Pune: Members of LGBTI community share their experiences at #Inside Out panel discussion

Vijaya could not control her tears as she recounted her story at the panel discussion #Inside Out organised Friday by the Divine Diva — a women’s club set up four years ago in Pune. The club has been conducting monthly events related to health, education and entertainment.

#Inside Out, lgbtq community, lgbtq community discussion, pune city news

At the panel discussion organised by the Divine Diva club on Friday. (Express photo/Ashish Kale)

Vijay Vasave is a woman trapped in a man’s body. Hailing from a remote tribal village in Nandurbar district, Vijay’s journey to become Vijaya has been a harrowing one. From facing sex abuse as a child to being mercilessly ragged and ridiculed at college over not being the “man” that he was, Vijaya is now gathering funds for a transition from male to female and “be more like herself”.

Vijaya could not control her tears as she recounted her story at the panel discussion #Inside Out organised Friday by the Divine Diva — a women’s club set up four years ago in Pune. The club has been conducting monthly events related to health, education and entertainment.

“Being judgmental is unethical and we wanted to step up awareness about the LGBTQ community among our members,” said Bhavna Mayur, one of the club’s founder members.

The panel was anchored by Nupur Pittie, with ACP Bhanupratap Barge as a special guest.

Trinay, who is a trans man, said that being born a woman was a suffocating feeling as his brain was wired to think like a man. “In the third standard, I used to wonder why I was wearing a girl’s uniform. The worst was still to come as a teenager when I started getting my periods. All this disturbed me a lot and the doctors did not make my life any easier. They told my parents that I had a woman’s hormones and some psychiatrists said I was abnormal,” said Trinay.

While Vijaya and Trinay’s lives have been dominated by suicidal thoughts because of the ridicule they faced due to their trans woman and trans man identities, for transgender Payal aka Rahul Khalade, it was a matter of moving out of his house and being accepted by the transgender community. “We sing and dance at weddings, but if there is any job vacancy, please contact me,” said Payal, who was dressed in a bright saree with a large bindi adorning her forehead.

Bindu Madhav Khire, founder of Samapathik Trust, a men’s sexual health organisation that works primarily with the LGBTI community, and its project coordinator, Anil Ukrande, spoke about their struggles in coming out as gay men.

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Khire, who is a computer science engineer and author, came out a long time ago when there was no internet or easy access to information. “I was studying engineering but my time was spent searching medical books in libraries to understand why I had a different sexual orientation. I was academically strong and my parents failed to understand why I had failed in 10 subjects. This was a long time ago and after I went to the US, I found Indian gay groups. Still, I was depressed for a long time and the worst mistake that I made was getting married. It ended in divorce within a year,” said Khire. On his return from the US, he set up the Samapathik Trust and has been working for the welfare of the LGBTI community since then.

Sharing his experiences, Anil Ukrande spoke of the happiness in the gay community when Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code was struck down. Shraddha, who is a cisgender queer (cisgender relates specifically to gender rather than sexuality. A person can be cisgender and have any sort of sexuality), also shared her experiences and urged people to be happy as they are.

Anuradha Mascarenhas

Anuradha Mascarenhas is a Senior Editor at The Indian Express, based in Pune. With a career spanning three decades, she is one of the most respected voices in Indian journalism regarding healthcare, science and environment and research developments. She also takes a keen interest in covering women's issues . Anuradha has won several awards including the Press Council of India's national award for excellence in journalism under the gender based reporting category in 2019 and the Laadli Media award (gender sensitivity -2024). A recipient of the Lokmat journalism award (gender category-2022), she was also shortlisted for the RedInk awards for excellence in journalism-2021. Her debut book At The Wheel Of Research, an exclusive biography of Dr Soumya Swaminathan the inaugural chief scientist of World Health Organisation was also nominated in the Popular Choice Category of JK Paper AUTHER awards. She has also secured competitive fellowships including the Laadli Media Fellowship (2022), the Survivors Against TB – New Research in TB Media Fellowship (2023) and is part of the prestigious 2025 India Cohort of the WomenLift Health Leadership Journey.” Professional Background Education: A gold medalist in Communication and Journalism from Savitribai Phule Pune University and a Master’s degree in Literature. Author: She authored the biography At The Wheel Of Research, which chronicles the life and work of Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the former Chief Scientist at the WHO. Key Focus: She combines scientific accuracy with storytelling, translating complex medical research into compelling public and human-interest narratives. Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) 1. Cancer & Specialized Medical Care "Tata Memorial finds way to kill drug-resistant cancer cells" (Nov 26, 2025): Reporting on a breakthrough for triple-negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive forms of the disease. ``Discipline, diet and purpose; How a 97-year-old professor defies ageing'' (Nov 15, 2025) Report about Prof Gururaj Mutalik, the first Head of Department at Pune's B J Government Medical College who at 97 credits his longevity to healthy habits and a strong sense of purpose. 2. Environmental Health (The "Breathless Pune" Series) "Long-term exposure even to 'moderate' air leads to chronic heart, lung, kidney issues" (Nov 26, 2025): Part of an investigative series highlighting that even "safe" pollution levels are damaging to vital organs. "For every 10 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5 level, there was 6-8% jump in medicine sales" (Nov 23, 2025): Using commercial data to prove the direct link between air quality and respiratory illnesses in Pune. 3. Lifestyle & Wellness News "They didn't let cancer, diabetes and heart disease stop them from travelling" (Dec 22, 2025): A collaborative piece featuring survivors who share practical tips for traveling with chronic conditions. ``At 17, his BP shot up to 200/120 mmHG; Lancet study flags why child and teen hypertension doubled between 2000 and 2020'' (Nov 12,2025)--A report that focusses on 17-year-old-boy's hypertensive crisis and reflects the rising global trend of high blood pressure among children and adolescents. 4. Scientific Recognition & Infrastructure "For promoting sci-comm, gender diversity: IUCAA woman prof highlighted in Nature" (Nov 25, 2025): Covering the global recognition of Indian women scientists in gender studies and physics. ``Pune researchers find a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way from early universe'' (December 3, 2025)- A report on how Indian researchers discovered a massive galaxy that existed when the universe was just 1.5 billion years old , one of the earliest to have been observed so far. Signature Beat: Health, Science & Women in Leadership Anuradha is known for her COVID-19 reportage, where she was one of the first journalists to provide detailed insights into the Covishield and Covaxin trials. She has a dedicated interest in gender diversity in health and science, often profiling women researchers who are breaking the "leaky pipeline" in STEM fields. Her writing style is scrupulous, often featuring interviews with top-tier scientists and health experts from various institutions X (Twitter): @runaanu ... Read More

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