Sangama

In recent years, police harassment has sharply increased in Bangalore. Blackmail, assault and extortion of money are increasingly being used against sexuality minorities. Public recreational areas (like parks) which were some of the few spaces available for sexuality minorities have become sites of fear. Mainstream society marginalizes, stigmatizes, and encourages this violence. And our legal sanctions legitimize these human rights violations, effectively denying any legal recourse to justice for most sexuality minorities.

Sangama actively campaigns for the rights of sexuality minorities to live safe, healthy and empowered lives.

Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature, with any man, woman or animal shall be punishable with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine.

IPC 377 criminalizes any penetrative sex that does not lead to reproduction, thereby criminalizing sexual expression by homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals. Even though this section does not lead often to filing of court cases against sexuality minorities, it becomes a powerful weapon in the hands of police and goondas to harass, abuse, extort and torture sexuality minorities routinely. This law forms the structural basis for the widespread stigma, discrimination, marginalization and prejudice against sexuality minorities in our society.

Lesbit is a support group in Sangama that supports lesbian/bisexual/ transgender Female to Male/women-loving-women people. A number of lesbian women have contacted Sangama in situations of crisis, and several of them expressed the need for a support system for lesbian/bisexual women in the city and in the state. Such efforts, they felt, would help them reach out to other women and to enhance the visibility of lesbian/bisexual women given their limited access to public spaces.

In Bangalore, the sexuality minority communities are closely linked with the sex workers movement and we often come together for common platforms. A prime example of this is the union between Sangama and Suraksha, an organization working in Bangalore Rural District with women sex workers and sexuality minorities). Each of the organizations has a strong community base in and around Bangalore City. At present there two organizations together are reaching out to around 10,000 sexuality minorities and sex workers in and around Bangalore City.

Recent estimates have found that HIV prevalence among Sangama's main constituency is as high as 10 percent. It is therefore apparent that HIV has a serious impact on the lives of Hijras, Kothis and Doubledeckers (HKD). The program works to reduce the HIV incidence among HKD and their partners in Bangalore, as well as providing care and support for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA). The two major objectives of the program are

• To increase the frequency of condom use by the community and
• To reduce the incidence of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) within the community and with any partners from outside the community.