yodakin Bookstore , 2 Hauz Khas Village

(10 mins walk from Green park metro)

New Delhi, India

Landmark:- It shares the same street with a famous restaurant called Gunpowder in hauz khas village

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◄Queer Campus India invites you to come and join for the screening and discussion on Queering Bollywood at Yodakin Bookstore►

QueerCampus India- this is your space to speak your mind, share your experiences with respect to coming out, family, friends, realization of your sexuality, your specific interests or what you expect from a queer youth support group like QCI.

◄Queering Bollywood ►

The theme of this month’s first public meeting is Queering Bollywood. We’re going to discuss about all the Indian Queer elements in the mainstream Bollywood movies and we hope to have interactive session and going beyond textual analysis of cinema, and making it a creative and fun filled meeting, thus discussing YOUR SAY about the portrayal of queers in Indian cinema. Along with other film clippings, a documentary Titled “I am beautiful” Directed by QCI members of Kamla Nehru College will be shown too. Lot of students from QCI has done voluntary acting in this documentary. Don’t miss it!

The idea is to initiate the process of analysing what Indian youth thinks about the depictions of queer representations in cinema, especially in the Indian context.

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YODAKIN is a bookstore which is an independent publishing house that focuses on urban studies, sexuality and gender, among other subjects. Yodakin is a Queer-friendly space and will be hosting this QCI meeting and more in the future.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Delhi-India/yodakin/218073975901

So see you on Saturday!

Contact us: qcampus.india@gmail.com
Phone: 9999096097 (Please feel free to contact QCI for any query)

The venue can easily be reached by a 10 min walk from the nearest metro stations i.e. Green Park.

Nigah Queerfest '10: Queer 101 Workshop

As a part of QueerFest 2010, Nigah is conducting a workshop on basics of sexuality, coming out, and queerness. Nigah has also worked on some documents/guides related to these issues. At recent QueerCampus Delhi public meetings, we've had discussions on a range of questions related to coming out and sexuality. Input and comments from these meetings have been added to the guides which will be released at the Nigah workshop.

There are two workshops, one in English and the other, in Hindi. These workshops are happening on 30th November, 2010. If you want to help out QueerCampus with approaching colleges and organizing campus events/discussions, please do come for these workshops. We'll also have a few members from QueerCampus who will be attending both English and Hindi workshops.

If you wish to attend these workshops as a part of QueerCampus or if you have any queries, drop us a mail at qcampus.india@gmail.com

These are the details of the workshop-

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English I हिन्दी

***Please forward widely***

Queer 101

Venue: Kunzum Café, T-49, GF, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi

Dates: Tuesday, November 30.

Time: 7- 9 PM

What does it mean to be Queer? How does it differ from being gay? Is it a choice? Is it natural? Is it normal? Is it against Indian culture?

There are hundreds of questions that we encounter, when we’re figuring out our sexuality or helping someone figure out theirs. Nigah invites you to a fun, interactive workshop on finding your answers to the basics of Sexuality, Queerness, Coming Out and being yourself.

cheers,
Nigah

***कृपया व्यापक रूप से फॉरवर्ड कीजिये***

क्वीयर 101

स्थान: सहेली, दूकान नंबर १०५-१०८ के ऊपर, डिफेन्स कालोनी फ्ल्योवर मार्केट, नई दिल्ली ११००२४

समय: शाम को ७ से ९ बजे, मंगलवार, ३० नवम्बर

क्वीयर होने का मतलब क्या है? वो "गे" होने से अलग कैसे है? क्या ये एक तरह का विकल्प है? प्राकृतिक है? सामान्य है? क्या यह भारतीय सभ्यता के विरुद्ध है?

जब हम अपनी यौनिकता या किसी और की योनिक्ता को समझने की कोशिश करते हैं तो हमे हजारों सवाल का सामना करना पड़ता है. निगाह आपको आमंत्रित करता है एक मज़ेदार और संवादात्मक कार्यशाला मे जहां हम यौनिकता के इन अनेक सवालो के जवाब साथ खोजेंगे!

