From colourful handkerchiefs to heart emojis on Instagram, the queer dating landscape has evolved in India
2 years, 6 months ago

From colourful handkerchiefs to heart emojis on Instagram, the queer dating landscape has evolved in India

The Hindu  

Aryan, 24, and Kiaan, 20, met each other on Instagram. Much before Instagram became a phenomenon and a platform for guys to leave hearts behind on other men’s profiles and complain about why they won’t flirt with each other, the queer dating landscape was a very different place: this journey from the streets to sheets has been a long one. We’ve moved on from clandestine trysts in washrooms to the ones on our phones in ways that were previously unimaginable, because the dating apps of today are a reflection of what mankind has been doing for ages — creating new forms of communication and then fine-tuning them into channels for finding sex, love and long-term relationships. Finding normalcy Over the past few years, we’ve sent ‘footprints’ to torsos on Romeo, favourited guys on Grindr, ‘woofed’ at hopefuls on Scruff and super-liked our way through a dozen profiles on Tinder. Therefore, even though online dating has been in the headlines for ‘hijacking modern love’ and trivialising the concept of everyday romance, we are at the dawn of a new age.

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History of this topic

When it is a Queer Feeling
6 months ago

When it is a Queer Feeling

New Indian Express  

This year, Thailand legalised same-sex marriage—the third Asian country after Taiwan and Nepal to allow it. The Gurugram couple got engaged last year but doesn’t want to go to countries like Thailand to tie the knot. As other Asian countries make strides in accepting queer love, Indian daters from the LGBTQAI+ community, share the ins and outs of queer dating …

Marriage Equality: How Indian media has depicted same-sex marriages
1 year, 2 months ago

Marriage Equality: How Indian media has depicted same-sex marriages

Hindustan Times  

In 2012, a New Indian Express article announced, “In UP, Gay Couple Get Marriage 'Registered' in Court.” The couple in question had had their marriage registered under the Hindu Marriage Act. For instance, a Times of India article dated February 24, 1988, describes the police constables Urmila and Leela’s “sensational marriage” as a “protest against society’s treatment of lonely and …

India's Progressive Dating Renaissance: Fluidity and Inclusivity Lead the Way
1 year, 6 months ago

India's Progressive Dating Renaissance: Fluidity and Inclusivity Lead the Way

News 18  

An app for meeting new people, Tinder, reveals new insights about how young adults in India are boldly challenging societal norms, embracing fluid identities, and reshaping the dating landscape with an open mindset. Rejecting gender norms and redefining relationships Gen Z’s rejection of traditional gender roles is validated by their dating patterns as 76% young daters in India affirm that …

Queer couple dreaming of a baraat in rural north India ask how marriage equality is an ‘urban elitist’ matter
1 year, 8 months ago

Queer couple dreaming of a baraat in rural north India ask how marriage equality is an ‘urban elitist’ matter

The Hindu  

Among the 20 petitioners seeking legalisation of same-sex marriage by the Supreme Court are a couple who say their lives are proof against the Centre’s stance that the petition reflects “urban elitist views”. “On various occasions, they would tell me that if I can’t bring a baraat to their doorsteps for their daughter, then I should stop wasting Bhawna’s time …

From a queer lens: 3 lessons from last year, and what I want from dating in 2023
1 year, 11 months ago

From a queer lens: 3 lessons from last year, and what I want from dating in 2023

Live Mint  

“I hope you are mentally okay. Loneliness of the queer experience Anything marked by the interface of dating apps turns people into caricatures of themselves. Queer dating is not very queer I often see a quote from bell hooks floating around on social media: “…queer as not about who you’re having sex with, that can be a dimension of it, …

From the archives (1998): Gay sex, lies, agony and matrimony
2 years, 5 months ago

From the archives (1998): Gay sex, lies, agony and matrimony

India Today  

Often the still night would stimulate an old, aching desire in Rakesh Anand. "Once we're reasonably sure that here is an individual who is only attracted to his own sex and doesn't feel anything is missing, we advise him to stand firm against getting married," says Owais Khan, who runs Delhi-based Hamrahi. At Mumbai's KEM Hospital's sexology clinic, there are …

How visible is the cultural footprint of India’s queer community?
2 years, 5 months ago

How visible is the cultural footprint of India’s queer community?

The Hindu  

Published : Jun 26, 2022 18:00 IST Ten years ago, artist Balbir Krishan put together a queer-themed solo show “Out Here and Now” in New Delhi. This year, Emami’s Kolkata Centre for Creativity is hosting an entire exhibition around the theme of “being Queer, being Home” for Pride month. “I don’t think that the queer label limits me in any …

Queer connections: How has the dating scene changed for the LGBTQIA+ community?
2 years, 5 months ago

Queer connections: How has the dating scene changed for the LGBTQIA+ community?

