These photographs were taken at the Queer Media Awards 2008 ceremony in Mumbai on 19 April 2008. If you are from the media and need high-resolution pictures for your publication, please get in touch with Vikram at vgd67@yahoo.co.uk
The copyright of all photos rests with the Queer Media Collective.
A guest with Bachi Karkaria, award winner and The Sunday Times of India columnist
Manvendra Singh Gohil, the Rajkumar of Rajpipla, and a guest
Anurag Tyagi of the Queer Media Collective introduced QMC and Sandeep Singh Chudasama (not in this picture), the master of ceremonies for the evening
MC Sandeep Singh Chudasama
Chudasama introduces well-known fashion designer and awards presenter for the evening, Wendell Rodricks
Rodricks and Chudasama
Abhijit Majumdar, Associate Editor, Hindustan Times (HT) accepts the award for ‘Best Newspaper for Queer Coverage and Representation’ on behalf of his newspaper
Majumdar spoke about the importance of gatekeeping as much as doing queer-related stories. He said that part of what his paper does is also stopping the bad or stereotyped stories from coming out, and the fact that QMC was giving HT this award shows that they were getting this right
Sujay Gupta, Chief of the Mumbai bureau of NDTV24X7, accepted the award for ‘Best TV Channel (News) for Queer Coverage and Representation’
Sujay Gupta’s NDTV has gone out of its way to cover the queer community consistently and with sensitivity
Naresh Fernandes, Editor in Chief, TimeOut (India), accepted the award for “Best Magazine for Queer Coverage and Representation’
Naresh Fernandes’s TimeOut (India) has taken the lead in covering the queer community as just a regular part of Indian life
Ashok Row Kavi, well-know activist, UNAIDS consultant and QMC member, accepted The Humsafar Trust award on behalf of his mother, Shobha Row Kavi
Ashok’s mother, now approaching 80, in her first interview to Savvy magazine, where her son’s first ‘outing’ took place in 1984, defended gay children as worthy of “unconditional love and care, especially since they faced so much more oppression in a cruel society”. In a pre-recorded message, Mrs. Row Kavi thanked QMC for the award and said it’s a great idea to honor parents of gay children.
Dr. Mahinder Watsa, who writes a column ‘Ask The Sexpert’ in the Mumbai Mirror, took the award for ‘Best Advice Columnist for Queer Coverage and Representation’
In Dr. Watsa, we have a columnist who is willing to listen and to give sane, non-judgmental advice in his characteristic no-nonsense style
Arati Singh, Head of Production India, NDTV24X7, accepted the ‘Best TV Journalist for Queer Coverage and Representation’ on behalf of Barkha Dutt
Bachi Karkaria won the award for ‘Best Print Journalist for Queer Coverage and Representation’
Bachi Karkaria has been writing on queer issues long before they became fashionable
Karkaria has also been a pioneer in writing on HIV/AIDS and has been a strong voice against stigmatization based on HIV status
Mrs. Raj Khote was given the Gaybombay Award. She is the aunt of a GB member, has hosted the group’s first meetings, and has been a mainstay of GB’s meets for parents of gay men
Fashion designer Arjun Bhasin accepted the award for ‘Best Treatment of Queer Issues in a Popular Film’ on behalf of Reema Kagti, director of the film ‘Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.
Rohini Mohan, Executive, Production, CNN-IBN’s Special Projects team, accepted the award for ‘Best Documentary/Film with a Social Message on Queer Issues’ on behalf of Sagarika Ghose and the rest of the team for the series ‘The Alternate Sexuality’
If it’s rare for TV to do sensitive, in-depth and balanced shows on queer issues, it’s unheard of for it do a multiple part series on the subject. But that’s just what Mohan’s team at CNN-IBN did
Sushmitha Rao, Executive, Programming, Zee Cafe, accepted the award for ‘Best TV Channel (Entertainment) for Queer Coverage and Representation’ on behalf of her channel
Manvendra Singh Gohil, the Rajkumar of Rajpipla accepts the award for ‘Queer Newsperson of the Year’
Gohil was given the award because of his immense contribution towards raising queer issues in the media. Most important of all, he did so in the regional media which is where exposure on queer issues is most needed
Gohil’s appearance on famous shows like Oprah in the US led to further positive media exposure in India
Rodricks, Chudasama and Tyagi displaying a T-shirt with an anti-Section 377 message. Section 377 of the Indian penal Code criminalizes “carnal intercourse against the order of nature”
Videos
Best TV Channel (News) for Queer Coverage and Representation – NDTV
‘Best TV Journalist for Queer Coverage and Representation’ – Barkha Dutt
‘Best Documentary/Film with a Social Message on Queer Issues’ – CNN-IBN’s Special Projects team/Sagarika Ghose
‘Best Treatment of Queer Issues in a Popular Film’ – Reema Kagti, director and writer of the film ‘Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.’