आपकी,

निगाह की टोली

QueerCampus India (QCI)- Delhi public meeting- November 20, 2010

TIME:

Saturday. Nov 20, 2010

3PM-5PM

PLACE:

Yodakin

2, Hauz Khas Village

Hauz Khas

New Delhi

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QueerCampus India invites you to come and join us for our public meeting at Yodakin Bookstore!

We will continue our ongoing discussion on coming out and sexuality. Feel free to discuss your views because it'll help us in compiling experiences from a wide range of queer individuals of all age groups while addressing these issues from a youth centric perspective.

Later this month we will be coordinating with another queer group in the city and participating in sexuality and coming out workshops so as to reach a wider student audience. We'll talk about these workshops in the meeting and we invite you to attend these workshops as a part of QueerCampus.

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QueerCampus India- this is your space to speak your mind, share your experiences with respect to coming out, family, friends, realization of your sexuality, your specific interests or what you expect from a queer youth support group like QCI. Feel free to give ideas or suggestions for QCI. We will also talk about implementing future QCI objectives- like organizing QCI in other cities, ways of reaching out to queer youth, QCI activities etc.

YODAKIN is a bookstore which is an independent publishing house that focuses on urban studies, sexuality and gender, among other subjects. Yodakin is a Queer-friendly space and will be hosting this QCI meeting and more in the future. Yodakin stocks a number of books on gender and sexuality and we will read and discuss passages from some of these books during the meeting. Also, anyone attending the meeting is free to bring a passage or poem they want to share!

Phone: 9999096097 (Please feel free to contact QCI for any query)

The venue can easily be reached by a 10 min walk from the two nearest metro stations i.e. Green Park and Hauz khas.

QueerCampus India (QCI)- Delhi public meeting- November 20, 2010

TIME:

Saturday. Nov 20, 2010

3PM-5PM

PLACE:

Yodakin

2, Hauz Khas Village

Hauz Khas

New Delhi

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Campus India invites you to come and join for our public meeting at Yodakin Bookstore!

We will continue our ongoing discussion on coming out and sexuality. Feel free to discuss your views because it'll help us in compiling experiences from a wide range of queer individuals of all age groups while addressing these issues from a youth centric perspective.

Later this month we will be coordinating with another queer group in the city and participating in sexuality and coming out workshops so as to reach a wider student audience. We'll talk about these workshops in the meeting and we invite you to attend them as a part of QueerCampus.

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QueerCampus India- this is your space to speak your mind, share your experiences with respect to coming out, family, friends, realization of your sexuality, your specific interests or what you expect from a queer youth support group like QCI. Feel free to give ideas or suggestions for QCI. We will also talk about implementing future QCI objectives- like organizing QCI in other cities, ways of reaching out to queer youth, QCI activities etc.

YODAKIN is a bookstore which is an independent publishing house that focuses on urban studies, sexuality and gender, among other subjects. Yodakin is a Queer-friendly space and will be hosting this QCI meeting and more in the future. Yodakin stocks a number of books on gender and sexuality and we will read and discuss passages from some of these books during the meeting. Also, anyone attending the meeting is free to bring a passage or poem they want to share!

Phone: 9999096097 (Please feel free to contact QCI for any query)

The venue can easily be reached by a 10 min walk from the two nearest metro stations i.e. Green Park and Hauz khas.

QueerCampus India (QCI)- Delhi public meeting- November 13, 2010

Time: 3.00PM - 5.00PM

Location:

Yodakin

2, Hauz Khas Village,

Hauz Khas, (Near Hauz khas & Green park metro)

New Delhi, India

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Queer Campus India invites you to come and join for our public meeting at Yodakin Bookstore ►

Queer Campus India- this is your space to speak your mind, share your experiences with respect to coming out, family, friends, realization of your sexuality, your specific interests or what you expect from a queer youth support group like QCI. Feel free to give ideas or suggestions for QCI. We will also talk about implementing future QCI objectives- like organizing QCI in other cities, ways of reaching out to queer youth, QCI activities etc.
YODAKIN is a bookstore which is an independent publishing house that focuses on urban studies, sexuality and gender, among other subjects. Yodakin is a Queer-friendly space and will be hosting this QCI meeting and more in the future. Yodakin stocks a number of books on gender and sexuality and we will read and discuss passages from some of these books during the meeting. Also, anyone attending the meeting is free to bring a passage or poem they want to share!


