We had got in touch with a number of NGO's(non governmental organisations) in Bangalore, hoping to bring a little more than just travelling to our trip in south India. Sangama was a group that said yes to us volunteering with them before our trip. Sangama deals with sexual minority rights, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and hijras. After we had settled into our new flat in Bangalore we went off to meet Sunil who co-coordinated the Lesbit group - one of the projects run by Sangama which supports lesbian and trans female to male and bisexual women. Unfortunately our visit coincided with a major incident that had led to a two week program of protest and awareness raising activities.

On the 20th/21st of October local police arrested 5 hijras and we read later that this was part of the city'scleanup program in which they were trying to clear the street of undesirables. The women were beaten up and sexually assaulted. Part of Sangama's work involves a crisis intervention team to support minority groups in many ways including legally. When a team of 6 people went from acoalition of different human rights groups (including the Alternative Law Forum and the Garment and Textile workers Union) to seek further information from the police, they too were beaten up, sexually physically and verbally assaulted; further, false charges were brought against them.

We joined the group when a series of campaigns were being planned to protest against this police brutality. The campaigns focussed on raising the profile of discrimination against the Hijra community, and that despite the fact they had been an integral part of Indian society for centuries they had been denied their human rights; in particular social entitlements such as housing, ration card, voter ID, education and employment.

What was really good about being around at this time, was seeing how the queer perspective was being constructed within a human rights framework. A framework that saw discrimination against caste, and tribal communities as being that which also threatened queer rights. Gender, economic, caste,tribal community and sexual minority rights were seen along the same continuum of othering and discrimination; one which threatened the human rights of all.The sense of acting in solidarity against state and social oppression was therefore central to the work of Sangama.This was a welcome perspective for us, particularly because intersectionality and inclusion is missing fromactivist circles in England, in our experience. We have found debates often narrowing down to which issue is more important or which group is more discriminated against when issues of say racism are raised verging on a hierarchical attitude to equality. In particular the queer community struggles to find ways to integrate their practice to this degree as is evident in a recent e-debate on queer activism in Manchester and the invisibility of race that we have been privvy to via an email list. We are left wondering whether this discourse is a result of living in an individualist versus a collectivist culture. What would it take to mobilise collective ownership of issues, without people assuming that mentioning them is privileging one over the other? It's almost as if there is a siblingrivalry being played out in activist circles where one's entitlement is seen separate to another with no space for both at the same time. Maybe we've all had depriving parents, who set us against our more privileged peers or siblings based on some arbritary difference??? Okay enough psychobabble.

Our experience of India is its vast diversity of thought, religion, people, lifestyles, politics. Seemingly mutually exclusive variations can coexist, sometimes harmoniously, almost like applying the theory of quantum physics. In one moment there are a thousand contradictions being played out in one town, village or city from the bullock carts to the AC DVD deluxe coaches; from the destitute to 5 star hotels. It is perhaps for this reason that communalism and regionalism are used as tools as if these variations can be manipulated for political or social gain. In Bangalore the antidote to this exploitation is activists promoting a global vision for change working hard to be inclusive as they fight for social justice.

During conversations we heard that the efforts for equality are focused on repealing homosexuality from criminal law, rather than legalising it. This may be seem like a subtle difference, but we think it is an important one. We discussed one perspective, which was that removing homosexuality from the legislature would mean automatic rights as citizens, without queer groups coming under the control of the state in any way, and so people could live their lives as they wished.Interestingly the criminalising of homosexuality is a legacy of the British Raj!

Whilst this is going on, the high court in Delhi and the government are debating whether to change Section 377 - that which criminalises homosexuality. We read in the papers, that the High Court demanded the Government seek scientifc evidence that homosexuality should remain criminalised, rather than usingreligious grounds to defend it. More recently, the government's legal representatives have retaliated by saying that the High Court should not see its role as deciding the law (just reviewing it's legality) because the legislature should remain the government 's remit... of course, as they are the gatekeepers for citizen rights and always know best!

We were wowed when we joined the human chain at the heart of Bangalore city centre on the very busy junction of MG Road. We held hands either side, one of us with representatives from the sexworkers Union, the other with a gay man. It wasn't just the diversity and number of people coming together, but also their courage in 'outing' themselves when they could very easily be arrested. There was a police presence and the press were there.It reminded us of those people who had fought for our sexuality rights in the UK, and lived through times as uncertain and dangerous as these.

Talking of bravery, the following day, we attended another protest near the police station where the incidents occurred. Here we participated in a 'rush hour' candelight vigil, where there were some very overtly critical banners demanded the sacking of the high ranking police officers involved in the assaults, which went further by labelling the Banashankaree police station as corrupt. However, both protests were peaceful and we saw no evidence of trouble.

One of the other public meetings held was where the first openly gay Nepalese MP came to share the Nepalese struggle for equality. The sexuality rights movement had been working alongside other activist groups to overthrow the monarchy, resulting in the creation of a democratic republic. However, they had been let down by the interim government who reneged on their agreement and refused sexual minorities their rights. So the movement took the government to court and won. Their battle had been ardous but their persistence had resulted in the recognition that the two gender categories of male and female were inadequate and after they heard verbal evidence Nepal's government eventually introduced the 'third gender' as a recognised category for those people who did not fit into these categories or did not wish to identify with either.

Thus there were lessons to be learnt for India's queer rights movement - the subject of one evenings events, organised by Sangama - and the rest of the world we thought. This seemed incredibly progressive and we're still wondering about the implications of a recognised third gender.For example, does it recognise the social construction of gender categories and how implicitly and explicitly these are tied in with how sexuality is constructed and in particular one form of heterosexuality is legitimised? The MP, another Sunil, presented issues around sexuality outside the western perspective. He highlighted the commonalities in the history of sexuality across Asia and how sexuality and gender might be differently lived, experienced or identified. He conceptualised sexuality as a human rights issue but broader than that as a political issue which was not separate to environmental politics and other issues of concern for a nation and vice versa - no matter our sexuality or gender.

This seemed to reiterate the sentiment that the struggle for change was not based on single issues but was much broader than that. He also suggested that struggling for change alongside all citizens on a wide range of issues was one way of increasing our credibility as activists to get the required national and international support for activists that was required to sustain the endless courage and stamina required.

The evening also involved songs and stories from individuals about their experiences as well as the commitment of a local politician, comments from a sociologist and a prominent lawyer. It ended with a short play put on by the participants of the Lesbit group called 'Musical Chairs' which brought to life, through a series of monologues the experiences of transgendered people, lesbians, hijras, and we think sex workers. It was all in Kannada so we didn't understand it but they got a great response.The Lesbit participants were in particular warm and inviting and this was the group we had the most contact with.

The arrested staff at Sangama were required to go and sign on regularly at the police station and campaign activities were continuous so the day to day work hadbeen left behind. Thus our volunteer work never really took off, to our disappointment. However, being involved on the periphery was both informative and good fun. In a similar vein, Col's approaches to the main mental health institution in India, NIMHANS, were unrewarded despite much advance notice of our visit. We found that the initial positive responses from NIMHANS dried up after Col mentioned the possible Visa issue. We were left wondering why this was and speculated whether this was due to our CV, that there was perhaps some other route in that we were not made aware of, or to Col's Pakistani origins - there is evidence of increasing hositiity especially following the Mumbai shootings. Our strategy since arriving in India and after the first few cool responses are to say we are both from the Punjab whichis technically true before partition - hey what's a border between lovers?