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Mirrors: LGBTQ+ South Asian Voices
Mirrors: LGBTQ+ South Asian Voices
Rangoli was created to connect LGBTQ+ South Asians to one another and celebrate our diversity with each other. With our Spring 2018 publication, Mirrors: An LGBTQ+ South Asian Anthology, we wanted to be able to uplift the voices of a community who do not normally see themselves or their experiences reflected in the mainstream stories we hear around us every day. It serves as a means of self-expression and self-love that mirrors our own identities and reflect our experiences as people who are wholly LGBTQ+ and wholly South Asian.
We put out a call for submissions in September of 2017, and started the process of finding our contributors. We knew very early on we wanted to find people who had some tie to Pittsburgh, but we wanted to keep the medium very broad. We launched our crowdfunding campaign in March 2018 with the hopes of raising $1000, the bare minimum of what we thought we would need to get this project off the ground. We blew past that goal within three days of the campaign. With support from both community organizations and individual donors, we raised over $1600 to create a space and a home for LGBTQ+ South Asians in Pittsburgh.
Our launch party, held in May of 2018, was a way for us to celebrate and share our book with our Pittsburgh community, and thank everyone that donated to make the book happen. It was held at the City of Asylum in the Northside of Pittsburgh, and we had readings from our contributors as well as some sponsors speak to an audience of over 50 people.
LGBTQ+ AAPI Day of Visibility
LGBTQ+ AAPI Day of Visibility
On June 1, 2019, we launched and celebrated the first annual LGBTQ+ AAPI Day of Visibility. Kicking off with proclamations from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the City of Pittsburgh, we also launched a digital campaign and toolkit that featured LGBTQ+ AAPI media, icons, statistics, and resources, as well as encouraged LGBTQ+ AAPIs to share their experiences and tell their stories via social media.
In 2019, along with the LGBTQIA+ Advisory Council of Pittsburgh, we also hosted an open, honest, and emotional panel discussion of local LGBTQ+ AAPIs discussing their experiences as LGBTQ+ AAPIs. LGBTQ+ AAPI Day of Visibility was about helping us be seen and celebrated, and helping us raise the profile of this oft-forgotten group in the national fight for representation, equality, and justice.
We renewed LGBTQ+ AAPI Day of Visibility in 2020, and because of both the pandemic and the widespread protests around police brutality against Black Americans in June of 2020, we decided to expand our digital campaign to raise money for sisTers PGH, APALA's COVID relief fund, Bukit Bail Fund, and the Black Visions Collective. We also launched a digital drag show to kick off the Day of Visibility, showcasing queer AAPI drag performers, raising a little more than $1000 to pay our performers.
Community Initiatives
Community Initiatives
Rangoli also does a lot of different community events, including but not limited to: workshops, speaking at rallies, film screenings, tabling at different events, and informal gatherings of LGBTQ+ South Asians.
"Decolonizing Queerness" at the Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit 2019
Speaking at PGH Rally for Solidarity with Asian Americans
Tabling at the Mustard Seed Festival in Philadelphia
LGBTQ+ AAPI Town Hall, organized by Rangoli
Learn more at our full website, www.rangolipittsburgh.com.
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