So see you on Saturday!


Phone: 9999096097 (Please feel free to contact QCI for any query)

The venue can easily be reached by a 10 min walk from the two nearest metro stations i.e. Green Park and Hauz khas.

QueerCampus India (QCI)- Delhi public meeting- November 6, 2010

Time:

November 6, 2010

Saturday, 3.00PM-5.00PM

Place:

Max Mueller Bhavan

Atul Grove Lane

Connaught Place(near Barakhamba road metro station)

New Delhi

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Join us for a discussion on 'coming out' and 'sexuality'!

# We'll continue and conclude our discussion on 'coming out' that we started at our previous meeting.

Share your understanding of this term, your experience of being 'out' or bring along any relevant material in form of passages/poems/articles etc that can offer a perspective on 'coming out'.


#We'll start with a discussion on 'sexuality' with an aim to gradually address a broad range of questions related to it. Initially, we'll focus on the following-

1) Will homosexuality negatively impact the family?
2) Is homosexuality unnatural?
3) Is homosexuality abnormal?
4) What makes people gay? Does something have to ‘happen’ in order to make a person gay?
5) Is homosexuality a mental disease?
6) What about Bestiality/Paedophilia?
7) Can homosexuality be cured?
8) Does homosexuality lead to spread of HIV/AIDS?

Feel free to bring/refer/share any resource on this topic that can help develop a better understanding of such questions, from a scratch!

We hope that this discussion will serve as a way to document some general ideas on 'coming out' and 'sexuality' which may belong to the entire spectrum of queer individuals of various age groups. We also hope that it helps us to address these issues from a youth-centric perspective, so that it can form a basis for student-interactions and campus visits that QCI plans to hold in future. Join us and contribute to the initiative!

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QueerCampus India- this is your space to speak your mind, share your experiences with respect to coming out, family, friends, realization of your sexuality, your specific interests or what you expect from a queer youth support group like QCI. Feel free to give ideas or suggestions for QCI.

QueerCampus India (QCI)- Delhi public meeting- October 23, 2010

TIME:

Saturday, October 23, 2010

3 pm - 5 pm

LOCATION:

Yodakin 2 Hauz Khas Village

Hauz Khas

New Delhi, India

(Near Green Park/ Hauz Khas metro station)

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◄ QueerCampus India invites you to its bi-weekly public meeting at Yodakin Bookstore►

Join us for a discussion on 'coming out'! Share your understanding of this term, your experience of being 'out' or bring along any relevant material in form of passages/poems/articles etc that can offer a perspective on 'coming out'. For a start, we can address the following questions-

1. What does coming out mean?

2. When does one come out? Or how do we know when the time is right?

3. To whom does one come out?

4. How should one prepare oneself and others for coming out?

5. Individual coming out experiences. everyone can discuss how they did it, or how they want to do it, or why they haven't done it yet.

6. Some coming out 'tips', especially for youth. You can also share links to any online resource or website that may be of help.

We hope that this discussion will serve as a way to document some general ideas on 'coming out' which may belong to the entire spectrum of queer individuals of various age groups. We also hope that it helps us to address this issue from a youth-centric perspective, so that it can form a basis for student-interactions and campus visits that QCI plans to hold in future.


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QueerCampus India- this is your space to speak your mind, share your experiences with respect to coming out, family, friends, realization of your sexuality, your specific interests or what you expect from a queer youth support group like QCI. Feel free to give ideas or suggestions for QCI.

YODAKIN is a bookstore which is an independent publishing house that focuses on urban studies, sexuality and gender, among other subjects. Yodakin is a Queer-friendly space and will be hosting this QCI meeting and more in the future.

