We completed 10 years in January! It has been quite a heck of a journey. We have evolved continuously with time and with your increasing expectations. What started out as a 20 page e-magazine in a pdf format hosted on a issuu.com, has evolved into a bi-lingual website covering a host of different topics. On our way, we have expanded to different things and gone beyond just an online website – We have organised events, workshops, panel discussions, launched a Queer Calendar, shot Youtube videos and held wikipedia editathons. The goal at Gaylaxy has been to make as much queer content available for free online (and offline wherever possible) as possible, so that people struggling with their own selves have material and resources they ca look up to. On our 10th Anniversary, we asked you, our readers, why they follow Gaylaxy. It was a moment for us to sit back and reflect if we have been able to make any impact in the lives of Queer people. Below are the responses that we received, and we are so glad that we have been able to achieve our goals in some ways at least.
It has been almost six months since I started reading Gaylaxy. Your Whatsapp service is fabulous and I’ve shared some of your articles to my friends and now they also started following you on Whatsapp. Your articles related to LGBTQIA community really take my grief away of being gay. Poems, stories, notes really provides me courage to come out to my family. You made me realise that there are many people like me who are so happy. You are doing great job. Though I haven’t come out to my family yet, but today being gay doesn’t hurt me anymore, infact I feel proud of being gay. You can say that I have come out to myself now and I don’t care what anyone think about me.-Anonymous
Gaylaxy was the closest friend I had when I was coming of age and trying to understand my sexuality. Since then, I have made many human friends within LGBT community. Had ups and downs. Couple of love stories. Many coming outs. And through all that, Gaylaxy has been there, giving me voice & also the chance to hear the voices of many others like me. Thank you.
-Davneet
Congratulations, dear, for your labours of love! As a TG, I am helped & encouraged by your inputs for the past three years! Keep up the good works! With Prayers.
-TG Devi Roobi Sugirtham.
The Good, the best part of Gaylaxy is Sukhdeep Singh… and the presence of the magazine in all awareness creation events.
The Bad, I still have to think
The ugly? Rainbows are not ugly.
-Abhishek Chkroborty
I saw an interview of Sukhdeep about his coming out story on YouTube. From there I came to know about Gaylaxy Magazine. I started reading the articles/stories… I also got inspired and started writing for the very first time in my life about my real life.
So… Gaylaxy provides me that space where I can express my inner world freely without being judged or criticised. Thank-you is just a very little word, I just want to say : Please continue this journey… Coz a lot of people are still in the closet. By saying “thank you” I don’t wanna stop this friendship with Gaylaxy here. We still have a long way to go together. Please continue the journey.
-Sunny Manghani
First of all, congratulations for completing 10 wonderful years! I am very new to Gaylaxy, but a huge fan of it. It gives peace and friendly environment to those who are not out. When ever I am feeling sad or unhappy, I open Gaylaxy and it boosts me up. Cute small stories, beautiful poems, personal experiences and the various events, all kind of information is provided over it. I have read very old posts too, when we were suffering from gender stereotypes, orthodox environment, heteronormative society, patriarchy and toxic masculinity. But now, time is changing and so is the thinking too, but still there are miles to go. I love Gaylaxy.
-Sumit
10 साल पहले एक बड़ा सवाल था कि अलग यौनिकता के प्रश्न को आज दरकिनार नही किया जा सकता, उसे मुख्य धारा के विमर्श में लाना ही होगा। आज वो काम Gaylaxy की टीम अनवरत कर रही है। मैं गे नही हूँ, पर पता नही क्यों जब भी गे लोगों से मिलता हूँ प्रेम से भर जाता हूँ। मैं साहित्यिक और सांस्कृतिक और सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता होने के नाते इस पक्ष को और समझना चाहता था। Gaylaxy ने एक सूत्र पकड़ाया और आज मेरे 100 से ऊपर समलिंगी दोस्त हैं जो इन मुद्दों पर अलग शहरों में काम कर रहे हैं और जागरूकता बढ़ा रहे हैं।
आगे की यात्रा के लिए शुभकामनाएँ।
अभी व्यूह का पहला दरवाज़ा ही हमने तोड़ा है
युद्ध जीतना है तो सज्जित
औजारों से होना है।
बड़ा सफर है मुश्किल रस्ता
अभी तो मंज़िल बाकी है …
-विजय शर्मा
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