#south asian queer

[desi-lgbt-fest]

Hello Gaysis!!!

I see you all waiting with bated breath!! Never fear, the prompts are finally here!!!!

It is our pleasure to bring to you the 30 day prompts for the Desi LGBT Fest 2023!!!

Feel free to draw, write, sing, dance, anything you want, anyhow the inspiration strikes you with the prompts! It can be a simple sketch, elaborate painting, a nonfiction piece, a sweet story, a poem, a cherished memory. Create and share and become a part of this small place online we're carving for ourselves...

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

The over all theme of this year's Fest is:

"Queer As In Defying Conventions: What Does It Mean To Be Convention Defying In South Asian Contexts"

This means describing what queer defiance means to you and how you navigate your world within it. However, the prompt theme is merely a suggestion and not a requirement, so feel free to use the prompts as you wish! And if you do not want to use specific prompts, you can share something based on the overall theme with us.

Throughout the event, we will be signal boosting charaties, organizations, marches, as well as reblogging some of our favorite highlights from last year!

Head over to this post for rules and guidelines for posting the prompts. The image description is under the cut.

Image description: A flyer with a rainbow background. The title states Desi LGBT Fest 2023 Prompt List. The subtitle and theme states "Queer as in defying convention: What does it mean to be 'Queer' in South Asian Contexts of being unconventional?" Below, the 30-day prompts are given as follows:

Prompt List 

Theme: "Queer as in defying convention: What does it mean to be 'Queer' in South Asian contexts of being unconventional?" 

Dream Gay Aesthetic 

Legacy 

Fear/Guilt 

Ten Steps Forward, Two Steps Back 

A Little Freedom is All I Need

5+1 Things 

Faith/Rituals of Love 

The acceptance you hoped for vs. the acceptance you got 

Perseverance 

“They bring me flowers” 

One Fine Sunday…

The First in Your Family to: 

Once upon a time in _____

Public Transport 

Top 5 Desi Ways to Come Out 

Raat ki Roshni (Nightlife) 

Rainbow Sparkles 

The Box of Pictures in Ma’s Attic 

Sketching Life 

A Song That Fits Us 

Joy Yet to be Found 

Phati (torn) Shirt, Stitch It Up For Me 

Disconnect 

A Folksong/Folklore 

Saptiya? (Did you eat?)

Retro Desi Gays 

Kotha (talk, speak) 

Walk of Pride 

Defiance: of gender, of expectations

“We are who we choose to be”

[titan-god-helios]

i love you black trans people. i love you asian trans people from all over asia (not just east asia). i love you hispanic trans people. i love you indigenous trans people. i love you poc trans people. you're doing great, i promise you, and i'm so fucking sorry the community erases you as much as it does.

[starkitten101]

Made this in like a minute out of frustration over a couple memories. Is this anything

[crunchycrystals]

this makes me want to cry

[doodlesnoff]

Commission for Gaza families of Priya & Malini’s reunion in Oleander Sword. Donate and get a drawing!

[kaalbela]

In the 16th century in Punjab, Shah Hussain, a Sufi poet and mystic met and fell in love with a Hindu boy called named Madho Lal. Though gay marriage was not legal anywhere in the world before this century, Hussain and Madho defied social conventions and lived together for six years till Hussain's death in 1599. Hussain's poetry is significantly inspired by his relationship with Madho, with some poems addressed directly to him. After Hussain's death Madho continued to live close to where he was buried in present day Baghbanpura in Lahore, and was buried next to Hussain after his death. They continue to lie buried side by side in the same enclosure to this day, and the enclosure is named Hazrat Madho Lal Hussain, embodying one soul living in two bodies.

The annual celebration called Mela Chiraghan or Festival of Lights is held in March in Lahore in order to celebrate the love of Madho and Hussain as well as Hussain's poetry. It is unknown how the ritual was established, but it dates as far back as the the 18th century: there are records of Maharaja Ranjit Singh leading a barefooted procession from the Fort to the mausoleum for this celebration. At present, the festival is conducted over three days and attracts large crowds. Cotton-seed oil lamps are lighted in the streets and houses of the city. Devotees sing and dance and read Hussain's poetry in order to commemorate the triumph of tolerance over forces of bigotry.

[buttercupspotify]

happy #pridemonth

↪dedicated to all my fellow queers, you all deserve love.