QueerCampus India (QCI)- Delhi public meeting- October 9, 2010

TIME: Saturday, October 9, 2010

3PM-5PM

LOCATION:

Yodakin 2 Hauz Khas Village

Hauz Khas (5 min walk from Hauz Khas and Green Park Metro)

Delhi-110 16

New Delhi, India

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◄Queer Campus India invites you to come and join for our bi-weekly public meeting at Yodakin Bookstore ►

Queer Campus India- this is your space to speak your mind, share your experiences with respect to coming out, family, friends, realization of your sexuality, your specific interests or what you expect from a queer youth support group like QCI. Feel free to give ideas or suggestions for QCI. We will also talk about implementing future QCI objectives- like organizing QCI in other cities, ways of reaching out to queer youth, QCI activities etc.
YODAKIN is a bookstore which is an independent publishing house that focuses on urban studies, sexuality and gender, among other subjects. Yodakin is a Queer-friendly space and will be hosting this QCI meeting and more in the future. Yodakin stocks a number of books on gender and sexuality and we will read and discuss passages from some of these books during the meeting. Also, anyone attending the meeting is free to bring a passage or poem they want to share!

Also, stay back after the meeting for a performance by Jana Natya Manch from 7 PM onwards at Yodakin. Details are available below and the Yodakin FB page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Delhi-India/yodakin/218073975901.

So see you on Saturday!

Phone: 9999096097 (Please feel free to contact QCI for any query)

The venue can easily be reached by a 5 min walk from the two nearest metro stations i.e. Hauz khas and Green Park.

QueerCampus India (QCI)- Delhi public meeting- Sept 25, 2010

TIME: Saturday, September 25 · 3:00pm - 5:00pm

PLACE: Max Mueller Bhavan,

Atul Grove Lane, Connaught Place (Near Barakhambha Road Metro Station)

New Delhi

Introduction and interactive discussion session for the attendees. Share your experiences and ideas/suggestions for QCI.

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1) We'll talk about group structuring for QCI and various ways of doing the same.

2) We'll focus on our first college meeting. We'll initiate discussion regarding a 'QCI talk and activity' session for colleges- something fun and interactive.

3) and a lot more. . .

If you can help us to arrange a meeting at your college, please contact at qcampus.india@gmail.com.

You can help us to approach the administration of your college, or get us some contacts regarding the same. We need campus spaces to hold QCI meetings because it'll allow us to get more visible among the general college-going youth and initiate a queer call.


PS- This Time the meeting won't be conducted in the Hall area. Instead of that, the meeting will be held in the cafeteria.


-- Also, please email us if you'd like to have the contact number of one of our members.

QueerCampus India(QCI)- Delhi public meeting- Sept 11, 2010

Date: Saturday, September 11, 2010

Time: 3PM-5PM

Location: Max Muller Bhavan

Atul Grove Lane

Connaught Place (Near Barakhambha Road Metro Station)

New Delhi

QueerCampus India is a queer collective for students/youth which provides a space to share your experiences/interests, find a support group and hang out. We have been meeting every second and fourth Saturday of the month.

For this week's QueerCampus meeting, come with anything that you would like to perform or read out - either at the meeting or in the future.

It could be poetry, or nonsense verse, excerpts from books, passages from other pieces of writing which you have found interesting.

It could be music, or an idea for a play that you might have had.

It could be your own work or somebody else's work that you have found inspiring, fun, and something that you would like to share with others. (if anybody else's work is being presented, do remember to give credit to the author/artist)

Note that it needn't be a finished product, we are just here to discuss our ideas with each other.

Cheers and hope to see you all there. Please spread the word!

QueerCampus, New Delhi

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=116217135068834#!/group.php?gid=116217135068834&ref=ts

QueerCampus India (QCI)- Delhi public meeting-- Aug 14, 2010

Time: August 14, 2010

3.00PM - 5.00PM

Location: Max Mueller Bhavan

Atul Grove Lane, Connaught Place (Near Barakhambha Road Metro Station)

New Delhi, India

Introduction and interactive discussion session for the attendees. Share your experiences and ideas/suggestions for QCI.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1) We'll talk about group structuring for QCI and various ways of doing the same.

2) We'll focus on our first college meeting. We'll initiate discussion regarding a 'QCI talk and activity' session for colleges- something fun and interactive.

If you can help us to arrange a meeting at your college, please contact at qcampus.india@gmail.com.

