Azaad आवाज़

JANUARY 2021

“Queer and Quarantine : Narratives of LGBTQIA+ Community”

In This Issue

How many times have we come across someone suffering or being harassed, felt bad for them, considered helping them, but then looked the other way and moved on. This behaviour, termed as the ‘bystander effect’, is a psycho-social phenomenon where humans tend to help people less based on the assumption that someone else would step in. This behavioural tendency is exacerbated when the information we consume regularly depends on commercial capital generation and changes daily to keep the viewership interested and intact.

Our initiative Azaad आवाज़ aims to tackle an erosion of empathy in our society. This monthly magazine (Patrika) aims to focus on the marginalized sections whose voices are often muted in the cacophony of flashy mainstream media discourse. When referring to the marginalization, this platform does not aim to restrict itself to the traditional focus on social aggregates like caste and race alone but aspires to include a discussion on class, gender, sexual orientation etc.

Azaad आवाज़ sculpted as a digital media station focuses on issues that debilitate the “deliberately silenced”, drawing no boundaries and aspires to evolve and voice the needs of those silenced.The main theme focused for this monthly edition is : “Queer and Quarantine: Narratives of LGBTQIA+ Community” This edition provides an in-depth perspective on the underlying issues and helps us understand the voices of those affected.

Azaad Awaaz is in active collaboration with PAIGAM, an NGO based out of Delhi that is actively involved in bringing social efforts at the local, national and global level.

This time for Paigam-e-Awaaz, Q, an MPhil candidate at Trinity College Dublin, writes about caregiving within the LGBTQ+community.

Awaaz in Focus introduces one to the varied perspectives shared by those who are initiating grassroot level changes in and across different local communities in a region. The people interviewed vary from academic scholars to grassroot level activists and practitioners.

This month, we spoke with Mx. Ritwik Das, a non-binary trans social worker who has been an active member of the community. Das tells us about the experiences of the community based on the impact of the economic crisis induced by pandemic. They discuss the role of the NGOs and the government in the upliftment of the community.

Nazariya examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the LGBTQ+ community and their relationship with the state and the law. Our conversation with Assistant Professor Gowthaman Ranganathan at JGLS and Sanjeev Gumpenapalli, a Dalit Queer Feminist and student at NALSAR University of Law, gave us insights on the various forms of violence the LGBTQ+ community faced during the lockdown imposed in India in March 2020.

Talk Point is the segment of the Patrika wherein individuals are interviewed based upon their perception and understanding of a certain issue.

This months issue, sheds light on the lived experiences of the members of the queer community and challenges they faced as a result of the lockdown.

Vichaar is Azaad Awaaz’s podcast series that aims at engaging with experts and professionals to further the conversation on the marginalisation of communities.

This month, the Vichaar section features a conversation with Srini Ramaswamy, the co-founder of the Pride Circle, where we discuss the economic hardships faced by the LGBTQ+ community due to their gender and sexual identity.

About Azaad Awaaz

Our initiative Azaadआवाज़ aims to tackle an erosion of empathy in our society. This monthly magazine (Patrika) aims to focus on the marginalized sections whose voices are often muted in the cacophony of flashy mainstream media discourse. When referring to the marginalization, this platform does not aim to restrict itself to the traditional focus on social aggregates like caste and race alone but aspires to include a discussion on class, gender, sexual orientation etc.