↪ celebrate this pride month to it's fullest cause प्यार तोह प्यार ही है.

People I think who'd love this mb : @white-poppie @ji-jii-visha @bishh-kanya @bipdf @nerdreader @azure-cherie @navaratna @ramayantika @itsfookingloosah @folklore-girl @oyeevarnika @swayamev @suvarnarekha

[rule-of-rose]

TRANS JOY AND EXISTENCE, 2024.

It's been quite a while since I actually posted my face on here. So, here it is. It's been 40 weeks since I had breast reduction surgery, also known as "teetus deletus." I currently have short curls instead of long curls and I've finally achieved the curly mullet look. I know this may seem silly, but I finally like the person I see in the mirror. Scarred body, bird's nest curls, fucked up joints and all. To everyone out there, hey. I'm Siobhan, the queer idiot behind this thing.

[hauntingofhouses]

i know I've mentioned my interpretation of mizu's gender a million times on here but i don't think i ever fully elaborated on it.

so on that note i just wanna ramble about that for a bit. basically, it's my reading of the show that mizu is nonbinary, so let me dig into that.

putting the rest under the cut because it ended up being pretty long lol. also here have a cute mizu pic of her being happy and most at ease with herself, symbolised by her letting her hair down. <3 ok let's proceed.

thus, when i refer to mizu as nonbinary, i am interpreting mizu as a woman, but not ONLY a woman. not strictly a woman. she is also a man. she is also neither of these things, she is something in between, while at the same time she is none of these at all. i've said as much many times, but i just don't want people to think that when i say nonbinary, it inherently means a "third androgynous gender" that essentially turns the gender binary into a gender trinary. not only is that going against what the term nonbinary was crafted for (to go against rigid boxes and categorisation of gender identities), but also, not all nonbinary people fall under that category or definition, and that's definitely not the way i interpret mizu.

okay before i go deeper i'd just like to address some important things. first of all, this post is an analysis of canon, and thus everything i am arguing for is about my own interpretation of the show, and not some baseless projected headcanon i am projecting onto the character. please remember there is a difference between an interpretation (subjective; interpretations will differ from viewer to viewer, but ultimately it is firmly rooted in evidence taken from the source material) VS a headcanon (unrelated and often even contrary to what is presented in canon; opinions wildly differ and they cannot be argued for because there is no canonical evidence to back it up).

ALSO please note that nonbinary is an umbrella term. this means that it applies to a vast range of gender identities. other identities that fall under the nonbinary umbrella include agender, bigender, genderfluid, and so on. however, it's my personal preference to use the term nonbinary as it is, simply because i'm not a fan of microlabels (more power to you if you do like them and find they suit you more though!).

also, before anyone fights me on this, let me clarify further that gender means something different to everyone. it's not your biological sex or physical characteristics. but at the same time, gender is not mere presentation. you can be a trans woman and still present masculine—either because you're closeted and forced to, or because you just want to—and either way, that doesn't take away from your identity as a woman. same goes for trans men. if you're a trans man but you wear skirts and don't bind or don't get top surgery, that doesn't make you any less of a man. because gender non-conformity exists, and does not only apply to cis people! some lesbians are nonbinary and prefer using he/him pronouns while dressing masculinely, but that doesn't mean they're a man, or that they're any less of a lesbian. neither does this mean that they're a cis woman.

the thing about queer identities in general is that, like i said, they mean something different to everyone, because how you identify—regardless of your biological attributes and fashion or pronouns—is an extremely personal experience. so a nonbinary person and a gnc cis woman's experiences might have plenty of overlap, but what distinguishes between the two is up to the individual. there's no set requirements to distinguish you as one or the other, but it's up to you to decide what you identify as, based on what you feel. either way, by simply identifying yourself as anything under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, you are already communicating to the world that you are not what a conservative, cisheteronormative society wants you to be.

which is why i find all this queer infighting on labels to be so ridiculous. because we're all fighting the same fight; the common enemy is a societal structure that divides us into set roles and expectations purely based on our biological parts. that's why biological essentialism in the queer community is a fucking disease. because by arguing that women are inherently weak and fragile and soft and gentle and must be protected from evil ugly men, while men are inherently strong and angry and violent and exploitative of women, these people are advocating for the same fucked up system that marginalises and abuses women as well as effeminate and/or gay men.