You can help us to approach the administration of your college, or get us some contacts regarding the same. We need campus spaces to hold QCI meetings because it'll allow us to get more visible among the general college-going youth and initiate a queer call.

-- Also, please email us if you'd like to have the contact number of one of our members.

QueerCampus India(QCI)- Delhi public meeting

Date: Saturday, July 24, 2010

Time: 3PM-5PM

Location: Max Muller Bhavan Cafe

Max Muller Bhavan, Atul Grove Lane

Connaught Place (Near Barakhambha Road Metro Station)

New Delhi

Introduction and interactive discussion session for the attendees. Share your experiences and ideas/suggestions for QCI.

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One of our aims at the meeting would also be to understand the term 'queer'- how we relate it to different aspects of our life and the society at large. Feel free to bring along any relevant material/text on your part- newspaper articles, magazines or a book.

The text that we have selected for the above discussion includes two chapters from the book, 'Because I Have A Voice', by Arvind Narrain and Gautam Bhan.

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#We'll start discussion with the 'Introduction' chapter which can be read online at the google book preview.

Read introduction

#Rest of the chapters from the book or other texts selected for discussion will be scanned and uploaded at our google group. Join in!

QCI google group

Or drop us an email and we'll send them to you. Also, please email us if you'd like to have the contact number of one of our members.

qcampus.india@gmail.com

QueerCampus India(QCI)-Delhi public meeting

Date: Saturday, July 10, 2010

Time: 3PM-6PM

Location: Max Muller Bhavan Cafe

Max Muller Bhavan, Atul Grove Lane

Connaught Place (Near Barakhambha Road Metro Station)

New Delhi

3PM - 5PM
Introduction and interactive discussion session for the attendees. Feel free to give ideas or suggestions for QCI. We will also talk about implementing future QCI objectives- like organizing QCI in other cities, ways of reaching out to queer youth, QCI activities etc. Share your experiences with respect to coming out, family, friends, realization of your sexuality, your 'rainbow life', your specific interests or what you expect from a queer youth support group like QCI.

5PM - 6PM

Introductory workshop on queer youth support spaces

QCI in other cities

QueerCampus India only happened to start at Delhi. Totally by chance. It happened because a group of queer youth in Delhi(and this group is growing every day!) were willing to actively work towards building a queer youth/students' group that could act as a socializing space and also, as a means to provide informal support to queer youth and students who often feel isolated and misunderstood among their circle of friends and family, especially in the initial stages of realizing their sexuality.

But, at QCI, we are propelled by the idea of forming a collective for various fragmented queer youth support initiatives in India. And, we believe in evolving from the grassroots. And inevitably, for this we would need support from youth in other cities and even non-metro towns.

So, lets come together and paint the future pink!

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If you are interested in starting up with a QCI group in your own city, drop us an email at qcampus.india@gmail.com

Do mention your city.

What we plan to do at present is, bring together queer youth/students and interested community members from various cities and discuss the organisation of a QCI group in their respective cities.

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About QueerCampus India(QCI)

In Delhi, we have been holding biweekly public meetings for queer youth/students/community members on Saturdays. These are casual meetings with introduction and interactive session for the attendees. QCI also participated in the July 2nd, 2010 celebration in Delhi where we distributed pamphlets and talked about QCI to spread the word about what we are doing as a group.

Join the QCI Facebook group

Join the QCI Google group

QCI-Delhi in the media

Indian Express article on QCI-Delhi's first public meeting

Indian Express on QCI at July 2nd, 2010-Delhi celebration

QCI quoted in The Times of India article on July 2nd, 2010 Celebration in Delhi

QCI in TOI-Delhi Times

Please note that we are not associated with any particular university/college. We are an informal group of youth/students who may belong to any university.

A little guide about how to have a QCI group in your city

This "guide" is only stated with respect to how we started up with QCI in Delhi. Of course, it varies depending on your city and people involved.

Basically, you don't need much to start up a QCI group..just an informal meeting-like we catch up with friends- with three notable things-

1) Meet regularly and preferably at afternoon-evening timings (eg. in Delhi we meet biweekly on saturdays, 3pm-6pm) to keep it within reach of 18-20 somethings living with their parents.

