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Events:-

1st Asian Symposium on LGBT Tourism:- https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=281667758529078

Media:-

LGBT tourism market is a USD 70 billion segment in the USA alone:-

http://www.traveltechie.com/news/LGBT-tourism-market-is-a-USD-70-billion-segment-in-the-USA-alone/3096

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All of us have a role in ensuring the transgender a life of dignity-31 contestants walk down the aisle contesting for the crown in one of the biggest transgender beauty contest in the state at BOAT on Monday last.Mona Okram of Singjamei Sapam Leikai bagged the Miss Transgender 2011 while H.Ashananda, Thoubal, and Pebam Bonita of Canchipur, took the first and second runners-up position.

1st Asian Symposium on Gay & Lesbian Tourism to be held on 28 November 2011 at Le Meridien Hotel, New Delhi, India.:-Tourism and hospitality professionals from across India and throughout Asia will convene in New Delhion 28 November, for Community Marketing’s 1st Asian Symposium on Gay & Lesbian Tourism, in partnership with American Airlines, IGLTA, Traveltechie.com, Out Journeys, and Pink Banana Media.

Bangkok Airways starts direct flights to Bangalore-The airline is also looking at Lucknow- for inward tourists on the Buddhism trail,New Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata.Bangkok Airways, a Thai private airline, has launched direct flights to Bangalore. The airline announced on Tuesday that the Bangkok-Bangalore-Bangkok service commenced from September 26.

Events-

Nigah Pink Rupee Party

1st Asian Symposium on Gay & Lesbian Tourism

Out Journeys : Come Out In India

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http://twitter.com/#!/OutJourneys

Visit us at http://www.outjourneys.com/

Imran Kahn graces the cover of the country’s first registered gay magazine as the newly crowned gay icon.Imran Kahn is the first actor in the country to feature on the cover of the Gay magazine.

Why IITians need a Saathi?-Here are some of the life stories of the people involved with Saathi, the LGBT group formed at IIT Bombay, and despite their efforts to prevent others undergoing this trauma, they still face some opposition.

IGNOU  introduces Gender Studies Course.

US, Europe debt crisis could impact inbound tourism in India.The ongoing debt crisis in the US and Europe is expected to impact inbound tourism into India this season, according to hoteliers and travel companies as per a PTI report.

Tourism Minister asks Kerala to set up land bank for tourism projects.Targets would be set for states in tourism promotion and stress would be given to develop infrastructure and for ensuring hygiene and safety at tourist destinations.

Gujarat government is now looking at putting in place a policy for cruise tourism in the state in a major move that will give a boost to the many tourism initiatives taken for Gujarat as per a report in Business Standard by Lakshmi Ajay.

Out Journeys : Come Out In India

Follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Out-Journeys/153528748038109

http://twitter.com/#!/OutJourneys

Visit us at http://www.outjourneys.com/

Celina Jaitley set the trend and she did a lot by becoming the unofficial brand ambassador for the community in Bollywood, but it was about time we got some more celebrities to start talking LGBT, so here is Sonam Kapoor, talking joyously about the fact that gay marriages are now legal in New York:

http://www.todaybreakingnews.com/?p=3685

It does not stop here, Miss India Hasleen Kaur chose this time to voice her support for the Indian LGBT community too. Says Hasleen, “Why do we define boundries of love based on sexual orientation? I don’t understand why we should discriminate against a non-heterosexual. They’re completly normal people with the ability to love.

Here is the complete link:

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-07-05/miss-india/29738216_1_sexual-orientation-lgbt-pride-month-lgbt-rights

Our respectable Health Minister stirred a big hornet’s nest last week when he first made and then revoked a statement implying that homosexuality is a disease. He obviously has not been keeping himself informed, so here is a nice and simple read about why it is perfectly ‘normal’ to be in a same sex relationship:

http://idiva.com/news-relationships/why-homosexuality-is-not-a-disease/6195

The celebs are all up in arms and rightly so against the Minister’s statement, they want him to apologise. Azad however has not apologized but simply blamed the media of twisting his comments – so politician like!