anyway. i'm going on a tangent. this was meant to be a blue eye samurai post. so yeah back to that— the point i'm trying to make is that there's no singular way to identify as anything, as everyone's views on gender, especially their own, is specific and personal to the individual.

so with that being said, yes you can definitely interpret mizu as a gnc cis woman and that's a totally valid reading of the text. however, interpreting her as nonbinary or transmasc also doesn't take away from her experiences with misogyny and female oppression, because nonbinary and transmasc folks also experience these things.

me, personally, i view her as nonbinary but not necessarily or not always transmasc because i still believe femininity and womanhood is a very inherent part of who mizu is. for example, from what we've seen, she does not like binding. it does not give her gender euphoria, but is instead very uncomfortable for her both physically and mentally, and represents her suppressing her true self. which is why when she "invites the whole" of herself, she stands completely bare in front of the fire, breasts unbound and hair untied. when she is on the ship heading to a new land in the ending scene, she is no longer hiding her neck and the lack of an adam's apple. we can thus infer that mizu does not have body dysmorphia. she is, in fact, comfortable in her body, and relies on it extremely, because her body is a weapon. instead, what mizu hates about herself is her face—her blue eyes. she hates herself for her hybridised racial identity, hates herself for being a racial Other. hates that she has no home in her homeland. thus it is important to note that these are not queer or feminist themes, but postcolonial ones.*

* and as a tiny aside on this subject, i really do wish more of the fandom discussion would talk about this more. it's just such an essential part to reading her character. like someone who's read homi k bhabha's location of culture and has watched this show, PLEASE talk to me so we can ramble all about how the show is all about home and alienation from community. please. okay anyway—

nevertheless, queer and feminist themes (which are not mutually exclusive by the way!) are still prevalent in her story, though they are not the main issue that she is struggling with. but she does struggle with it to some extent, and we see this especially during her marriage with mikio, where we see her struggle in women's domestic spaces.

on the other hand, though, she finds no trouble or discomfort in being a man or being around other men—even naked ones—and does not seem stifled by living as one, does not seem all that bothered or uncomfortable navigating through men's spaces. contrast this to something like disney's mulan (1998), where we do see mulan struggle in navigating through men's spaces, as she feels uncomfortable being around so many men, always feeling like she doesn't belong and that she's inherently different from them. mizu has no such experiences like this, as her very personality and approach to life is what can be categorised as typically "masculine". she is straightforward and blunt. her first meeting with mikio, she tells him straight to his face that he's old while frowning and raising a brow at him. she approaches problems with her muscles and fists (or swords), rather than with her words or mind. compare this with mulan, who, while well-trained by the end of the movie, still uses her sharp wits rather than brute strength. this is a typically "feminine" approach. it's also the approach akemi relies on throughout the show—through her intelligence and persuasive tongue, she navigates the brothel with ease. mizu, in contrast to someone like mulan and akemi, struggles with womanhood and femininity, and feels detached from it.

thus, in my opinion, mizu is not simply a man, nor is she simply a woman. she is both. man and woman. masculine and feminine. she has to accept both, rather than suppress one or the other. her name means water. fluid.

as a side note, while i do believe mizu is nonbinary, i also primarily use she/her pronouns for her, but this is a personal preference. i find it's easier to use in fanfic (singular they is confusing to write stories with, but again, that's just my feelings on it, and this is coming from someone who uses they/they pronouns). i also lean towards she/her because it's what the creators and all the official promotional copywriting of the show uses. and even though i am a "death to the author" enjoyer, i feel that when interpreting things that are left open-ended, it does help to look at the creators' take on things. also because, in general, being nonbinary simply doesn't necessitate the use of they/them pronouns. nonbinary is not just a third gender. it's about breaking the binary, in any which way, and that's exactly what mizu does, constantly.

also, i'd also like to mention that one of show's head of story even referred to her with the term "nonbinary", rather than simply "androgynous" (see pic below). and it's possible this could be a slip up on his part, in which he believes the terms are interchangeable (they're not btw), but regardless i find it a very interesting word choice, and one that supports my argument.

so anyway yeah that's my incredibly long rambling post.