2) Popularize the meeting as an event at QCI's FB group and at our blog to keep adding 'new friends' to the circle.

3) Yes, community members at large are needed for support, but since we are evolving a group from the grassroots, we don't want to start as tie-ups with NGO's or anything of that sort. The group essentially needs queer youth/students, so do try to popularize QCI among this section of youth in your city.

Once we have around some three-four or more people willing to have such informal meetings, we'll make a QCI google group for your city which you can join and where you can decide time/place of the meeting among yourself. That's it! This group will keep growing and then you can plan more group activities apart from interactive meetings like watching movies, participating in pride events with QCI banner et al. All ideas for such activities can be planned/discussed in your city-specific google group. If you want to drop in your ideas for QCI, feel free to join the existing QCI google group listed in this post.

QCI at July 2nd, 2010 celebration!

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/a-year-after-section-377-order-help-on-campus-to-fight-homophobia/641694/2

http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/mobile.aspx?article=yes&pageid=9&edlabel=CAP&mydateHid=03-07-2010&pubname&edname&articleid=Ar00901&format&publabel=TOI

QueerCampus India at July 2nd celebration!

DATE: Friday, July 2nd

TIME: 5:30pm-7.30pm

LOCATION: Jantar Mantar

Connaught Place

New Delhi

We are going there with posters, banners, flyers/parchas to spread the word about what we are doing as a group. We'll have volunteers who will represent our group and talk to people about QCI.

We'll also have a casual, interactive QueerCampus India meeting among people who wish to participate.

Indian Express article on QCI's first public meeting

http://epaper.indianexpress.com/IE/IEH/2010/06/27/index.shtml

QueerCampus India public meeting- Saturday, June 26, 2010

Date: Saturday, June 26, 2010

Location: India Coffee House

Mohan Singh Place, Connaught Place

New Delhi

Time:3.00PM-5.00PM

QueerCampus India aims to be an Indian queer youth/students’ collective- a space to share your experiences, deal with coming out and find your own circle of rainbow buddies!

QueerCampus India public meeting for queer youth/students and community members on Saturday, 26th June, would include a causal introduction and interaction session among attendees.

We will also discuss QueerCampus’s participation - volunteering, schedule and tasks- in the 2nd July event that is being held in Delhi to commemorate the Section 377 judgment.

Those who want to, may bring chart papers/sketch pens etc. for making posters for the July 2nd event. We will sit together and make posters once the meeting is done, that is, after 5 pm.

Contact us: qcampus.india@gmail.com

PS - Please email us if you'd like the contact number of one of our members.
You can identify the Queercampus group at Coffee House easily, as some of us will be wearing rainbow badges.

About QueerCampus India

QueerCampus India aims to be an Indian queer youth/ students' collective- a space to share your experiences, deal with coming out, and find your own circle of rainbow buddies!
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1) Qcampus is a space for any queer student/youth who would like to participate and interact with a larger circle of queer youth. It is a space where you can comfortably express yourself, discuss your interests and find a queer camaraderie. This is very essential for someone who is in the initial stages of coming to terms with his/her sexuality. So, it is a means of extending informal support to queer
youth who often feels isolated and misunderstood among their circle of friends and family.

We are aware that there are many other socializing spaces/party circles and NGO's involved in this but not everyone can attend a late night party and NGO's often come with a lot of official baggage. We intend to work at a more fundamental level and specifically become popular with youth/students as an informal group.

2) There are cases of sexuality based discrimination that have been coming up at Indian campuses. At present, QCampus provides an ideological ground to oppose such discrimination and discuss such issues.

3)We believe that the young generation in India has a lot of potential in terms of cultivating a positive attitude towards queer issues. This generation has been growing up with pride parades, queer activism et al so as a group we will work towards realizing this potential by spreading awareness and queer student visibility.

4)This a collective for all those people who are allied to our idea. We aim to bring together the scattered initiatives taken by people in their own different ways, and that includes us. This will go a long way if as a community we are willing to work towards a national queer
youth framework.


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- Members are encouraged to share information about LGBT events in their cities, magazines, movies, news and start discussion topics.

- Please DON'T post pornographic sites/ gay look up or dating ads/nude images. Refrain from using abusive language.

