Oral History Interview with Anjali R.
Anjali R. is the founder of Parivar, a trans and queer south asian space in the San Francisco Bay Area. In the oral history, Anjali describes growing up in India, exploring different permutations of gender expression while moving throughout the U.S. and Canada, and navigating transphobia within queer south asian spaces.
Content warning: Abuse
Oral History Interview with Rangoli
Anish, Deepshikha and Satvika are co-founders of Rangoli, an LGBTQ+ South Asian group based in Pittsburgh, and editors of Mirrors, an LGBTQ+ South Asian anthology. They describe their personal histories individually followed by a discussion on how their involvement with Mirrors and Rangoli.
Urooj Arshad Oral History Interview
Urooj Arshad is a co-founder of the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity and the first LGBTQ+ Muslim Retreat. In the oral history, Urooj describes growing up in Pakistan and Illinois, finding LGBTQ south asian community during college, and ongoing activism to resist islamophobia and queerphobia.
Content warning: Abuse
Oral History Interview with Mani Soma
Mani Soma performs as the drag artist KaMANI Sutra. In the oral history, Mani describes growing up in India, navigating a queer relationship as a teenager, helping to organize a flash mob at Osmania University, finding south asian LGBTQ community after immigrating to the DC area, and their experiences performing as a drag artist.
Content warning: Suicide
Oral History Interview with Marina
Marina describes her experiences growing up in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, immigrating to the U.S. with family, and navigating her sexuality as a bisexual muslim woman.
Content warning: Abuse
Oral History Interview with Sanjay Chhugani
Sanjay Chhugani has been active in several LGBTQ, Asian and South Asian organizations including Trikone—LA, Satrang and several other groups in Southern California for over a decade. In his oral history, Sanjay describes growing up in Bombay, studying as a graduate student in Chicago, and later finding LGBTQ community in Michigan and Los Angeles.
Oral History Interview with Margaret Abraham
A sociologist, a writer, a researcher, a teacher, and an advocate for social justice, Dr. Margaret Abraham currently serves as the Special Advisor to the Provost for Diversity Initiatives at Hofstra University, where she was the former chair of the Department of Sociology, and the former Director of Women's Studies.
Oral History Interview with David Kalal
David Kalal is a painter, animator, and filmmaker living in New York City. Born and raised in New York, David came of age at the beginning of the AIDS crisis in the US.
Oral History Interview with Ashok Jethanandani
Ashok Jethanandani is a retired software engineer, a former editor of India Currents, and a practicing doctor of ayurvedic medicine based in San Jose, CA. He met his now husband, Arvind Kumar, in 1985, who helped start Trikone, the oldest queer South Asian group in the United States.
Oral History Interview with Devesh Khatu
Devesh Kathu is a former software engineer and current gay, South Asian activist based in Mumbai, India. Devesh was an active member of Trikone in the Bay Area, the oldest queer South Asian group in the United States, and served on the board of directors for the Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center in the 1990s.