AIPC Chapter in collaboration with Humsafar organised a Sensitization Workshop for LGBTQ  

All Indian Professional Congress, Mumbai West Chapter in collaboration with Humsafar NGO organised a Sensitization Workshop vis-a- vis LGBTQ.

It was an interactive session tackling the basics of inclusion of sexual and gender minorities.

Vijay Pande, President, All Indian Professional Congress, Mumbai West also addressed this event organised in Mumbai suburb. AIPC, Mumbai West, Vice President, Jai kumar, Rudresh Kaul and Francis were also attended and spoken in the Event organised by AIPC & Humsafar.

This workshop has given a real-world view of what an LGBTQ inclusive space should look like. It also goes into details about the LGBTQ community, the issues both legal and social and explains through activities how stigma and discrimination play a role in workplace dynamics.

The Event held at Hotel Galaxy, Santacruz (East), Mumbai. Perhaps this is the first time a political party is taking initiative in this respect.

LGBT is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the term is an adaptation of the initialism LGB, which was used to replace the term gay in reference to the LGBT community beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s. Activists believed that the term gay community did not accurately represent all those to whom it referred.

The initialism has become adopted into the mainstream as an umbrella term for use when labeling topics pertaining to sexuality and gender identity. For example, the LGBT Movement Advancement Project termed community centres, which have services specific to those members of the LGBT community, as "LGBT community centers", in a comprehensive studies of such centres around the United States.

The initialism LGBT is intended to emphasize a diversity of sexuality and gender identity-based cultures. It may be used to refer to anyone who is non-heterosexual or non-cisgender, instead of exclusively to people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. To recognize this inclusion, a popular variant adds the letter Q for those who identify as queer or are questioning their sexual identity; LGBTQ has been recorded since 1996. Those who add intersex people to LGBT groups or organizing use an extended initialism LGBTI. The two acronyms are sometimes combined to form the terms LGBTIQ or LGBT+ to encompass spectrums of sexuality and gender. Other, less common variants also exist, motivated by a desire for inclusivity, including those over twice as long which have prompted criticism.

About Humsafar Trust

The Humsafar Trust (HST) was founded in April 1994 by reputed journalist Ashok Row Kavi, to reach out to LGBTQ communities in Mumbai Metro and surrounding areas. After much networking and advocacy with the Mumbai Municipal Corporation it became the first openly Gay Community Based Organisation to be allotted space in a Municipal building in Mumbai.

The Trust began its activities by inviting gay men and lesbian women to attend its workshops on Fridays at its drop in centre. The drop in centre saw various workshops on issues of HIV/AIDS and human rights of LGBTQ and it soon became evident that the trust will have to work aggressively on the health and human rights of the community. The HIV interventions of HST are supported by National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) and Mumbai District AIDS Control Society (MDACS) to provide health services to 8500 Men who have sex with men and Transgender communities every year through Public Health Care delivery systems and its In-house clinics. In the last two decades the outreach programme has reached out to more than 110,000 Gay, Men having Sex with Men and Transgender and distributed over 700,000 condoms every year at more than 129 physical sites in Mumbai and nearly 40000 HIV tests and 70000 STIs screened and treatments provided. HST reaches out to over 10,000 gay men and men who have sex with men and transgender communities every year through its social media and online outreach programs

HST Collaborations with Public health delivery systems of Mumbai like LTMG, Nair, KEM and JJ Hospitals. In house clinics remain open five days a week with three qualified Doctors and two Lab Technicians attending to clients. A clinical psychologist works full time along with a team of 4 community counsellors and 2 health facilitators and a nutritionist working on the program providing nutritional counselling assistance

HST organises advocacy workshops for health care provides, law enforcement agencies, judiciary, legislators, politicians and political parties, Government bodies, media, student community to sensitise them on Gay, MSM and TG issues

HST has nurtured support groups YAARIYAN for young LGBTQ, UMANG for LBT persons and SANJEEVANI for persons living with HIV. HST also provides legal support, crisis management, mental health and nutrition counselling to its communities.

About AIPC

The All India Professionals’ Congress (AIPC) is India’s first political platform focused on the needs and aspirations of working professionals and entrepreneurs in the country. The idea of AIPC germinated from the assessment that professionals in today’s India are disconnected from politics, a starkly different situation from the first couple of decades after Indian independence.

The fundamental purpose of AIPC’s existence is to build an ecosystem centred on connecting our Fellows to the political domain. Our Fellows will help promote an inclusive and progressive social, political and economic agenda.

AIPC is a key department of the Indian National Congress, India’s oldest and largest political movement. AIPC’s work will help provide policy ideas as well as talent for the Indian National Congress. Read more about the INC here.