As this idea is in a nascent stage, I welcome all queer students, allies, queer rights activists and community members to join, contribute, encourage and promote this collective.

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QueerCampus google group

http://groups.google.co.in/group/queercampusindia

At our google group, we'll share topics on which we intend to have public feedback, post information about our meetings and discuss their outcomes.

QueerCampus public meeting- 12th June, 2010

Date: Saturday, 12th June, 2010

Time:3.00PM-6.00PM

Location: India Coffee House

Mohan Singh Place, Connaught Place

New Delhi

QueerCampus India aims to be an Indian queer youth/students’ collective- a space to share your experiences, deal with coming out and find your own circle of rainbow buddies!

QueerCampus India public meeting for queer youth/students and community members on Saturday, 12th June, would include a causal introduction and interaction session among attendees.

We will also discuss QueerCampus’s participation in the 2nd July event that is being held in Delhi to commemorate the Section 377 judgment.

Contact us: qcampus.india@gmail.com

Contact QueerCampus

qc.contact@gmail.com

How will QueerCampus work?

QueerCampus is a first of its kind LGBT students' group in India. It has just begun as an online forum on Facebook. Since the group is nascent, the concept and idea of organization for it is bound to change over time. But, as of now, to get QueerCampus going, we, the three senior year college students who have come up with this collective, have decided to work on the following things.

What will we implement?

1. An online group to facilitate interaction among LGBT students and discuss the idea of an LGBT students' collective

We aim to make the facebook QueerCampus India group and the QueerCampus blog popular with Indian LGBT students. We invite all queer stuents, LGBT rights activists, community members, and allies(whether straight or gay!) on our facebook forum to have discussions on a myriad of topics-how to form a group across colleges and universities and facilitate resources and members for the same, how to promote visibility for the queer student community, how to reach out to schools etc.

2. To form city/campus specific QueerCampus groups for LGBT students

We will help to earmark campuses and cities that have LGBT students willing to be a part of QueerCampus. Thus there will be several region/campus specific QueerCampus groups. Accordingly, we invite students to serve as QueerCampus City Coordinators who will be responsible for facilitating such a group across campuses in their own city. We will also plan city specific meetings so that our LGBT student members can interact and get to know each other :) We will ensure that QueerCampus India admins personally interact with all QueerCampus City Coordinators who, in turn will be responsible for personally interacting with LGBT student members in their own city. So, such meetings will be completely safe and secure because they will be planned for the queer students, of the queer students and by the queer students!
The first such group is - QueerCampus-Delhi

3. Encourage Queer students to share their stories, experiences and opinions

We will use the QueerCampus blog to post opinions, relevant news/information, updates about QueerCampus and evolve it as a means to reach out to allies and prospective members. We would like the blog to be the collective voice of LGBT students..so if there are any budding student writers or poets in our group, they can feel free to mail us anything that they would like to be published. We will post it on the blog with their name/pseudonym..as they wish :) And if they have a blog and would like it to be listed at QueerCampus, they can mail us the link!

4. Carrying this forward

We, QueerCampus India admins, are twenty somethings on the brink of leaving college. And we( and I guess, you too) understand that this will be a long drawn battle. It is possible that QueerCampus group may remain dormant at times. So, at the very least, we will continuously work towards building a strong online base/support for this LGBT students' collective. And we hope that everyone of you will be an ally in our endeavors.

How can YOU support us?

If you are a Queer Student

We sincerely invite you to be a part of QueerCampus. We need tonnes of student members for our collective to be a success. It is a place where you can meet other students like you, not only in your own city but also across India. Join our facebook group QueerCampus India. Participate in discussions. Have your opinions published at QueerCampus blog. Publicize QueerCampus among other prospective members. You can also act as our QueerCampus City Coordinator. Drop us an email.

If you are an NGO

Contact us on our email. Get to know about our collective. Please inform us of any way in which you can help us to grow, organize, and support the activities that we can plan for the LGBT student/youth members.

If you are an LGBT rights activist/community member/media organization

Help us to build an online support base for QueerCampus. Join our group. Feel free to mail us, participate in discussions and give ideas. To forge this collective into something significant, we will need your support for a long period of time.

