Trikone

[http://www.trikone.org Trikone] (IPA: IPA | /t̪rɪkoɳ/) is a non-profit support, social, and political organization for South Asian bisexual, lesbian, gay, and transgender people. It was founded in 1986 in the San Francisco Bay Area and claims to be the oldest group of its kind in the world.cite web |url=http://www.trikone.org/ |title=About Trikone |accessdate=2008-02-02] South Asians affiliated with Trikone are from or trace their ancestry to the following countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Burma, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Tibet. Trikone publishes an eponymous magazine with an interational base of subscribers several times a year.cite web|url=http://trikone.org/subscribe.html|title=Trikone magazines |accessdate=2008-02-02]

Several metropolitan areas in North America aside from the San Francisco Bay Area also have organizations named "Trikone" (such as [http://www.trikonenw.org Trikone Northwest] and Trikone Michigan), which have similar missions.

Purpose

The stated goals of Trikone are:

* Bringing people of South Asian heritage together in a supportive and non-judgmental environment
* Promoting awareness, visibility, and acceptance of alternative sexualities in society
* Proudly affirming both South Asian identity and alternative sexualities
* Opposing discrimination

History

The organization was co-founded in 1986 by Arvind Kumar and Suvir Das with the name "Trikon" and the first newsletter was published with that name in January, 1986. (The name was later changed to "Trikone" due to a name conflict with an unrelated organization, "Tricon.") Following media coverage in both the United States and India, a group soon formed to continue the publication of the newsletter and to participate in local events such as the San Francisco Gay & Lesbian Pride Parade. [cite web |url=http://www.sodomylaws.org/world/india/innews10.htm |title=Minority Gays Create a Voice for Unserved Community |accessdate=2008-02-04] [cite interview
last = Kumar
first = Arvind
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interviewer = Arvind Kumar
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date = 2008-02-11
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Notable Events

* 2000 and 2006: [http://desiq.org/ DesiQ] , a South Asian queer conference of international scopecite web |url=http://www.indiacurrents.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=1984a5e16e1d2f503503946b925bccf2 |title=LGBT Pride Celebrations |accessdate=2008-02-02]
* September, 2001: QFilmistan, a film festival [cite web |url=http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/34/qfilmistan.html |title=QFilmistan: The first South Asia LGBT film festival |accessdate=2008-02-02]
* Yearly: Kulture Kulcha, a Queer South Asian cultural program
* Yearly: Participation in the San Francisco Pride and San Jose Pride Celebrations

About the Name

"Trikone" (Hindi/Marathi/Sanskrit: lang | ma | त्रिकोण, Telugu:lang | te | త్రికోనే, Urdu: lang | ur | تْرِكون, Gujarati: lang | gu | ત્રિકોણ, Panjabi: lang | pa | ਤ੍ਰਿਕੋਣ, Bangla: lang | bn | ত্রিকোণ) means "triangle" [cite book
last=Platts
first=John
title=A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English
publisher=W. H. Allen & Co.
date=1884
location=London
pages=319
url=http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/platts/
isbn=81-215-0098-2] in many South Asian languages. The pink triangle is a historical symbol employed in gay liberation movements.

References

Women of Trikone

Many South Asian women living in the Bay Area expressed the need for increasing the number of events for lesbian/bi-sexual/queer South Asian women. [http://trikone.org/wot.html Women-of-Trikone] is a sub group and also has separate a list-serve for queer women of South Asian descent from the Bay Area interested in building a sense of community, hosting relevant discussions, network with groups/organizations, share news and organize/advertise events that improves our lives. This is open to allies but they need to identify themselves as women.

External links

* [http://www.desiq.org DesiQ]

Trikone Email Lists

* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/trikone/ Trikone Announcement List]
* [http://groups.google.com/group/Women-of-Trikone Women of Trikone Group]

Resources

* [http://www.qrd.org Queer Resource Directory]
* [http://www.khushdc.org/resources.html Khush DC Resources]