GAY IN: MUMBAI - A LGBTQ+ TRAVEL GUIDE - Our Taste For Life

Contents:

• GAY : MUMBAI – A LGBTQ+ TRAVEL GUI
• GAY MUMBAI TRAVEL GUI
• THE SLOW EVOLUTN OF GAY CULTURE INDIA
• MUMBAI GAY TRAVEL
• TOP 11 GAY FRIENDLY HOTELS IN MUMBAI
• GAY BOMBAY
• MUMBAI: GAY AND LBIAN
• TURNS OUT, BARBIELAND ISN'T AS GAY AS S QUEER FANS HAD HOPED
• 'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
• GAY INDIA

GAY : MUMBAI – A LGBTQ+ TRAVEL GUI

We learnt that followg the historic 2018 cisn to crimalise homosexualy India, the gay scene Mumbai is fact on the rise.

GAY MUMBAI TRAVEL GUI

The gay ‘scene’, once ncealed to the unrworld, is slowly beg accepted both socially and polilly, wh regular events poppg up around the cy.

The legal uncertati of the past two s meant that until recently, gay bars & events Mumbai were kept hidn unrground. They also anise regular gay-meets and events, cludg club nights at Invcible Boudoir & Jard – Aptly anagrammed as Invcible BJ! While Mumbai is relatively safe for gay travellers, naturally there are some thgs to be aware of when enjoyg your time the cy.

THE SLOW EVOLUTN OF GAY CULTURE INDIA

You uld say this falls unr the tegory of rpectg social etiquette; however, ’s important to note that this isn’t a le jt for gay travellers Mumbai.

MUMBAI GAY TRAVEL

Siarly, navigatg certa hashtags on Instagram such as #lgbteventsdia or #gaymumbai n help you lote all thgs LGBT near you. Sce 2010, the film ftival screens gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr and queer films om India and around the world. While there is not a specifc gay neighborhood, and any of the LGBTQ parti and events are unrground, there are some gay-iendly spots popular wh both lols and tourists.

TOP 11 GAY FRIENDLY HOTELS IN MUMBAI

Across India, don’t be surprised to see men holdg hands the streets, although should never be assumed that they’re gay.

Societal valu, the ste system, arranged marriag, the high probabily of beg dishered for g out — India, everythg ns unter to gay liberatn. Bobby, a activist (I know only his first name), has ved me to a gay soirée one of the private clubs: the basement of a huge palace.

GAY BOMBAY

The proportn of gays seems signifint, but the place is mixed, open, always discreet, and s are rpected, for good measure. “You’re not Mumbai here; you are MumGay, ” he says, parodyg the tle of a short Indian gay film, “BomGay, ” which generated some buzz at the time of s release 1996.

Later the eveng, Bobby explas that India homosexualy is characterized, as often is Asia, by the classil try: crimalizatn, social disapproval, and the police’s nonenforcement of the law. He adds: “For a long time, the ernment would not crimalize homosexualy for the sake of ‘ntament, ’ but didn’t want to thorize for fear of makg a public issue.

”The ia of “ntament” — an Amerin diplomatic term referrg to the limatn of the Communist ntagn — is que a relative notn a untry whose Natnal AIDS Control Organizatn rmally timat has at least 70 ln India, as often Asia, the issue is not jt about the law: a whole culture helps make homosexualy yet thgs evolve. In June 2008, Gay Pri gathered a few thoand people the Indian pal, an event that is well vered by the natnal prs.

MUMBAI: GAY AND LBIAN

The followg year the Supreme Court of New Delhi crimalized homosexualy and repealed Sectn 377 of the penal , which led unnstutnal.

“This article [Sectn 377] was very rarely ed India, but was a sword of Damocl hangg over our heads, and ntributed to the nonregnn of homosexuals India, ” explas Rajeev, a gay activist om the Naz Foundatn Tst, an anizatn that fought for the crimalizatn of homosexualy and was supported by many Bollywood wrers and actors as well as by Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize wner enomics, and by the famo Manvendra Sgh Gohil, the only royal prce to be openly gay. ”Unr prsure om the relig lobbi that appealed, the Supreme Court reversed s cisn December 2013 and th recrimalized homosexualy.

When I met him 2015 his prtig New Delhi office, he nfirmed that he would “file a new bill on behalf of the Left [the Congrs Party] to reverse the cisn of the Court and fally crimalize homosexualy India once and for all. ” This great secular lady, like many of my terlocutors New Delhi, criciz the lg party of the Right that is currently power — Prime Mister Narendra Modi’s Indian People’s Party — for havg renewed ti wh an “archaic and anachronistic” Hdu natnalism that she unhatgly characteriz as sexist, homophobic, and antifemist. Beg a gay-iendly figure, this Bollywood producer neverthels believ that India needs to evolve on the gay India, as often Asia, the issue is not jt about the law: a whole culture helps make homosexualy taboo.

TURNS OUT, BARBIELAND ISN'T AS GAY AS S QUEER FANS HAD HOPED

Societal valu, the ste system, arranged marriag, the high probabily of beg dishered for g out — everythg ns unter to gay liberatn. But to go further and to speak of a homosexual inty or even of practic would be, as Marguere Yourcenar so betifully puts , “to solic facts.

'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY

Several activists weled the disvery their blogs, even wonrg whether the Gandhi in uld serve their e by beg a mol of gay or whout a gay in, today India is movg forward. “There are now Gay Pri celebratns some major ci, ” Rajeev ntu; “there are ‘pk nights’ nightclubs, a Queer Ink gay bookstore here Mumbai, and Bollywood stars who sometim perform gay characters.

Organizatns fendg gay rights, such as the Naz Foundatn, are even thorized by the ernment, which isn’t possible Cha, Vietnam, or the root of the velopments, you first fd mographics.

”Frédéric Martel, a rearcher at Scienc-Po Paris and ZHdK Zurich, is the host and producer of the French rad show Soft Power, and foreign affairs lumnist at He is the thor of ne books, cludg “Global Gay, ” om which this article is excerpted. Before gettg to the remendatns of this Mumbai gay travel gui, I would like to warn you that this cy is not for the fat of heart. Below, I’ll mentn the top Mumbai gay club optns, although I personally did not have the chance to vis them durg my trip.

GAY INDIA

All all, India has ma great progrs so far, and I am lookg forward to seeg even more protectns be put place for the gay muny! Sce then, there haven’t been exclively queer clubs or bars India, but the last , the queer rights movement has proliferated through the crevic of Mumbai’s homophobia.

Such parti were prevly ually held suburban areas, far om the cy’s maland, bee prime party spots were tough als to crack, pecially bee of the wispread homophobia, and fear om Sectn 377 of the Indian Penal Co (IPC), brgg wh them hate crim and raids. One of the longt-nng onle queer support groups India sce 1998, Gay Bombay was also one of pneers to host private queer parti the cy’s clubs 2000. While queer and trans men have a multu of queer party optns to choose om, media pany and onle queer rource centre, Gaysi sought out to level the ground by anisg events for LBT femal Bombay sce 2007.

While the party is ually open to all the members of the muny, Gaysi rightfully sists that male atten mt e along wh at least one female pann. Apart om at Kty Su and Gaysi’s events, there’s a clear lack of trans and LBT folks at many of the clubs, mostly bee of the venue proprietor’s and predomantly gay muny’s phobic attu towards trans, femme folks.