If you are a non-queer identified person

Understand. Accept. Respect. And support. We would love to hear from you and know of the ways in which you can help. Drop us a mail :)

After pride parades, Azaad Baazar, Queer groups and parties...this Pink Revolution is only inevitable. I welcome all queer students to be a part of it.

Why QueerCampus?

Why do we need QueerCampus groups? With Pride Parades, India's own LGBT pride store, partying groups, magazines and a plethora of support groups...India's rainbow is already shining. After all it's only a matter of 4 years or so..once you get out of your student life, there are many, many options to explore. So, where's the gap?

Such a gap is best "felt". When I was coming out, making gay profiles, searching for gay communities et al..I really couldn't find what I was looking for. What I wanted 3 years back was QueerCampus. And all I could find was, well..to quote my thoughts 3 years back "partying and dating groups full of grown up people". How could have I worried about gay pride, Azaad bazaar tee-shirts, Boyzone parties, and Queer Delhi activities when I didn't even understand my sexuality. And the NGO's, support groups and helplines seemed dark and uninviting! I had never heard/known about any LGBT movies or magazines and the equality forums looked like some glitzy talk.

So, now we know. There is a gap and QueerCampus aims to fill this gap. While, in recent years young gay people have been coming out, interacting, looking for and forming their own informal group of gay friends, QueerCampus aims to facilitate such interactions and seeks to provide them popularity and recognition by grouping them under a collective. Only by organizing it into such a structure will we be able to rally for official students' LGBT groups, provide counselling and seek support, understanding and acceptance from parents, friends, families and society.

Campus changemakers@Saathii

http://www.saathii.org/gensex/calcutta/stories-arch1.html

QueerCampus-Delhi

QueerCampus is all set to have a group for LGBT students from Delhi across various universities( DU, GGS Indraprastha University, JNU, IIT Delhi) and colleges.

Please send us an email at myshiningrainbow@gmail.com to be a part of it. Do mention the name of your university/college.

Join the facebook QueerCampus group for more details.

Cheers! :)

sh(out)

I wasn't always comfortable with my sexual orientation. Rather, I have faced depression because of it. I didn't always have this 'my sexuality is just another part of me' attitude. Rather, I was obsessed with how to deny it. There was a time when I would search orkut for gay communities and it would just throw up some sleazy communities. The whole world might have been celebrating gay pride, with India giving a nascent, iridescent rainbow glow. How could I have known?

My original plan was to forget about my homosexuality and finally, to come out at 30! Bad idea it was, eh?! I'm 20, already out to a few close friends, planning to be generally out among friends and acquaintances in about 1 year and planning to be out to family as soon as possible! And despite the risks and problems, I couldn't have been happier!

Owing to the overthinker that I am, in retrospect I have gone over my life, over and over again...to find out what changed it to such a great extent. Why was my 2nd year in college different from the 18 years that came before it?

And, the answer is one resounding sh(out)...coming out!!!

Though, I agree that one should not come out in a rash, unthinking manner; rather it should be a careful, calculated decision. Coming out is very circumstantial and it may take days, months and years before you can actually reveal your orientation to friends and family. But what matters is the 'will to come out'. It triggered an irreversible process in me that basically made me land up at Delhi Pride Parade 2009 :D

So, once a person makes that decision, it is important that we, as a community, should have support to offer. And in recent times, both virtual arena and real life have been overflowing with support groups and interactive spaces.

Somehow, I see a gap. Once you are done with your student life, there are many, many things to explore. But, the most important beginnings of a confident and out gay person are made when we are still teenagers, school and college going students. I am aware that many existing LGBT spaces like Nigah, branch off into colleges and student spaces as well. However, my idea here is a little different.

I want to sh(out) where no one speaks a word. I would like to see a students' LGBT group being evolved from the grassroots. No, doubt...it is difficult to get things organised in this respect. Even the concept and idea of organisation for a such a group is bound to change over time. So, my first task is to stand under the gay sun, open my rainbow umbrella and present an idea. Of course, it'll be an informal, fun group to start with..but lets start with it!

Ananya (member, QueerCampus India)