In February 2017, Himanshu Singh, an IIM Kozhikode student, started a group in his campus to talk about the LGBTQ community. He, along with a few friends, chalked out the details and co-founded Umeed, with the hope that their word will spread across Universities, and the community will be treated equally.
Three months and a tremendous response later, Umeed, along with IIM Ahmedabad, is on the cusp of organising an online educational series around LGBTQ concepts, starting 1st June (Pride Month); the event is called Queer pe Charcha. The club is collaborating with other campuses and their LGBTQ clubs.
Himanshu Singh conceptualized Umeed and the seminar in 2016 when he came out on social media. The comments that he received on his Facebook post were both ill-informed and silly.
‘People asked me if being gay was “normal”’, Himanshu Singh told The Quint.
There is obviously a huge lacunae in our society vis-a-vis the LGBTQ community, and this initiative comes as a breath of fresh air. We wish the seminar and the community all the luck for their future endeavours.
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