‘Queer Newsperson of the Year’ – Manvendra Singh Gohil, Rajkumar of Rajpipla
‘The Humsafar Trust Award’ – Shobha Row Kavi
Queer Media Collective 
It was a great event and the coverage was fantastic.
This is the great work done by the vikram. Congratulations!!!!!
This is a great initiative. As a gay Indian myself I realize how difficult it must have been for the organizers to arrange something of this scale. But considering the future of millions of gay and lesbian Indians who might one day breathe an air of relief, it is a worthwhile effort. No amount of praise is enough for the organizers and the awardees. Congratulations !
I think it’s great to see Indian mainstream media embracing homosexuality through their coverage and through QMC’s platform getting recognized for the same. I hope that this event is well publicized in the newspapers and channels across the nation. I am a gay man of Indian decent but now living in US. There are lots of people like me who prefer to stay abroad where life is much safer for gay men but we always long for our country and dream that one day we will move back to India where we, gay men, can live freely. Initiatives like this really make me hopeful for that day. Congrats and great work done.
I personally think, that the Qmc Awards is a well deserve note of thanks to people who contribut positvely to the queer society.
It feels very humbling to hear all the support and sensitivty towards us from celibrities from the feilds of news,movies,etc
Would like to contratulate each and every one associated with this milestone intiative called Qmc Awards.
Best of Regars as usual.
Rajeev.
this is fantastic..i just came to know about this whoever had the idea to organize these awards was brilliant and I want to congratulate all those whose hard work made this happen… it is good to honor those who are doing groundbreaking things.. and it seems like there is more and more of that happening.. these awards will document the history of our community and will hopefully inspire other journalists and media folks and queer people in general to take a courageous stand. what ashok’s mom said was very simple and true — hopefully it will speak to the other mothers!!! three cheers for the Qmc!!!! paige
Hi,
This was an unique moment for all of us in Bombay that we got to host the first ever Queer Media Awards in India. The Initiative taken by media persons to the positiveness of alternative community is exemplary and beyond doubt path breaking.
Congratulations for putting together these awards. It is very important for the media to partner with the LGBTQ movement in India and support positive and unbiased reporting. Keep up the good work.
Rakesh Modi
Co-Chairperson
Trikone
San Francisco
Awesome!
Every step counts and maximum exposure to every part of the country about these issues should be the Goal. The government should be able to say India is not ready to deal with our rights!!
Congratulations to the team!!!!!!!!!
Chandra
San Jose
This is such a positive step! I can’t wait to see the awards show progress as the years go on…the more positive light reflected on Desi Queers in India the more pressure it will put on the government to abolish Section 377. Thank you for putting together this show.
While it’s great to see a some sort of visibility for the queer community in India (and yep, HT’s award is well-deserved for sure :)), I have an issue with the CNN-IBN documentary. It just SMACKS of ignorance — “new sexuality”, “his CHOSEN sexuality”… I mean, seriously? Is this the best to come out of Indian media? If that is indeed the case, that’s very sad indeed.
simply wowwww!!! great work!! fabulous….! applause , applause!! xoxoxoxo
A landmark event in Indian LGBT rights history. My heartfelt congratulations and thanks to QMC.
Hi i am gautam yadav i am 18yrs old now I am also a gay n i tell that my hole family members n they not digest that n they think this is a dieases n they tell me Waqt Ke sath sab kuchh sahi ho jayega how can i explain to them pls help me n i have a dream in my life i wana meet to manvendra ji manvendra ji if u read that then pls contact me at deepu123_im@yahoo.co.in
pls its very important for me
very intresting
i used to think it is a psychological disorder before but now i learnt that it is not, any i accept them as our fellow beings and support them and raise voice along them to be accepted by our soiety. may god give them strength and my advice to all that is that be fearless and dont attempt to commit sucide strenght is life and weakness is death.
It is really great that more Indians are able to express their true identities and it is good that the media is slowly getting away from treating this as a “freak show” as one of the journalists put it. All strength to the organisers. Sincere condolences to Ashok and the gay community for the recent loss.
Dear Naani (Shobha Row Kavi),
May your soul rest in peace.
May your message reach all our mothers.
May they all follow your advice.
With all my Love… and wishing you all the love of Whoever lies beyond, owais.
Hi All,
This was realy amazing thing done by media. furhter one need ensure that people are educated to have a decent love and not something which is going to hamper our dignity.