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
Samalinga Website
Samalinga was a site "devoted to writings by South Asians on South Asian lesbi-gay themes," collected from posts to the Khush LGBTQ South Asian listserve. The site was accessible at http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/5838 and was last updated on February 16, 1997.
Trikone Tejas Website
Trikone Tejas was a "progressive coalition of queer and straight" people of pan-Asian heritage based in Austin, TX. The Trikone Tejas site was accessible at http://www.main.org/trikonetejas/ and was last updated in December 2002. The site included event descriptions, resources, coming out stories and a guestbook.
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.