about mingle

M ISSION FOR INDIAN G AY & L ESBIAN EMPOWERMENT—MINGLE

Mingle : An Introduction

A brief about India‘s fastest growing network

of LGBT activists and allies

List item here.

List item here.

List item here.

List item here.

Histories are made when people

come together..!

Website: www.mingle.org.in

Email: [email protected]

M INGLE


Mingle : Who We Are

Mingle (Mission for Indian Gay & Lesbian Empowerment), the first of its kind in India, is a

Gay and Lesbian non-profit think-tank and advocacy group consisting of academicians,

students and professionals from fields as diverse as the Arts and Sciences, Journalism,

Law, Medicine, Management and Engineering.

Vision

A truly liberal and pluralistic India where all citizens enjoy their fundamental right to lead a

secure and dignified life irrespective of their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Mission

To create within the LGBT community an awareness of their legitimate rights.

To create an identity for the LGBT community and organise them into an agent for positive

change.

To bring the issue of Gay Rights to the centre stage for a national debate.

To direct the Government of India, through judicial, political and social means to do away

with all such precepts of law that discriminate against LGBT people.

Values

Acceptance of diversity both within and outside the LGBT community.

Pride in individual identity.

Zest for change.

Fostering learning, creativity and team work and unity.


come together..!



M INGLE


Mingle : The work we do

Educational Outreach

Mingle, with the help of its dedicated group of volunteer educators,

reaches out to families, educational institutions, and the corporate

sector, with the goal of furthering the cause of equality and inclu-

siveness.

For family members, we prepare and distribute educational brochures and films in various

Indian languages, organize group meetings to sensitize parents and other family members

towards who the LGBTs are, and why they should stand by their gay children and siblings.

We also reach out towards India‘s major educational institutions and corporate groups,

with a concerted programme to convince them to give greater impetus to LGBT inclusive-

ness in their campuses and offices across India.

Info-Activism

Mingle collects data and information about LGBT people in India

through its surveys in educational institutions and work places, and

uses the data effectively, with the help of our statistical analysts, to

present a clearer picture of the present nature of the issues faced by

our community and how they affect the effectiveness of our educa-

tion, the productivity of our businesses, and a healthy family life.

Our Focus Areas

Mingle has seven focus areas that we base our projects and cam-

paigns upon: They are Families of LGBTs, Health, Legal Issues, Relig-

ion & Faith, Transgender issues, Workplace Diversity & Inclusion and

Youth & Campus Activism.

Following pages will give you a brief introduction to our work so far in

the above mentioned areas.


come together..!



M INGLE


Mingle : Our initiatives

Break the Glass Closet: Companies across the

globe are fast realizing the importance of creat-

ing inclusive workplaces for their LGBT employ-

ees. But how does one go about it? Especially

in Indian offices? How do we deal with the

unique challenges that this segment brings?

Mingle understands the concerns of organizations on this issue and offers them free of

cost consultancy on LGBT Diversity and Inclusion. The content of it includes interactive

sessions, workshops, meetings and presentations, etc with our professional and experi-

enced consultants. We customize as per the organization‘s needs and concerns.

LGBT History Certification Course: In Mingle‘s

most ambitious project till now, we have

launched India‘s first LGBT History Certification

Course. The course itself is free of cost, and the

content has been developed by a team of pro-

fessionals and students who‘ve archived a co-

lossal volume of data in the form of books, articles and research papers. The course can

be taken by anyone who registers on our site. One can choose between online or printed

materials. Those who successfully complete the course are provided with a Certificate and

a small gift from the Mingle team.

Legal Support Cell for LGBT Indians

Though Section 377 has been read down, dis-

crimination against LGBT citizens is a legal am-

biguity. We understand the difficulties of LGBT

Indians with these issues and why they may be

hesitant to seek legal recourse without prior

knowledge. Mingle provides them with the op-

portunity of free legal counseling before taking

any court action.


come together..!



M INGLE



The Coming Out Project, is a unique initiative

where LGBT people and their families have come

together to create a series of publications and

videos dealing with acceptance of gays and lesbi-

ans within Indian families. This includes a series

of Coming Out guides for LGBT youth and their families and friends.

