Here's something of interest to South Asian gay and lesbian people
 This article was excerpted (without permission :-) ) from
 the July-September 1991 issue of a newsletter published by Trikone,
 a gay and lesbian organization for south asians based in San Jose
 in California. The article is kind of dated, but may be of interest
 to 'newly out' people and 'not completely out' people (myself
 included :-))

   -------------- Begin   article -------------------------------------

 DUPATTAS ON FIFTH AVENUE - SOUTH ASIAN GAY ASSOCIATION DEBUTS IN
 NEW YORK.

 On Sunday, June 30, 1991, New York celebrated its annual Gay and
 Lesbian Pride March down Fifth Avenue. The theme of this year's
 parade, "Out Loud and Proud," brought 200,000 people out onto the
 streets to march, watch, and be watched.

 The South Asian gay and lesbian community of New York made its mark
 on the parade for the first time with a prominent and colorful contingent
 from SALGA-New York, the South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association
 formed recently in this city. We marched down Manhattan's
 Fifth Avenue, making our presence felt among the provocative floats
 and looming skyscrapers with our own banner, a flourish of dupattas,
 and to the echoes of qawwali music.

 SALGA-New York formed in the spring of this year mainly by word of
 mouth. We initially met once a month at private homes, growing in
 number from a handful to perhaps 30 members from New York City
 and surrounding states. The rapid success of the group in forming
 and staying together suggests that it has fulfilled a need that was
 generally felt: a need for community and support, a need to discuss and
 affirm our South Asian gay, lesbian or bisexual identities.

 We have welcomed members from South Asia itself - a term we use to
 embrace all the countries of the subcontinent - as well as from
 Africa and the Caribbean.

 SALGA-New York is now meeting twice monthly. We operate through a
 democratic structure of rotating facilitators, and encourage open
 discussion among members. We alternate between one evening at the
 Lesbian and Gay Community Center on 13th Street in the heart of
 Greenwich Village, where we discuss issues relevant to our gay
 experience, and another evening devoted to socializing and good
 times.

 What do we hope to achieve ?

 Perhaps the most important thing is to establish an atmosphere of
 trust in whch people feel comfortable about meeting one another as
 a group and raising their immediate concerns and experiences.

 We would ultimately like to be able to reach out to those who are
 more isolated in our community and network with other groups such as
 gay Americans from other parts of Asia, as well as our counterparts in
 South Asia itself.

 Issues of concern to us include the complex racial politics of gay and
 straight American life, the threat posed by AIDS to South Asians
 the world over, and teh pressures and pleasures unique to our own
 situation: family expectations, migration and integration, and
 negotiating between the different roles that we play in working,
 living and loving.

 We have already hosted speakers from New Delhi and California. In
 the coming months we plan to screen films dealing with the South
 Asian gay experience and co-sponser a demonstration in New York
 and other cities highlighting the AIDS epidemic in India.

 Our strenth lies also in numbers: we welcome new members from the
 large South Asian community in the New York area. We can be
 reached at (212) 475-6486 or by writing to : SALGA - New York
 170, East 3rd Street, Apt. 2G, NY 10009.

    ------------- End  article ----------------------------------------
 NB: Minor changes have been made to the original article. This
 organization was initially named SAGA-NY, which was subsequently
 updated to SALGA to correct the obvious lapse. The address
 included in this posting is the latest address which differs from
 the one in the original article.

 [**ME**]
    --------------------------------------------------------------
 PS. I think shimi at Darmouth wanted to know about other
 'Indian dykes' in the vicinity. In case you don't already know about
 this organization, you could contact them shimi.