Minority within a minority

Same-sex issues discussed at South Asian GLBTIQ forum

Ia a first for Australia, the South Asian community came cogetber on l ove m ber 3 to talk abouc queer life for desis living here The forum titled Lee's T al k: Being South Asia n an d GLBTIQ was arranged b y Trikone Australasia, and held at ACON's Surry f-ljlls premjses. So u tl1 Asi aus consti mte one of A ltscralia's fastest growing comnmnities and hrul from the Indfan subconti n e n t, comprising countries s u ch as lndia, Bangl adesh, Palcistan, Sri L anka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldh7es. The event brought together over 60 people from var ying culnual and religious backgrotrnds.

In a relaxed atmosphe re, the audience hea rd the views of a panel of experts inclu d jng heal th profess io n al Aziz Mal1ee; psychol ogist Sekneb HammoudBeckett; social justice advocate and conunentator Se nthonrn Raj ; academic and aucho r Dr Yasmin Tambiah; and lawyer Meena Sripathy. The panel disc u ssed wide-ranging top ics f rom human rights co d e pictions of sa m e- sex love in Hindu and Buddhist texts.

The audience listened attentively as the panel recounted d1eir own stories o f coming o ut in South Asian fanulies Tbe presentations were followed by a lively and at times moving , question and discuss ion session chrured by And y Quan, author and musician.

"Let's Talk h as been a great opportunity for Somh Asian s co come together and talk abo ut i ssues drnt aren't openly d iscussed w ithjn mu commm~ties," said A lan Maurice, co -C hair of Trikone Australasia.

' Tbe South As ian GLBTIQ community is a minority wid ~ a minority, and at the forum we came cogether to talk about o m identi ty, our vis ibility and our communi ties.

Many GLBTIQ South Asians have co leave home to b e able to live their lives freely. \Xie hope that today is me first step u1 making thi s process eas ier and tha t it Lnc reases t he visib ility of GLBTlQ Sou d1 Asians so that others k n ow d1ey are not alone," he added.

" The for um was fantastic," said a member of d1e audience. "\'7he n I first came our there were ver y few gay Soutl1 As ian peop le around. The organisers are creating something that has been needed for a lo n g time."

Fo llowing i ts success, or1,,ranisers hope co make d1e event an annual fixmre on the GLBT IQ comrntrnity c al endar. Let's Talk was sponsored b y ACON and Parish Patience Immi gration L awyers.

Trikone Au stralasia can be contacted via www.ttikone.org.au Simon Ruth