In search of ...clear skies

Abstract

The project title is “In search of … clear skies” The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community who are largely marginalized and have no legal status in societies like India have had to strive to communicate the many challenges that they face in society. In several instance such communication has been through explicit polities of protest while in others struggles for identity have been shaped in everyday struggles through creative use of any available medium or from – image, text, sound. Gray Pride marches for instance are steeped in these multiple mediums and languages of protest. Young members of the community in various campus in India and in other fighting for LGBT rights use the rainbow flag or its colours as a medium to communicate their ideology their rights. The irony in all this is that dominant sections of society have displayed a remarkable indifference towards understanding or engaging with the LGBT community or their languages of protest of protest and solidarity. This project tries to address the widening gap between the LGBT community and mainstream society by drawing attention to the myriad struggles through which young members of the community are trying to legitimize their identities to themselves and to society at large. It looks into the ways in which their personal struggles to come out become part of a cultural and political language that seeks to be heard and understood. It focuses on a small group called Dhanak in JNU (Jawarharlal Nehru University) that supports LGBT rights and strives to create free spaces for homosexual people within the University campus.