Soon, Pune to get a shelter home for homeless gay, trans and intersex men

“We are starting with a very small capacity of three persons, but in the coming year, we plan to expand it as per fund availability and demand. Currently, we will be using the office space for the shelter home and plan to start operations from May 17 which is world Anti-Homophobia/Biphobia/Transphobia day. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 empower the district magistrate to grant ID and certificate to transgenders, transwomen and transmen. In cities like Mumbai, Garima Grihas have been set up by the Central government for shelter and rehabilitation, primarily of transgenders. All these changes are welcome and long overdue. However, still a lot of work remains to be done. There are no shelter homes for gay men who are thrown out of their homes because of their sexuality. We have taken care of such cases, on an informal basis, during Covid-19 lockdown,” he said.

“In the past few months, Bindu Queer Rights Foundation (Pune) had focus group meetings with various LGBTIQA community members and NGOs in Maharashtra and identified their important needs,” Khire said.