Help us write our next chapter
Thousands of people use gaysians.org every year to access support with mental health, housing, faith, gender and more.
We are fundraising in order to
re-evaluate all our service providers and source new partners where needed. The needs and shape of the community has changed and we want to ensure we have these needs covered, especially with trans and nb service providers
deliver a media campaign - we want to push the site and resources to a new generation of LGBTQ+ people who are less aware of the services we offer. Many are younger people and many are of all ages who have come to explore their gender and sexuality more recently
create more written content (letters and interviews) on the site of the lived experience of trans, nb, lesbian and neurodiverse LGBTQ+ South Asians as well as more stories from a range of ages
For more information about our plans, please read this letter from our Founder.
Welcome to Gaysians
By Gaysians Founder, Reeta Loi. December 2025
We were founded in 2017 when I was a columnist at DIVA magazine, before joining GAY TIMES as Contributing Editor. Before this I had spent several years writing and speaking in the media anonymously. I had spent two decades living as a lesbian and was still to see myself reflected in the media, in the club and even online. This may sound inconceivable now, but the erasure back then was overwhelming.
During the winter of 2017/18 I travelled to India to work with activists and artists and marched at Mumbai Pride. At the time Section 377 was still in place, which criminalised homosexuality in India. The landmark victory in September 2018 with the successful removal of Section 377, was felt the world over by the Indian diaspora and beyond. It is an honour to have campaigned for this in the media and in government at such an important time in our history. I returned to India that winter and marched again at Mumbai Pride and the shift in energy through our shared liberation was truly magnificent! We had our own Gaysians celebration in London and it was a defining moment.
I had grown up in the UK under Section 28, which systematically removed all mention of LGBTQ+ lives from our education system from 1988 to 2003 in England and Wales and 2000 in Scotland. As well as this erasure of LGBTQ+ people in our education system, there was no inclusion of colonial history in our education either.
It wasn’t until I was in my late twenties, after years of searching that I found a blog post written by an anon Indian lesbian in Mumbai. Her story changed the course of my life, because it inspired me to share my own. I began writing about my experiences in the media because I’d had enough of not seeing myself reflected anywhere.
I am sharing this to illustrate how easily we are erased and also to remind us that it is not so long ago that we were not visible. I am also voicing myself and sharing my contributions because the erasure still continues today.
There is erasure each time a new tech platform is launched and is dominated by content that does not include us. There is erasure each time a law is passed to limit our ability to be ourselves and to access each other in the past, present or future. There is erasure each time we censor ourselves and do not share our voices, out of fear, shame or lack of belief in ourselves. There is erasure each time members of our community compete with each other to be validated by a world that will never give them what they seek, because what they seek can only be found within themselves. And there is erasure because many of us don’t make it.
This erasure is designed to make us forget who we are from one generation to the next. But we have to be stronger than that. We are stronger than that.
We have always existed and nowhere more in the world is this more prominent than in Asia, where historical sites that evidence our history still exist. Where we are a visible part of society. Where we have a third gender on our passports. Where being trans is an everyday part of our lived experience, mythology, storytelling and survival. We belong here.
Gaysians works with organisations and charities to advise them on how to best serve us as people that have specific, nuanced experiences and often complex challenges navigating our culture, sexuality and gender identities in the diaspora. We have a wide range of partners, offering a broad scope of support including mental health, housing, sexual health, faith, trans and youth support. Our Resources section is a space that we’ve curated for you, please use this to access support. While we are ourselves are LGBTQ+ Asians, this site is for all LGBTQ+ people.
As well as this, we work with the media to continue to push for positive visibility of Asian LGBTQ+ people, our rights and our stories. The Letters sections of the site is a space for members of the community to share open letters about the topics that matter to them most. This exists so that you can share your voice and spotlight what we as a small team do not have the lived experience to speak on. These letters are far reaching and can influence culture and policy. If you would like to submit a letter to us then please get in touch. We also have Interviews which we plan to expand on.
The very first iteration of gaysians.org promoted events and we are exploring this again. Meeting irl has never felt more important for us as a community. As an independent and unfunded organisation that chooses to maintain autonomy, we have decided not to set up as a CIC, which would restrict our campaigning work. Rather than access funding in exchange for censorship, we are exploring alternative routes.
We are raising funds via our gofundme which we initially launched in 2020. Funds will cover a review of our existing charity partners, help us establish new partnerships, create more community articles and develop our strategy, including a new PR campaign.
Keep an eye on our socials (our Twitter is no longer active but we share events and campaigns on Insta) and sign up to our newsletter for more updates.
With love,