TL;DR nonbinary mizu rights 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 congrats if you reached the end of this btw. also ily. unless you're a TERF in which case fuck off. ok i'm done.

[desi-lgbt-fest]

DESI LGBT FEST 2023 Rules and Guidelines

All work will be posted with due credit and the creators retain all rights for it.

This event is limited to Tumblr. However, if you want to post your work elsewhere as well, you definitely can, as long as you credit the Desi LGBT Fest for which it was made. If you want your work reblogged in our fest, then provide the link and tag us in a Tumblr post.

Late submissions are accepted. Please allow mods at least 24 hours to do their due diligence. 

Any work cannot involve purposeful hate, direct attacks or otherwise bashing of any other queer identity. Any depiction of homophobia/transphobia/etc. needs to be tagged as such. If deemed too inauthentic by any of the Mods of this blog, then we reserve the right to not reblog or promote such content. 

Any work cannot involve purposeful hate, direct attack, or otherwise bashing of any religion, ethnicity, or real-life persons. Any such content needs to be tagged as such. If deemed too inauthentic by any of the Mods of this blog, then we reserve the right to not reblog or promote such content. 

Please provide ample content warnings if your work features any difficult subject matters. 

If you want to submit photographs, essays, nonfiction, or stories of any kind that involves real events, people, or places, three things are mandatory:

Cite the sources

Consent of people featured as much as possible

Respect, above all.

This event is to encourage new creations as much as possible, but if you have any existing art, stories, or content that you want to get featured on the blog, you can submit it. Just be sure to tag us properly so we can reblog. 

Regarding content in non-English languages:

It will be featured as it is. Others are welcome to translate it for accessibility with the permission of the creators. But the main purpose of the fest is to create Queer Content for the Desis and it’s important that the content in your own language also gets a platform.

All NSFW content should/will be properly tagged. This Fest is for all, minors included!!! There’s nothing inherently 18+ about queer identities and minors should feel safe participating in this event as well.

Reblog, reblog, reblog! The more people this festival reaches, the more content we can all share, love, and create!

[celluloidrainbow]

삼공일, 삼공이 | 301, 302 (1995) dir. Park Chul-soo Song and Yun, respectively a chef and an anorexic writer, are two women who are neighbors in an apartment building. Song (301) tries to entice her neighbor to eat with fabulous meals. Yun (302) refuses to eat, and this refusal begins a turbulent relationship that forces both women to delve into their tortuous pasts. (link in title)

[xpsx-8]

Sapphic south asians in media!!

[janaknandini-singh999]

When the non binary planet fell in love with a gender fluid deity <3

part 1

part 2 here

Ila/Sudyumna: she/him

Budh: they/them

source: the Hindu mythology tales according to which Ila gave birth to Chandravanshis (the lunar dynasty) and Budh was the Mercury planet

"Do I know you?" the prince batted his long eyelashes, furrowing his eyebrows

Budh sighed. Their heart broke every time their lover didn't even recognize them.

Budh had been cursed by their maharishi (sage) father to be born as a gender neuter when he had come to know that Budh was an illegitimate child.

"You have betrayed me!" He had shouted at his wife "May your child be born neither as male or female. Be it be outside just as you're neither here nor there!"

Budh had been often made fun of because of that. It used to hurt them all the time but their mother used to say "Don't worry, child. You will find your purpose, too." gently patting and kissing their forehead

They weren't as convinced of that, though

Not until they met Sudyumna

As soon as they laid eyes on him, they knew their destiny had come walking right to them. As soon as he had entered that forest, Budh had hid behind a tree, biting their lips and frantically thinking of calling out to Sudyumna to warn him that this was no ordinary forest but a magical one woven by Shiva himself called Shravana. Any being who'd enter this forest of Shravana would be turned into a female. It was a special place where Shiva and Parvati made love but Parvati was furious one day when males used to enter and intrude them so Shiva granted the forest the ability to turn anyone who'd enter it, to a female

"Prince- !" Budh started

Too late

Sudyumna had already started transforming into a woman. He looked around at his body slowly changing but before he could react, it was done

Budh's eyes had widened. Sudyumna had turned into the most beautiful woman they had ever seen. The jewels and clothes were still the same but now a female body inhabited the prince's attire.

