In a country where
it's still illegal to be gay, a newly relaunched LGBT
magazine is becoming a strong voice for a growing community --
seven years after it first ran out of financial support.
In a country where
it's still illegal to be gay, a newly relaunched LGBT
magazine is becoming a strong voice for a growing
community.
Bombay
Dost
(Bombay Friends), India's first and only LGBT publication,
has just relaunched after going out of print in 2002 when the
then-underground publication ran out of financial support. The
original
Dost
, which printed from 1990 to 2002, was available mostly through
roadside vendors and often wrapped in plain brown paper.
"There is a sense
that certain sections of Indian society are now much more
liberal and tolerant, something that would be unheard of back
in 1990," editor Vikram Phukan told Advocate.com via
e-mail.
Six weeks into the
relaunch,
Bombay Dost
has sold two thirds of its initial print run -- nearly 1,000
copies.
It is still illegal to
be gay in India, thanks to a British colonial-era law banning
sex "against the order of nature," but the LGBT
community is making strides. The country's capital, New
Delhi, held its first pride march last year and the Delhi high
court is currently hearing a case that may decriminalize
homosexuality.
"We're keeping
our fingers crossed -- we want a 'Freedom, at
last!' cover!" Phukan said.
The magazine, portions
of which are available on the magazine's website, features
LGBT news, features, and analysis from around the country and
world. The new version of the magazine will be published twice
a year and sell for 150 rupees ($3).
Bombay Dost
has garnered three years of seed funding from the United
Nations Development Program and hopes to become financially
self-sustaining before then.
Celina Jaitley,
Bollywood actress and former Miss India, has thrown her
support, and money, behind the magazine's relaunch, though
she has received hate mail for doing so. Jaitley told
TheTimes of India
that homophobia was responsible for taking the life of a close
gay friend and she won't be deterred by the intolerance.
Phukan applauds Jaitley's courage and said that Bollywood
"attracts more than its fair share of queer
professionals," yet few come out for fear of losing social
standing and professional work.
The editorial staff has
already begun work on the second issue of
Dost
, which will come out in October 2009. It will feature a piece
on college hazing (which Phukan calls "viciously
homophobic and also latently homosexual") and address why
Indian male models appear perennially crotchless.
Bombay Dost
is now in bookstores and on newsstands across India and
available internationally through the magazine's
website
.
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