Lifestyle / 10 South Asian LGBTQIA+ Leaders Who Are Using Their Platform To Break Barriers

10 South Asian LGBTQIA+ Leaders Who Are Using Their Platform To Break Barriers

Lifestyle Jun 30, 2022

by Devika Goberdhan | Features Editor - Fashion

As we conclude Pride Month, we take a closer look at prominent South Asian members of the LGTBQIA+ community who are using their global platform for good. Breaking barriers, starting conversations, and creating a space for support and inclusivity is what they are all about and we celebrate them here with pride!

As we’ve learned over the years, representation on a global level matters. Think Crazy Rich Asians, Black Panther, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and more. But, being able to identify with people who look like you and share other similarities with you, such as their sexuality is even more impactful.

Let’s be real, within South Asian society, identifying with the LGBTQIA+ community is a big no-no. But, with more and more infamous South Asians coming out about their sexualities as they seek to live authentically, stigmas be damned, it is creating space for important conversations within the South Asian community that will ultimately drive change in how sexuality is viewed.

Check out some fabulous South Asian stars who are paving the way and breaking down barriers about what it means to identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community:

Bilal Baig

**10 South Asian LGBTQIA+ Leaders Who Are Using Their Platform To Break Barriers: Baig is breaking barriers for South Asian, Muslim, and Trans individuals, all while making it look amazing!** Photo Credit: www.eatnorth.com

Bilal Baig is a Canadian actor and has written plays, such as Acha Bacha (2018), that highlighted the connections between gender, identifying as LGBTQIA+, and being both Islamic and Pakistani. And so, when they co-created the award-winning comedy/drama “Sort Of” for CBC, it made them the first non-binary lead character on Canadian TV, and Baig the first queer South Asian, Muslim actor to star in a Canadian prime-time TV series. When Baig sat down with us last fall, prior to the launch of “Sort Of” at the Toronto International Film Festival they were truly excited about the fact that LBGTQIA+ on screen is actually happening through this show. “I know it really worked on our show and I just want more: to include those identities — trans, queer, non-binary — in leadership positions too, in executive, decision-making positions,” Baig exclaimed. Most recently “Sort Of” (which is also co-produced by HBOMax) won the coveted Peabody Award, the iconic American prize, for it’s ground-breaking work on screen. This is in addition to their three Canadian Screen Awards (the Canadian version of the Emmy) Baig uses social media to showcase their absolute fabulousness, along with the important initiatives that they are a part of.

Tan France

**10 South Asian LGBTQIA+ Leaders Who Are Using Their Platform To Break Barriers: France is living his best life on social media and showing South Asian aunties everywhere that he can have it all!** Photo Credit: www.wise.com

Tan France is well-known for the rebooted Netflix series, Queer Eye, hosts a web series called Dressing Funny, co-hosts Next in Fashion, launched a documentary, Beauty and the Bleach, and penned a memoir in 2019, Naturally Tan, that talked about his experience coming to terms with his sexuality in a racist environment. Somehow he still finds the time to be a force to be reckoned with in the fashion industry. France, who is of Pakistani descent, is the first gay South Asian man of the Muslim faith on a popular show. Today, he uses social media to showcase his husband and child, which breaks down the heteronormative stereotypes of what a family should look like, particularly for a South Asian individual, along with his genderless brand Was Him.

Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil

**10 South Asian LGBTQIA+ Leaders Who Are Using Their Platform To Break Barriers: Be sure to check out Prince Gohil’s Instagram page to learn more about ongoing LGBTQIA+ issues.** Photo Credit: Calgary Pride

Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil came out in 2006 and is “…the first openly gay royal” in India, and is married to DeAndre Richardson. Prince Gohil engages in activist work by way of a charity, The Lakshya Trust, of which he is the chairman. During his exclusive conversation with Calgary Pride last June he detailed his painful journey of coming out in such a traditional environment complete with nervous breakdowns and fear for his health and wellness. Now he is active through his charity, where one of the projects is building a campus focused on LGBTQIA+ support. He also uses social media to share information about LGBTQIA+ rights and engage in live conversations about various themes surrounding the LGBTQIA+ community.

Prabal Gurung

Nepalese-American designer Prabal Gurung has always been using his platform as a world-renowned American fashion designer to increase awareness of human rights. Whether it’s to voice his support for immigration policies, refugees, #StopAsianHate or for his LGBTQIA+ community, he has been fearless in making sure to use his platform — which in most cases is his runway to show the world that he is not afraid to let people know what side he stood when it came to socials issues affecting fellow Americans and the world.

Michelle Mama

**10 South Asian LGBTQIA+ Leaders Who Are Using Their Platform To Break Barriers: Learn more about Mama in her chat with Anokhi’s very own, Raj Girn!** Photo Credit: www.imdb.com

Michelle Mama is an award-winning Executive Producer of Canada’s Drag Race and is the producer and director for Lost Car Rescue, Shine True, and In The Making. She was also recognized on The ANOKHI ADVOCATE List in 2021. Mama uses her platform as an Executive Producer as an extension of her long-running advocacy for her LGBTQIA+ community, understanding that as a BIPOC woman of South Asian descent it can be even more daunting for one to find their truth when faced with such difficult South Asian cultural resistance. She also uses her social media platform to highlight literature that features LGBTQIA+ dynamics, film and television opportunities seeking individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community and more.

