Aravan, the patron god of transgender communities, is celebrated in Tamil Nadu in an eighteen day long festival and even Mughal culture is believed to have provided asylum to the marginalised people back in the time of Akhtar Begum. The first Queer literature festival of Tamil Nadu, the brainchild of a Chennai based queer activist, Moulee, had its first edition in July 2018, in Chennai. If we go into the history of open conversations related to queerness, we would find that since 1986, the queer society has been in the limelight in Chennai. And maybe that is the reason for the existence of queer friendly places and organisations in Chennai , some of which date back to 2003 (Orinam).
Love is love and there are following organisations and places that safeguard this concept in Chennai.
Orinam is a support group for LGBTQIA+ (queer) people which provides resources for education, jobs, healthcare, media, advocacy etc. along with organising offline and online events where you can find other queer folks from Chennai and other parts of India.
Pink People a community organisation that organises informal meet-ups for conversations, movie screenings, picnics etc. (They have been inactive online for the last few months. So, if you know about their offline presence, do let me know in the comment section)
Nirangal is a NGO which works for the marginalised people in Tamil Nadu. They also arrange workshops and other offline meetups. What’s better than meeting other queer folks whilst learning stuff???
Sahodaran is a NGO working for the dignity and rights of LGBTQIA+ people and organises many offline storytelling events , where someday maybe you can also find your own story.
Periferry is a startup which primarily focuses on fostering equity for LGBTQIA+ community at workplaces. They also provide jobs, training and short stay homes for distressed people of the community.
Chennai_Pride is an instagram account which shares information about the events in Chennai. Although they have not posted anything in the last few months, you can always try their dms.
Recently there has been queer inclusion in the curriculum which will definitely give the queer community a better place in the society. And yep! I know that I didn’t provide any names of clubs, cafes, bookstores where you can go on dates with your partner/partners ; but don’t you should also do some work and let me know about such places in the comment section so that others can know about those too. Afterall, I am not the one from Chennai; you are the one or one of your friends may be from Chennai, so tag them here and let us all know about the party spots. But I will tell you about a virtual metaverse where you can not just meet other verified queer folks from Chennai and the rest of India but also can do professional networking with them while playing games or doing Karaoke. Intrigued enough! The name is FirstContact.LGBT where you grow both personally and professionally. What better than this, right ??
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