Clubs for gays spring up on Chennai campuses

If you thought Chennai was too conservative for gay and lesbian clubs on campuses, think again. The city has at least half-a-dozen gay clubs that have come up rather quietly in engineering, medical and journalism colleges, mostly for students to seek protection and share experiences.

Suresh, a 20-year-old student of Sai Ram Engineering College, decided to start a gay club in his college when the teasing from classmates about his effeminate mannerisms got too much. "There was no one to share these experiences with," he said. Suresh attended a meeting held by an organisation for gay people and interacted with others facing similar problems. "That's when the idea of having such a group on campus struck," he said.

Often this is the age when young people discover their sexual orientation. Clubs for homosexual students are a way to combat fear, loneliness and confusion. "I figured that if we got together and talked about what's going on, it would make coping easier," said Suresh, whose club now has about 20 students.

While gay organisations are not new in Chennai, this is the first time such clubs are being set up in colleges and exclusively for teenagers. Rather than tending towards activism, they provide a social forum for teenagers. But Chennai is not the first city to explore this option. Cities like Delhi and Mumbai have several college queer clubs, the most popular being Queer Campus for Delhi college students. While they use open platforms like Facebook, gay clubs in Chennai prefer more private mediums such as yahoogroups.

Vinod, a student of Madras Institute of Fashion Technology (MIFT), started a group in his college after one of his seniors tried to sexually assault him. "During a party in my first year, one of my seniors was drunk and got into a fight with me over my sexual preferences. He kept telling me it was unnatural. Suddenly, he tried to rip my trousers and underwear off. He got suspended for a week, but that's when the idea to form a group struck me," he said.

"Such clubs are good as young people of the gay community will have the comfort of knowing that there are others like them with similar difficulties," said Magdalene Jeyarathnam, director for Center for Counseling in Chennai, which specialises in helping sexual minorities and children.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-07-25/chennai/29812191_1_gay-clubs-chennai-students