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Azad-must-apologise-Celebs/articleshow/9111759.cms

And finally, somewhat old but a very welcome piece of news. India is aiming to become the hub of surrogacy tourism and this amazing gay couple just became parents in India:

Deaf, mute gay couple becomes new parents:

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/deaf-mute-gay-couple-becomes-new-parents/160062-3.html

Oh and by the way, Out Journeys can help you in case you wish to come to India and find a family!

The day was celebrated with abandon this year again, the pride parades at Delhi, Mumbai and Kochi were resplendent. There was no over the top show of pomp but a resolute belief in our own identity. While the masses celebrated freedom, the recent law in New York that allows gay marriages was spoken of with passion and aspiration. That is indeed the right India’s LGBT community wants to get..and why not!

Members of the Delhi LGBT community look on as celebrations begin

The pride in Delhi was special because it was mostly organized by the members of The Queer Campus, a group of college students who have liberated themselves and now celebrate their true identity. The young boys and girls from the Queer Campus spoke about their experiences, joys and aspirations as the crowds cheered them on.

The young organizers of the parade - Super Stars!

That was not all, the Delhi Drum Circle came out in support of the LGBT community and thrilled the crowds with a early impromptu performance. The dancing and hugging was spontaneous and almost an emotional moment for me.

Member of the Delhi Drum Circle mix it up to the delight of the crowd!

Time for a hug!No Fear, just Pride!

The graffiti on the wall was full of promises to stand up for our rights and to strengthen the community against any odds. The media loved it too, they were around in full attendance taking pictures and sound bytes. All in all, an event worth remembering!

This was the first pride of the Out Journeys team and I am so happy to see India coming out!

I was invited to attend the first ever pool side party for the boys in Delhi at the freshly done up and truly five star Ramada Plaza right in the heart of the city. The gay party scene in Delhi has been shaping up beautifully over the past year or so and this Saturday night we finally came of age. The expected attendance was about 400 people and we ended up partying through the night with about 850 of them!

Now that is some serious crowd and with everyone wanting a piece of the action, the party showed no signs of ending till almost the morning hours. The pool was never short of guys who simply wanted to beat the searing Delhi heat and those who did not get in to the water were mostly dancing away.

Besides the fun part of it, the whole event was overwhelming in an emotional way. I still get asked about whether we have a ‘gay scene’ in India and till recently all that we could talk about were a few get-togethers here and there. But no more now, Delhi has truly decided to come out and party and there is no stopping us anymore. With about half a dozen night clubs in the city having dedicated gay parties every weak and now the big five star hotels welcoming us as well; Delhi is truly on its way to becoming a gay party hotspot.

Oh, and a word about the organizer; Manish is a super star! He knows the Delhi gay community better than anyone else and his organization, BoyZone is doing stellar work in making many a dreams come true.

As for us at Out Journeys, we can’t wait to get our guests to come and become a part of this amazing scene. I know I am excited and why shouldn’t I be!

Follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Out-Journeys/153528748038109

Visit us at http://www.outjourneys.com/

Two years back, gay tours to India were almost an unheard of concept; the draconian Article 377 did not make it easy for a gay person or a couple to come to India and feel welcomed. I can’t hold it against them too, I would not go to a place where I could be jailed for being myself!

However, Indjapink worked hard back then to launch the first gay travel service for India, Kudos to Sanjay and his team. They have worked hard and have justly got the rewards and recognition for being a path breaker. However, the time has now come for the next act in this grand theatre. India is rightly positioning itself as a promising land in global tourism, in such a scenario why should gay tourism lag behind.

So what does it take to make India a global tourist attraction for gay tourists?

Not a whole lot other than the concerted efforts of a committed group of travel industry professionals. People who understand the sensitivity of a gay traveler, who are willing to painstakingly identify great tourism experiences for a gay person touring India and who are intelligent enough to work with the best service providers in the country – hotels, airlines, guides, drivers and more.

