Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

is a multicultural city and has experienced a dramatic social and cultural change with the advent of the

liberalization Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used m ...

and expansion of the

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...

and

business process outsourcing Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...

industries in India. With much expatriate population in the city, Bangalore is slightly more relaxed. Multinational corporations including

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) and Ulster Bank ...

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

, Micro Focus International, General Electric and Microsoft strive to create LGBT-friendly workplaces. Companies come together to share best practices for fostering a culture of LGBT inclusion in their organisations. The informal collaboration like this in Bangalore marks a first-of-its-kind endeavour in India’s corporate sector.

Organizations

Several organizations voice the concerns of LGBTIQ community and provide forum to openly share topics of interest.

GoodAsYou

GoodasYou is a social, intellectual and cultural group that promotes equality, acceptance and self-confidence among LGBT individuals of Bangalore. Many activities of this informal support group are described in the following sections.

Weekly meetings

These meetings serve many LGBTIQ individuals to discuss emotional, social, health and other issues concerning the queer people of Bangalore/India. Many individual have come to terms with their sexuality and/or Gender Identity by participating at these meetings.

Swabhava

Swabhava is an NGO working for LGBT rights and providing counseling support to queer individuals.

Jeeva

Jeeva in an NGO setup by Umesh, an LGBTQ rights activist in Bangalore. Jeeva (which means life in Kannada), registered on 5 November 2012 works for sexual minorities with special focus on working class sexual minorities. Their activities and work are in many areas ranging from issues of mental health, livelihood, community media through Kannada magazine called Ananya and radio program called Jeeva dairy on radio-active community radio, co-organizing Bangalore's LGBT pride called Namma Pride/Queer Habba, organizing on-the-road-protests and fighting for legal rights in courts on behalf of many underprivileged trans and other queer members of community.

Amour Queer Dating

Amour, a platform for LGBTQ people to find long term companions all over India, launched in Bengaluru in June 2016.

WHAQ!

WHAQ! (We're Here and Queer!) is a support space for women loving women (les/bi/trans/queer/questioning) to voice concerns, ideas, and issues together.

Maya for Women

Maya for Women is a feminist collective trust dedicated to building community through supporting the empowerment, interests, visibility, and choices of women living in the Global South. They provide support, counseling and assistance to all women in Bangalore, regardless of their sexuality. WHaQ! is one of 4 support spaces for LBT women that is run through Maya for Women.

Sangama and Samara

Sangama (an NGO) and Samara (CBO) works for marginalized sections of LGBT population of Bangalore and other towns of Karnataka.

Queer Campus Bangalore

Queer Campus Bangalore is a support group and safe space for youth of non-conforming sexual orientations and gender identities in Bangalore. It caters to the school, college, and university going crowd of the city.

Activities

GRAB (Gay Runners and Breakfast)

Many enthusiastic Queer individuals jog and run every weekend at the local park. Following the early morning healthy run, they gather for breakfast at a nearby restaurant, chit-chat, socialize and discuss the fun side of their life.

WHAQ weekly meetings

WHaQ (We are Here and Queer) holds support group meetings for queer women every other Sunday in addition to weekly social meetings on Wednesdays.

Women's outdoor activities

Maya Outdoor group has Queer women interested in fitness meet every Sunday and participate in a large variety of team sports, such as cricket and football. There are also women who run or walk together, or practice yoga. outandabout Indias first queer inclusive travel community based out of bangalore.

Events

Bangalore Queer Film Festival

Bangalore Queer Film Festival The Bangalore Queer Film Festival is an annual LGBT event that has been held in Bangalore, India since the year 2008. The event carefully selects queer films from all over the world and brings them to an ever-growing Bangalore audience. Backgro ...

happens every year in February. It is a three-day fest, where in a variety of LGBT themed movies from across the world and across many languages in India, would be played. A close to 1000 people are typically expected there.

Pink Divas

Pink Divas is a dance group that does the closing day dance performance every year at Bangalore Queer Film Fest.

Bengaluru Namma Pride March

Bengaluru Namma Pride March Bengaluru Namma Pride March (previously called the Bengaluru Pride and Karnataka Queer Habba) is a queer pride march that is held annually in the city of Bengaluru in Karnataka, India, since 2008. The march is organised by a coalition called Coa ...

, the queer pride march of Bengaluru, happens every winter along with Delhi and other pride marches of India. Close to 1000 people, both LGBT members and supporters walk with colorful banners in the Bangalore streets, ending with a meeting and celebration, typically at city town hall.

Bangalore's LGBT history

* 1994: GoodasYou support group started. * 1999: Sangama NGO for sexual minorities established. * 2008: ebFirst Queer Film Festival held * 2008: unFirst Queer Pride March held * 2009: WHaQ! (We're Here and Queer) was founded. * 2011: Queer Campus Bangalore was started in October. * 2013: The first lesbian Dykes on Bikes procession takes place as a part of Bangalore Pride 2013, and is believed to be the first in India as well. * 2014: Maya for Women was established. * 2016: Amour (Queer Dating), a platform for Queer people to find long term companions, launched.

References

{{Portal bar, Society, India, LGBT Culture of Bangalore