अवघा रंग एक झाला - Celebrating Unity in Understanding Our LGBTQ Family and Community Members

Program Logistics:

Who: 

All are welcome - people of all backgrounds and languages! We join this multidimensional session to learn together, raise awareness, and to support and celebrate our LGBTQ community and family members.

Language: Most presentations will be fully in English, those in Marathi will be subtitled in English.

What: 

This is part of a 2 part awareness initiative at BMM - Bruhan Maharashtra Mandal Convention Seattle. 

1) Booth: We will have a resource booth in the Seattle Convention Center BMM Expo Hall during the convention days through our Library Event on Saturday August 8th.

2) Convention Weekend LGBTQ Library Program: 3 hour program of in-person and video interviews and presentations, see poster and program description for details. 

When: 

Main Presentation: Saturday, August 8, 2026: 2-5pm. 1 hour networking and social hour to follow from 5-6pm. 

Booth: BMM Convention Days through the Presentation on Saturday Afternoon. 

Where: 

Main Presentation: Seattle Central Library, Level 4, Rooms 1 & 2 

Booth: BMM Expo Hall at Seattle Convention Center

Program Description:

Background:

At this time in history, 79 years after Indian independence, we as a global society (not just Maharashtrians) are re-analyzing some of the thoughts and attitudes around LGBTQ identity and associated rights and social recognition.

Marathi culture embodies the values of progressive and independent thought and has been a leader in the Indian culture for promoting key social change. We come from the subcontinent known most prominently in history for including people of all walks of life.

As families of the Maharashtrian diaspora, when faced with new social questions, we often look to science, culture and tradition, and the wisdom of elders and those with lived experience.

This program will be a collection of in-person and video interviews bringing together expertise from the fields of medicine and psychology, mythology and culture, and policy and grass-roots organization, as well as talks from LGBTQ-identified Marathi community members. This presentation is intended to help inform our thoughts on LGBTQ from scientific, medical, cultural and community perspectives and to review our cultural history of inclusion and celebration of LGBTQ diversity in Indian traditions and history.

Presenters:

Our presentation features interviews with prominent medical professionals from Maharashtra and the United States. Our lineup includes:

• Dr. Bhushan Shukla, one of Maharashtra’s leading Child & Adolescent Psychiatrists,

• Dr. Jyoti Shetty, Head of Psychiatry at Bharati Vidyapeeth Medical College,

• Rujuta Deshmankar, a Pune-based Psychologist specializing in LGBTQ health,

• Dr. Vinay Kulkarni, an Indian National Expert in Sexual Health and Founder of Prayas Health Group. Dr. Kulkarni documented the first HIV case in Pune in the 1980s,

• Dr. Dilip Nagarkar, a Marathi-American Physician in Family Medicine in the Seattle area.

We will hear about the LGBTQ movement in Pune and efforts to help LGBTQ individuals in Maharashtra from:

• Advocate Bindumadhav Khire, the Founder of Pune’s first LGBTQ Non-Profits and the Pune Pride Parade,

• Advocate Anil Ukarande, Founder of Yutak LGBTQ Trust.

This program will also feature an extended interview with the famous author

• Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik, world-renown Indian Mythologist

who will discuss the history of LGBTQ inclusion in Indian culture.

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Very importantly, this presentation includes interviews with LGBTQ-identified Marathi community members sharing their lived experience including:

• Vishwas Pethe and Joe Hennessy, gay couple of over 35 years who surivived the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. They will expand on Vishwas's struggle with HIV in 1980s through the 2000s to his life today,

• Sameer Samudra and Amit Gokhale​, a Marathi gay couple who has lived together for over 20 years in the US and India,

• Aditya and Swati Ambole, mother and son for New Jersey, who will be sharing their story. 

This presentation will also give us a chance to learn about Non-Profit efforts to raise awareness amongst Desi parents and families of LGBTQ identified-individuals in the US and India. We will have informational videos from:

• Aruna Rao, Founder of Desi Rainbow Parents and Allies, a US National Non-Profit based in New Jersey

• Aruna Desai, Founding Member of Sweekar – the Rainbow Parents, a Non-Profit created by Parents of LGBTQ identified individuals in Mumbai.  

Our Mission:

We hope you will find this program thought-provoking and informative, as a source of inspiration and solace, and as a ​Celebration of ​Unity in ​Understanding ​Our LGBTQ ​Family and ​Community members.  In the true spirit of progressive Marathi thinking and inclusive Indian culture:  जपूया संस्कृती, विणूया नाती!

-Dr. Dilip Nagarkar, MD