Irshad Manji

She was critically thinking before it became a thing. Canadian commentator, and social analyst Irshad Manji is also a successful author, speaker and educator. She’s also a New York Times best-selling author with three novels under her belt with her latest being Don’t Label Me: How To Do Diversity Without Inflaming Culture Wars. Her current online course teaches ways to communicate your moral courage in a unifying way, which is part of her overall mission to reach out to the masses and have them understand the value of communication and creating a space where opposing views can exist and be listened to respectfully. Something that is incredibly needed in this polarizing world. Whether she’s doing videos for TIME magazine, such as “How To Teach Young People How To Stop Being So Offended,” or going toe-to-toe with Bill Maher on Real Time With Bill Maher, Irshad knows just how to get people to stop and listen.

Priyanka

**10 South Asian LGBTQIA+ Leaders Who Are Using Their Platform To Break Barriers: All Hail Toronto’s Queen!** Photo Credit: www.fashionmagazine.com

Priyanka, who is known as ‘Toronto’s Best Queen’ won Canada’s Drag Race in 2020. She was the first Indo-Caribbean winner on the show, which brought to light the stereotypes that were present in West Indian households. Recently, Priyanka released her EP, Taste Test and Country Queen and co-hosted the Canadian Country Music Awards. Social media has played an essential role in Priyanka’s career, with pivotal moments being showcased, such as when her mother shared how proud she was on social media of her daughter embracing her true self. Today, Priyanka continues to use social media to highlight her fierceness in drag and various LGBTQIA+ initiatives that she attends and supports. She is also becoming one of the most in-demand presenters as well.

Vivek Shraya

**10 South Asian LGBTQIA+ Leaders Who Are Using Their Platform To Break Barriers: If you’re ready to learn a thing or two, and be exposed to some killer fashion, don’t sleep on Vivek Shraya.** Photo Credit: www.tunefind.com

Vivek Shraya is a trans woman, author, activist, Ambassador for Pantene, and so much more. Today, Shraya continues to “…use music, literature, visual art, theatre, and film to engage audiences on topics like mental health, queerness and inclusion,” according to CBC. Her album Part Time Woman was nominated for a Polarize Prize and Vanity Fair magazine called her best-selling book I’m Afraid Of Men “cultural rocket fuel.” Using a multitude of channels at her disposal including singing/songwriting, writing best-selling books, participating in various lecture series and working with corporations, she has been able to parlay all of them into valuable tools of outreach and awareness. Social media is another strong tool in Shraya’s toolbox in her efforts to break down the stereotypes about gender and other LGBTQIA+ initiatives. Most recently, Shraya was part of the celebration for the opening of the Aesop Queer Library in New York.

Lilly Singh

Lilly Singh, formerly known as IISuperwomanII, has come a long way since her YouTube days. Singh has done it all, such as her late-night show on NBC, A Little Late With Lilly Singh, a book, helped bring to life a National Women’s Soccer League in Los Angeles and will star in Lilly Singh’s Proud Princess, in which she “…will voice a young girl discovering pride in her true identity,” according to Variety. Since Singh came out on Instagram as bisexual (which made her the first bisexual woman and a woman of South Asian descent to host a late-night talk show), she continues to use social media to showcase her pride in her sexuality by boldly calling it out in her posts and by highlighting how her efforts, such as with the Angel City FC help contribute to pride initiatives.

Urvashi Vaid

An attorney and strategist, Vaid specializes in the area of social justice. Her social innovation firm, The Vaid Group LLC, where she is president, works with global and domestic organizations to address and advance equity, inclusion and justice. She’s also the co-founder of Donors of Color Network, “the first” cross-racial networking organization where people of colour “leverage their giving for racial equity.” Vaid is also the co-founder of the National LGBTQ Anti-Poverty Action Network, the National LGBT/HIV Criminal Justice Working Group, LPAC, the Equality Federation, the National Religious Leadership Roundtable, and the Creating Change Conference of the National LGBTQ Task Force.

If you don’t already follow these individuals, be sure to check out their pages and learn a little bit more about these impactful South Asians who are breaking down barriers for the LGBTQIA+ and South Asian communities alike.

Main Mage Photo Credit: celebmafia.com (Lilly Singh), www.xtramagazine.com (Priyanka)

Devika Goberdhan | Features Editor - Fashion

Author

Devika (@goberdhan.devika) is an MA graduate who specialized in Political Science at York University. Her passion and research throughout her graduate studies pushed her to learn about and unpack hot button issues. Thus, since starting at ANOKHI in 2016, she has written extensively about many challe...

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10 South Asian LGBTQIA+ Leaders Who Are Using Their Platform To Break Barriers

by Devika Goberdhan | Features Editor - Fashion

Devika Goberdhan | Features Editor - Fashion

COMMENTS

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