The Hindu  

Published : Jun 26, 2022 18:00 IST It has been four years since the Supreme Court decriminalised gay sex. As awareness about the LGBTQIA+ community steadily increases among the Indian public, it becomes important to look at how the queer community manages to find love and negotiate relationships. A majority of the people online are just seeking one-night stands, and …

Editor’s Note: Queer rights’ new face
2 years, 6 months ago

Editor’s Note: Queer rights’ new face

Live Mint  

Going by the flags, badges and emails about “diversity and inclusion”, it is easy to believe that Pride Month in India has just become a pastiche of parades and marches, inspired largely by the colourful shows from San Francisco and New York. But, as Grace Banu, a trans and Dalit activist, told one of our writers, “what does it even …

Indian gay couple wed despite uncertainty over gay marriage
3 years ago

Indian gay couple wed despite uncertainty over gay marriage

Associated Press  

HYDERABAD, India — In a first for the southern Indian state of Telangana, two men celebrated their same-sex union with a wedding ceremony on Saturday. Abhay Dange and Supriya Chakraborty wore white tuxes, exchanged rings on a lavish marquee in what they called a “promising ceremony” and called each other “soul mates”, reported local media. While India struck down a …

A new book on how Indian men do relationships post #MeToo
3 years, 1 month ago

A new book on how Indian men do relationships post #MeToo

Live Mint  

Dear Men: Masculinity and Modern Love in #MeToo India, shows how Indian men across ages navigate romantic relationships in a country that is still teetering on the cusp of modern and traditional. "In post-#MeToo India, where the magnifying lens is on men's behaviour towards women, I hope this book will shed some light on how men navigate this new landscape, …

Most single Indians believe they can fall in love online
3 years, 4 months ago

Most single Indians believe they can fall in love online

Live Mint  

The pandemic has changed our lives, especially how we communicate with each other. It’s no surprise that people have adapted to new ways of communicating and dating to find and explore meaningful connections during the pandemic. In fact, Bumble’s recent nationwide survey post the second wave of covid-19 showed that 72% of single Indians believe they can fall in love …

Love in Times of Queer: For LGBTQ Desis, Dating Apps Also Mean Bigotry, Hate Crime
3 years, 5 months ago

Love in Times of Queer: For LGBTQ Desis, Dating Apps Also Mean Bigotry, Hate Crime

News 18  

For Hiten Noonwal, a gender-fluid performance artist and designer based in Delhi who teaches at various fashion and designing colleges, it is often about combining art and fashion. Dating apps are a huge part of the online landscape and with India taking some positive strides in the inclusion of the queer community members in the mainstream, especially after the Supreme …

An Instagram archive of queer love
3 years, 6 months ago

An Instagram archive of queer love

Live Mint  

Earlier this week, the Instagram account LGBTQIAP Plus History of India posted photographs from the Hindu and Jewish marriage ceremonies of Mona Bachmann and author Ruth Vanita in June 2000. Anindya Kar, page founder and chief medical officer of the Kolkata-based Advanced Neuropsychiatry Institute, says: “I was doing some important work regarding mental health issues that affect the LGBTQ+ community …

The tentative rise of gay weddings on Indian screens
3 years, 9 months ago

The tentative rise of gay weddings on Indian screens

Live Mint  

What does a gay wedding look like in your imagination? On 25 February 2021, the Government of India filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court, stating that “the acceptance of the institution of marriage between two individuals of the same gender is neither recognised nor accepted in any uncodified personal laws or any codified statutory laws.” Marriage equality will …

Same-sex Marriage Not Part of Indian Culture? Queer Community Says it's Next Step for their Rights
4 years, 3 months ago

Same-sex Marriage Not Part of Indian Culture? Queer Community Says it's Next Step for their Rights

News 18  

Mumbai: On Monday, during a PIL hearing for legalizing gay marriages in India, the solicitor general, Tushar Mehta, argued that “our laws, our legal system, our society, and our values do not recognize marriage, which is a sacrament, between same-sex couples”. “Many members of the LGBTQA+ community want the same marriage rights that heterosexual couples enjoy and denying same-sex couples …

Two years after Section 377 decision, the queer narrative must make space for voices from semi-urban India
4 years, 3 months ago

Two years after Section 377 decision, the queer narrative must make space for voices from semi-urban India

Firstpost  

‘Queer lives in small-town India are not visible enough for anyone to take notice. Queer people in semi-urban India, who grow up feeling and often looking different from their peers, live their whole lives with a complex mix of names, identities and ways of being. Two points are central to the issue of semi-urban queer individuals becoming empowered: recognising their …

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