Ghar Ghar Jayen-Gay is the first of its kind out-

reach program in India on part of the gay commu-

nity where trained volunteers from Mingle talk

and interact with common people in different

Indian cities to discuss LGBT issues and sensitize

them to the needs and concerns of the commu-

nity, and why the LGBT cause should matter to all.

Annual Workplace and Campus surveys Mingle‘s

surveys at India‘s corporate workplaces as well as

college and university campuses are the first such

initiatives in India that have over the last one year

brought out the issues of harassment, discrimina-

tion and homophobia to the public sphere. Univer-

sity bodies and Human Resource managers at top

companies have woken up to the issue of LGBT

inclusion and are constantly engaging with Mingle

on the issue.

The first annual Campus survey report was released in July 2011 and the first Workplace

Diversity and Inclusion survey report was launched in February 2012. These surveys are

now regular features which will help us keep track of the progress being made.


come together..!



M INGLE



Our Publications: Mingle‘s various publications include Workplace Inclusion & Diversity

Survey report, the Youth & Campus survey report, Coming Out guides, Legal Assistance

Guide, Faith based guide on LGBT issues and Safe-sex campaign posters.

All publications are made available on the website for download and free print copies can

be ordered by sending an email to [email protected]

Our publications and annual reports along with our monthly Newsletter ―Equality Today‖

are a good way of staying in touch with the work we‘re doing and the projects we plan for

the future.

Our Public Campaigns: Mingle has conducted public campaigns

on issues that are important to the LGBT community. Recently it

did a public awareness campaign on safe-sex that included post-

ers which were distributed through community groups and online

campaigning through the social media. Currently, we‘re working

on a video campaign promoting LGBT equality in India which will

be released by April 2012.


come together..!



M INGLE


Mingle : The People involved

The Advisory Board of Mingle consists of some well known names in the field of LGBT

advocacy in India:

Ashok Row Kavi (Advisor, Health Issues) is Chairperson of The Humsafar

Trust, the oldest gay community based organization, registered in Mumbai

as a Male Sexual Health CBO.

Anjali Gopalan (Advisor, Legal and Health issues), the Founder and Execu-

tive Director of The Naz Foundation (India) Trust, an NGO dedicated to the

fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic in India.

Arvind Narain (Advisor, Legal Issues), is Head of Alternative Law Forum,

Bangalore and one of the prominent lawyers fighting the Section 377 case

in the Supreme Court of India.

Tara Chattopadhyay (Advisor, Workplace Diversity Issues), is Head of LGBT

Resource Center, IBM India. IBM is one of the few companies that actively

promote LGBT friendly policies at its India offices.

Harish Iyer (Advisor, Family Issues), is a rights activist from Mumbai and has

been a vocal voice for LGBT Indians.

Amara Das (Advisor, Religious Issues), is President of Gay and Lesbian

Vaishnava Association (GALVA), and has written books and articles on LGBT

issues within Hinduism and Hare Krishnas.

Rahul Sharma (Advisor, Youth and Campus Activism), is member of the

Queer Campus India Collective that has been instrumental in bringing to-

gether LGBT youth in the country‘s capital.

Aditya Bandopadhya (Advisor), is a lawyer and gay rights activist based in

New Delhi.

Stephen Golden (Advisor, Workplace Diversity Issues), is the Head of Diversity (Asia), for

Goldman Sachs and is based from Hong Kong.

Ali Potia (Advisor, Workplace Diversity Issues), is Co-Lead (Asia) of GLAM network at

McKinsey & Company, Singapore.


come together..!



M INGLE


Mingle : The People involved

The Core Team at Mingle:

Udayan Dhar (Project Coordinator), has more than three years of active en-

gagement with the Indian LGBT community, as the Editor-in-Chief of Pink

Pages- India‘s National LGBT magazine, and additionally over the past one

year has successfully coordinated several key projects at Mingle. He‘s pio-

neering India‘s first LGBT History Project and the ―Break the Glass Closet‖

initiative on LGBT inclusion in corporate India.

Abhijeet Yadav (City Coordinator, Delhi), works with rural and urban under-

graduate students at Dhriti as the Program Manager. As an out and proud

gay Indian, he hopes to make a difference to the struggle for LGBT equality in

India.