At Out Journeys, we welcome competition; it is our desire to be a part of a community of tour operators who are genuinely working towards opening up the country for gay tourism. We’d like to partner with the iconic hotel chains such as Taj and Oberois and also with the lovely heritage and boutique hotels across Rajasthan, Kerela and everywhere else to educate them about the possibilities of becoming truly gay welcoming. We are already educating the people on the ground about how they can benefit by creating a gay friendly environment and the rewards are already showing!

In the end, what will matter will be our ability to serve our guests, give them a vacation that they will cherish for a lifetime. Make their holiday experience so ‘WOW’ that they HAVE to go back and tell all their friends, that they HAVE to log on to TripAdvisor and write about how beautiful India is, how warm its people are and how wonderfully their holiday was organized.

If we could do this, Out Journeys would have achieved its purpose.

None, you say.

But when you are in India and you mix the two together, it sure makes for an adventurous joyride. People want to know why you are doing what you are doing and then people want to know what exactly is it that you are doing.

It is fun answering these people and it is awfully lot more fun doing my job!

So here I am, a gay travel agent in India; and I have many, many confessions to make.

Just as we were planning to hit out on our own, getting all excited about launching our gay tours in India we thought we need a name that will resonate across the world. We thought we wanted a name that the gay Google user will easily find us through. So we hit upon “Pink Journeys” , we had very limited vision and frankly we thought that just as we attach “pink” in a rather proud sense to being gay in India, the world does the same too.

But then we realized that we were wrong, Pink is passé, it’s gone, over used and sounds too greedy. Our friend, Thomas Roth of Consumer Marketing Inc. pitched in and gave us our first serious education in gay travel and gay business. He told us about pride and how valuable it is to the global LGBT community and he told us about sophisticated the LGBT traveler had become. It struck a chord and hence we decided that we’d call ourselves – “Out Journeys” and we’d tell people how truly beautiful and loving place India is and we’d bring people ‘out’ in India.

Thomas shared a huge amount of market research and intelligence which not only helped us deciding on the name of our gay travel agency but also told us about how gay and lesbian travelers make travel choices, what are their preferences and what are the factors that are negotiable and non-negotiable for them.

Now this was truly enlightening. I had for a while been wondering about how I will stand apart. What is it that will truly make me a gay welcoming travel agent in India.

Armed with all the market research and a deeper understanding of the psyche of the global LGBT traveler, we sat down to brainstorm on what would become our guiding philosophy. We started listing down things which would make us a truly gay welcoming travel agency and make us stand apart in the crowd.

What came out for us through this process were three things, which I personally hold very close to my heart as well: Pride, Honor and Freedom.

Pride in who I am and how I live my life.

Honor all individuals and groups who wish to live in peace and with love.

Freedom to be myself, follow my instincts and not to be questioned about my personal space.

If you would now see the way our business is run and the way we interact with our clients, associates and friends, these three aspects stand out. They are constant. Unwavering.

This is how Out Journeys was born – helping people come out in India.

Visit: http://www.outjourneys.com/

It was apparent that the “guys from India” would get a lot of attention from day 1, but even we were not ready for the warmth and love that we got. What was most remarkable was the fact that almost every single person we met and talked to, urged us to keep going and keep working towards making India a truly welcoming destination for gay travel.

The convention had record attendance this year, about 450 delegates representing 35 countries got together in sunny Fort Lauderdale and took part in great educations sessions, trade shows and pool side parties and OUTstanding concerts. Florida is truly out and welcoming when it comes to supporting the LGBT community and businesses, it is so inspiring because I kept hoping that someday India would be the same too and perhaps in a few years from now we will bring the IGLTA convention to India!

The contingent from Brazil was most upbeat not just because they are the hosts for next year’s convention at Floripa but also because Brazil allowed civil unions only a week back. What a proud moment for our friends from Brazil! They kept telling us that Brazil was where India is today just about ten years back and that nothing will stop India from becoming a great LGBT tourism destination in the near future. Amen to that!

There is a lot more I’d love to share about the convention, perhaps in the next post.

We are bringing India Out!