Out and proud: Bangalore radio station for gays and lesbians

mangaloretoday.com

Bangalore, Oct 5: The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community in India has hit the airwaves with a brand-new radio station launched in Bangalore recently.

Called Q Radio, the venture is part of the online portal Radiowalla.in, which has over 40 radio channels for various audiences.

On HqO, one of the shows on Q Radio which describes itself as a show celebrating gender fluidity, Soona, a young lesbian, talks about her experiences of coming out to her husband and parents - on live radio.

 

Soona says, "I didn’t know the term lesbian or that there were lesbians around. I didn’t know any of this. It is not a word ever spoken in Kerala. I didn’t know the term to attach to the love I feel."

The show’s host, Vaishali Chandra, a former journalist, tells NDTV, "We are focussing on the LGBT community and it is all about them, because there is not a lot of dialogue happening around and that is needed."

Q Radio founder Anil Srivatsa says, "Q stands for queer. It is about giving them a space, a single platform to celebrate or to advocate or be an activist on anything that is close to them. It is not about isolating them - it is about giving both sides the same platform to look at it from their perspective."

Another host, Romal Singh, is part of the gay community himself. For him, this is more than just a job. "I am an out and proud gay person, so the moment I heard of something like this, I just had to be a part of it," he says.

The LGBT community has welcomed the venture. "A lot of my straight friends who really don’t know much get an opportunity to know about the lives of queer people. And it is an easy way to access it online," Shyam Konnur says.