Sachin Avasthi (City Coordinator, Mumbai), has been an active member of

Mumbai‘s gay community by being a volunteer at the ‗Queer Azadi March‘

and the ‗Queer Film Festival‘. Also, he has initiated an LGBT activity group

called ‗Queer Adda‘.

Prithvi Raj (City Coordinator, Bengaluru), is a literature and psychology stu-

dent and has interned at both Sangama and Mingle previously. He‘s been

working closely with the city‘s LGBT community by organizing educational

seminars and support groups for gays and transgenders.

Kshitij Bansal (Legal Counsellor), is a law student at Rajiv Gandhi National

University of Law, Punjab. He is a regular columnist for the Indian newspaper

Daily Post and an African newspaper Insight. He would be heading the five

member Indian delegation as Head of State at G 20 Youth Summit to be

held at Washington DC this year. He is associated with a number of research

projects including ones with Ministry of Finance, Institute of Dalit Studies and Liberty Insti-

tute.

Gaurav M (Chief Technical Officer), is a web developer and designer with

four years of expertise in his field where he has developed over 50 websites.

He‘s recently started his own firm Six Pixels that provides software solutions

and web development at discount prices specifically for LGBT friendly busi-

nesses.


come together..!



M INGLE


Mingle : Join hands with Us

PARTNER AS AN ORGANIZATION:

At Mingle, the work we do, and have in store for us in the months and years ahead is

huge. The cause for LGBT equality has only made baby steps in the country so far and the

battle lies ahead in court rooms, school and college campuses, corporate offices, in our

living rooms and the hearts and minds of a billion Indians– both gay and straight.

We understand that the Himalayan nature of the challenge makes it impossible for any

one indivual or group to take it up. Therefore we constantly look for partnership with other

organizations in meeting the requirements.

As an organization, you can join our cause in several ways:

Become a sponsor: As a corporate sponsor, supporting our various projects and public

activities will give your organization a general exposure as a supporter of LGBT equality.

Your logo will appear in our publications, banners and website.

Help us in our Projects: You can do this by sending in your representatives at our events

as speakers, arranging logistics and helping with general event management.

Let Us help you: Every single session that we take in an organization– whether it‘s a gen-

eral talk on LGBT issues, or specifically with reference to workplace inclusion, it gives us a

greater exposure and understanding of the factors that make a difference in the lives of

gay and lesbian Indians everyday. Therefore, just by the simple act of opening your doors

to us, you‘re doing us a favor too– and of course in due process to your organization and

the gay and straight people in it.

If you‘re an LGBT community organization: In every city we‘re looking for partner LGBT

groups that can help us in distribution of free materials, taking and conducting surveys

and most importantly in helping us understand the issues that matter locally in your com-

munities. By partnering with Mingle, you‘ll join hands with India‘s unique national-level

initiative on LGBT rights and we‘ll make sure we can help your initiatives in every way that

we can—both financially and through our experience.

For any of the above actions, write today to [email protected] or visit our website

www.mingle.org.in


come together..!



M INGLE


Mingle : Join hands with Us

BECOME A PART OF THIS NATIONAL STRUGGLE FOR LGBT EQUALITY IN INDIA

As our member or supporter, you‘ll be advocating for equal rights and benefits in the work-

place, ensuring gay people are treated equally under the law and increasing public sup-

port for fairness among all Indians.

So take the first step by becoming a part of our community and get involved in the follow-

ing actions.

Donate Help us reach out to gay youth, families, educational institutions

and corporate bodies and expand our free LGBT resource center.

Work With Us The work we‘ll do is enormous, and we need every helping

hand possible. So if you are willing to volunteer your time and effort for

this cause, join us today!

Sign Up for email Alerts Keep yourself updated with the latest reports and

activities from Mingle

Participate in our Surveys Help us understand issues better. Give us a few

minutes of your time and answer a short questionnaire that is relevant to

you.

Sign a petition Support our causes. Sign a petition and force the people in

power to sit up and listen.

Connect Online Connect with us through Social Networks and other online

media

Tell a friend Spread the word! Tell your friends and family about Mingle

For any of the above actions, write today to [email protected] or visit

our website www.mingle.org.in


come together..!



M INGLE

about mingle

Documents

lgbt people

lgbt community

indian gay lesbian empowerment

educational brochures

lgbt inclusiveness

educational outreach

esbian empowermentmingle

pluralistic india