Anjali Gopalan (born 1 September 1957) is an Indian

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and

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activist, founder and executive director of The Naz Foundation (India) Trust, an NGO dedicated to the fight against the

HIV/AIDS epidemic The global epidemic of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 2021, HIV/AI ...

in India mainly focused on women and children. Anjali began working on issues related to HIV/AIDS and marginalized communities in the

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. In 2012, ''

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'' magazine placed Gopalan on its list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Early life

Anjali Gopalan was born in 1957 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her father,

Group Captain Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...

Dr KR Gopalan, was an officer in the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

and her Punjabi mother a homemaker. Anjali did her schooling in

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. She studied in both India and the US, and her degree in political science from

Lady Shri Ram College for Women Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR) is a constituent women's college, affiliated with the University of Delhi, and has a legacy in women's education. History Established in 1956 in New Delhi by the late Lala Shri Ram in memory of his wife ...

, a postgraduate diploma in journalism, and a Masters in Politics (with specialization in International Politics) from School of International studies,

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and r ...

Social work

Early work

Anjali worked for nearly a decade with community-based organizations in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

where she worked for migrants from South-East Asia who lacked valid documents. She later started the Naz Foundation that changed the lives of

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

and women's and children those who live with HIV positive. Providing direct services for HIV/AIDS and

Marginalization Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. It is used across discipline ...

issues. Circumstances led her to live and care HIV affected undocumented migrant labor, schoolchildren, and South Asian communities.

1990s

When Anjali returned to India, She established Delhi's first HIV clinic in 1994 and the

Naz Foundation (India) Trust The Naz Foundation (India) Trust is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in that country that works on HIV/AIDS and sexual health. It is based in the Indian capital of New Delhi. It is a Delhi-based organization that has been at the forefron ...

, an HIV/AIDS service organization that concentrates on prevention and care. The foundation currently works on issues of sexuality rights.

2000s

In 2000, she opened the country's first holistic home cares for orphaned vulnerable HIV+ children and Women. She trains health professionals and care-givers to treat HIV+ children, and recognizes that existing facilities need to expand their scope to include them. She has designed a system that provides multi-faceted care to infected children, both in the home and in foster care. Her main concern remains in providing quality care to those living with the HIV infection, which she has done through founding and managing a care home for HIV-positive children and women. As a strong advocate for the sexual health and rights of the LGBT community, she spearheaded the eight-year legal battle against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). In 2001, her organization filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) to decriminalize homosexuality and put an end to the archaic law under which individuals were harassed and discriminated against based on their sexual orientation. The Delhi High Court ruled in favour of Naz India in 2009 and declared Section 377 an infringement on individual rights. Anjali gopalan

In 2001, she was awarded the Commonwealth Award for her work with the marginalized communities. The Chennai-based Manava Seva Dharma Samvardhani presented her the Sadguru Gnanananda Award in 2003, for her work in supporting those living with HIV/AIDS. In March 2007, Gopalan was honored as a Woman Achiever by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, along with nine other awardees. She was felicitated by Sri

Somnath Chatterjee Somnath Chatterjee (25 July 1929 – 13 August 2018) was an Indian politician who was associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for most of his life, though he had been a non affiliated independent during his last decade. He was t ...

, speaker of the Lok Sahba, in the presence of Minister of State for Women and Child Development. On 29 July 2012, Gopalan inaugurated the

Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical com ...

Rainbow festival and flag offed the Asia's first

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as a part of the Turing festival organised by

Gopi Shankar Madurai Gopi Shankar Madurai, born 13 April 1991, is an Indian equal rights and Indigenous rights activist. Shankar was one of the youngest, and the first openly intersex and genderqueer statutory authority and one of the candidates to contest in 201 ...

of Srishti Madurai this was the first gay pride parade attended by Gopalan. Since 2 September 2012, she has served as the advisory head of the committee of

Srishti Madurai Srishti Madurai was established on 2 September 2011 by Gopi Shankar Madurai as the first genderqueer and LGBT student volunteer group designed to target the problems of LGBT people in non-metro cities of Tamil Nadu. In October 2011 Srishti Mad ...

. In 2012, Gopalan established an animal sanctuary called "All Creatures Great and Small" at Silakhari,

Harayana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land a ...

. On 25 October 2013, Gopalan was awarded the

Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

in the order of the legions of Honor, the highest award from

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presented to her by

Najat Vallaud-Belkacem Najat Vallaud-Belkacem (; ar, link=no, نجاة فالو بلقاسم; Riffian-Berber: ⵏⴰⵊⴰⵜ ⴱⵍⵇⴰⵙⵎ; born 4 October 1977) is a former Moroccan- French jurist and politician of the Socialist Party (PS) who was the first Fr ...

, Minister of Women's Rights for France. Gopalan is the first Indian Tamil woman awarded with "Legion of Honour". In 2014, the ''

Limca Book of Records The ''Limca Book of Records'' is an annual reference book published in India documenting world records held by Indians. The records are further categorized into education, literature, agriculture, medical science, business, sports, nature, advent ...

'' placed Anjali Gopalan in "People of the Year". Actor Nutan Surya played the role of Anjali in ''

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Allygarh, and Kol) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district, and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capita ...

'' released in 2016.

Awards and recognition

* Received the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur (2013) * Ms Gopalan was named one of ''Time'' magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World (2012) * Received the Woman Achiever Award from the Government of India (2007) * Received the Commonwealth Award (2001)

Anjali Gopalan Srishti Awards for Social Justice Journalism

The academic committee of

awards the Anjali Gopalan Srishti Awards for Social Justice Journalism to distinguished social journalists. The first award was received by V. Mayilvaganan and V. Narayanswamy from ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' for highlighting issues of

and

Santhi Soundarajan Santhi Soundarajan (also spelled ''Shanthi Soundararajan'', ta, சாந்தி சௌந்திரராஜன், born 17 April 1981) is a track and field athlete from Tamil Nadu, India. She is the winner of 12 int ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gopalan, Anjali 1957 births Indian LGBT rights activists People from Chennai Living people Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres