About Sahodaran: Sahodaran means brother in Tamil, and that sense of kinship is exactly what we strive to be for Tamil Nadu LGBTIQ community. Since our inception in 1998 we have expanded our outreach from MSM to all LGBTIQ. Today we seek to empower all sexual minorities to reach their full potential by providing a safe haven of community support, outreach, and activism. Our mission is to create a world that is safe for all people, regardless of orientation, a world without fear of violence or stigma. Sahodaran is the first CBO (community based organization) of its kind in Southern India, and one of the first in all of India, run by LGBTIQ for LGBTIQ.

About Grindr: Grindr is a geosocial networking and online dating application geared towards gay, bi and Tran’s people. Grindr comes in both free and subscription-based versions (the latter called Grindr Xtra). The app makes use of a mobile device's geolocation, a feature of smartphones and other devices, which allows users to locate other users who are nearby. This is accomplished through a user interface that displays a grid of representative photos of men, arranged from nearest to furthest away. Tapping on a picture will display a brief profile for that user, as well as the option to chat, send pictures, and share one's precise location.

Grindr was one of the first gay geosocial apps to launch in the iTunes App Store and has since become the largest and most popular gay mobile app in the world. It is currently available in 192 countries.

Sahodaran CBO working for MSM community and funded by TANSACS since 2007. The TI covers very big hotspots in Chennai such as Marina Beach, Triplicane, Nungambakkam and few more. The highlight is the TI staff are a member of GRINDR except for the M & E cum Accountant. All the staff are very active in Grinder, establishing a friendship with new and young MSM on a daily basis. The TI staff disseminate the TI services to the new and young MSM once established a good friendship. Also, educate them about STI/HIV/AIDS, Condom use and HIV and Syphilis testing. The TI has registered 184 young MSM in the project for the period of April 2019 to February 2020. The PM and other staff reported that 75% of the newly registered HRGs reached through Grindr. Here, Grindr playing a vital role in reaching the new and young MSM in the working area. Apart from this, the TI staff is the member of Grindr, which is one of the advantages of establishing a friendship with new and young MSM very easily as a community approach.

As a result of effective outreach, the TI staff have referred all the newly registered HRGs for HIV testing and Syphilis. 4 MSM newly registered HRGs detected HIV positive, 2 MSM HRG detected HIV positive and Syphilis positive and 5 MSM HRG detected Syphilis positive. All these HRGs treated for Syphilis and HIV positive HRGs linked to ART centre. The newly registered HRGs age group is 22 to 27 and early diagnosed of HIV and Syphilis.

Source: Form – E, April 2019 – February 2020.