"Who am I?" Sudyumna had been confused after having forgotten everything about when he was a male

Suddenly Sudyumna's gaze had fallen upon Budh

She had blinked her long eyelashes "Please help me. I think I'm lost" she had whispered in broken tones, afraid that she was all alone in this vast forest and she didn't even remember who she was "I know it sounds absurd but I- I don't.. Do you know who I am?"

Budh had been so pained to see Sudyumna this way but they still couldn't just help but fall for Sudyumna even more

"Ila" Budh said the first name that came to them

"Ila" she echoed, relishing the sound of the name, making it settle in her heart.

At last, she had smiled

And Budh had smiled back

A month went by and both had grown deeper in love with each other, living happily in the forest together

Budh had told Ila about what happened to Sudyumna, about who she really was. They didn't want to hide anything from her. And Ila listened in awe. It was hard to believe at first but as soon as Budh showed her other male creatures entering the forest instantly turning into females, she was dumbfounded

On the last day before the next month, Budh told Ila that now she'd change again into the male body as Sudyumna, losing memories of everything during when she was Ila. And this is how it would go on. One month as Ila, one as Sudyumna and so on.

That is the law of Shivshakti's Shravana

Ila closed her eyes and nodded slowly. When she opened them again, there were tears in them

"I will forget you, too?"

Budh nodded, unable to form any words because of the grief. Grief of losing the only one who had understood them, who felt so connected to them. Gender had rolled a dice and played a game with both of them so they were similar but Budh didn't fall for their lover just because of that. Gender was never the determinant because Budh loved regardless of when their lover's body was of a man's or woman's, whether it was this birth or any other

They loved Sudyumna/Ila. Always

"I don't want to," Ila continued, lowering her eyes, averting them away from Budh. Suddenly, she looked up, a wistful glint in her eyes "Make me remember again. Like you did. Please, I can't afford to forget you" she held Budh's hands tightly, as if clutching an anchor of her memories with them. She caressed Budh's face, as if to memorize each atom of their skin, their soul. So reverently, praying that nothing would be ever able to forget her of this. "Make me remember us. Every time. Promise me, please."

"I do" Budh kissed her eyes

Ila smiled and dissolved into a light as her body started transforming again. Budh stood back

And there he was

Sudyumna

Budh turned around and started walking away, seeking shelter behind the trees as he did before Sudyumna came in their life. They will always keep a protective eye over their lover from there

"Hey!"

Budh stopped in their tracks, heart banging against the chest. Maybe Sudyumna did still remember them, after all! Budh turned around

"Do I know you?" The prince batted his long eyelashes, furrowing his eyebrows

Budh sighed now "I am Budh"

"Nice to meet you, Budh!" Sudyumna held out his hand

Budh smiled politely and shook it, their eyes falling on the scar visible on his palm

"Oh, that's just another battle mark. Badges of honour, ya know? I have many!" Sudyumna beamed

Budh nodded "I know"

They remembered tracing and kissing all scars on Ila's body. There were actually a lot of them. And Budh knew exactly where each one was

"Maybe someday as Sudyumna I could tell you the stories behind each one of them" Ila had whispered, kissing Budh back

"You know about my scars?" Sudyumna said now "Isn't it the first time of us meeting.. umm? OH, where are my manners!? I didn't even introduce myself. My name is Sudyumna and-" He suddenly looked around at the forest "Wait, how much time exactly have I been HERE? I'm sorry but I really need to rush back to my kingdom right now. Again, it was a pleasure to meet you, Budh."

Budh looked at his silhouette going away

Neither here nor there

So, somewhere in the midst of it all

Meet me again?

[doodlesnoff]

sometimes siblings fight over their diametrically opposed theories of change

FINALLY finished one of my dozen drafts for The Jasmine Throne and yes it was while rewatching legend of korra on a bus

[queernymphdoll]

Was hella fun LIS’ing my dorm~🎀

Not at Black Well ᡣ𐭩, but as a queer. Art. Student. Minus the super powers~ ᡣ𐭩

[lagaans]

Yhara Zhayd video on we are lady parts and soooo many people in the comments saying they had either never heard of it or only hear about it in passing and are now going to watch!! I'm so excited for them to get into it 😊 it also feels like such a beautiful mirror of the scene in s1 where Momtaz says that despite the thousands of awful comments from randos they managed to gain new fans who were like them and genuinely related to their art ahhh 🥲