'Desi Queers': Celebrating South Asian LGBTQ+ Lives in Britain

This Queer History Month, celebrate the vibrant lives, activism, and solidarities of Britain’s LGBTQ+ South Asians.

Fresh off the press, Desi Queers: LGBTQ+ South Asians and Cultural Belonging in Britain (2025), traces how diasporic South Asians have shaped LGBTQ+ movements from the 1970s to the present. The book weaves together anti-racist activism, Black feminist coalitions, and landmark moments in British queer life, from the Gay Black Group and Haringey Council’s pioneering Lesbian and Gay Unit to the historic 'Smash the Backlash' demonstration. Centring South Asian lives, it situates these histories within wider struggles against racism and homophobia.

Drawing on archives, oral histories, and cultural production, Rohit Dasgupta will discuss how grassroots organisations such as Shakti and Naz created spaces of refuge, resistance, and creativity for those marginalised within both South Asian communities and mainstream queer scenes.

The discussion will be chaired by Dr Anjali Bhardwaj-Datta, historian of South Asia and Gender, and a Fellow of Wolfson College.

is Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality and Deputy Head of Department (Research) at the London School of Economics. Using ethnographic and creative methodologies he has explored the relationship between sexuality, class and belonging in contemporary India which led to his first monograph Digital Queer Cultures in India: Politics, Intimacies & Belonging (Routledge, 2017) and the subsequent books Queering Digital India: Activisms, Identities, Subjectivities (Edinburgh University Press, 2018); Social Media, Sexuality & Sexual Health Advocacy in Kolkata, India (Bloomsbury, 2018) and Friendship as Social Justice Activism (Seagull/University of Chicago Press, 2018), which received an Honourable Mention by Pen America.
He currently edits two book series: Ethnographic Innovations, South Asian Perspectives (with Niharika Banerjea & Paul Boyce) for Routledge and South Asian Screens (with Sangita Gopal) for Bloomsbury.

is a Historian of twentieth century South Asia and a fellow at Wolfson College Cambridge. Her research focuses on transnational histories of migration, decolonisation, gender and urbanisation. Her current research which is jointly funded by the Isaac Newton Trust and the Leverhulme Trust investigates a history of gendered informality in Modern South Asia.

This event is open to all and free to attend - please book your place.

This event will take place in the Gatsby Room on the first floor of the Chancellor's Centre. It has step-free access with a lift and there is an accessible toilet located each floor of the building.

If you have any questions, please contact our events team - [email protected]

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