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Libman, Norma, “Asians in need now have ‘our home’”, Chicago Tribune, February 10, 1991. Apna Ghar means "our home" and is meant to be particularly welcoming to Asian women fleeing abusive home situations. Located in Uptown, the shelter is tiny: It can house only four women and four children. But its hotline – staffed with bilingual volunteers – serves many others and has received calls from throughout the country. 11. Moore, Paula, “Risk Takers: Indians Here See U.S.A. as Place to Fulfill Dreams”, The San Antonio Business Journal, November 8, 1991. According to local Indians, most of their countrymen who emigrated to San Antonio are of two types: educated professionals who came here beginning in the 1960s, seeking even more education and top jobs, and working class immigrants hoping to make the American dream come true. Some also have come seeking political freedom. Moses, Paul, “Rights Panel Gets Another Parade Dispute”, Newsday (New York), July 23, 1992. The city's Human Rights Commission is trying to help South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association (SALGA) get permission to march in the India Day Parade in August. A member of SALGA said the group had been told it didn't have enough members to qualify to be in the parade and that under parade rules, groups must be of "good moral standing" to participate. Members of SALGA have gotten support from City Councilman Tom Duane (D-Manhattan), who is gay. Mangaliman, Jessie, “Violence Denounced; Clashes in India called ‘abominable’ by natives”, Newsday (New York), December 22, 1992. Hindus and Muslim Indians in New York City denounce the wave of violence after the mosque in Ayodhya is destroyed. Groups and individuals present include an AIDS educator for the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV and AIDS, a member of Sakhi ("Friends") for South Asian Women, a Kashmiri Muslim, who is a member of the board of the Immigration Coalition, a nonprofit immigrant service and advocacy group in New York City, and an attorney for the U.S. House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee. Last week, a coalition of Indian groups, including Ektah, a group that calls for Muslim-Hindu unity, rallied in front of the Indian Consulate in Manhattan to denounce the attack on the mosque. There are believed to be as many as 800,000 Indians in the tri-state area, with sizable communities in Flushing and Jackson Heights, Queens and in New Jersey. An organizer from Sakhi said that it's important for Indians now living in the United States to denounce the violence and advocate unity. Fundamentalists in India receive financial support from Indians living in New York and New Jersey, she said. Dasgupta, Sayantani, “Breaking the Silence: Women helping women is the goal of Manavi, the pioneering women's group”, India Currents, June 30, 1993. Manavi was founded in 1985, when six South Asian women gathered together, frustrated by the inability of mainstream American women's organizations to address their issues. Manavi was the first self-proclaimed South Asian women's group initially begun as a "consciousness raising" group soon changed its focus to the practical needs of South Asian women in the U.S. Manavi's approach is non-judgmental, non-hierarchical, non-religious, and non-sectarian. Hays, Constance, “Enduring Violence In a New Home”, The New York Times, December 6, 1993. Across the country, and especially in cities like New York that are major immigration gateways, the battle against domestic violence is becoming increasingly specialized along ethnic lines. Sakhi has met with about 200 women since its founding. The group intentionally shuns hierarchy and has no president, but includes about 20 women who staff a telephone line, refer victims to city agencies that can help them, and hold support group meetings for victims. The name means "a woman friend" in Hindi, Urdu and Bengali. Volunteers speak those languages, as well as Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam and Gujarati. “Desh Pardesh Is Here: Toronto's South Asian festival is very eclectic, very alternative, very essential”, India Currents April 30, 1994. Desh Pardesh is an annual festival, which provides a forum for groups often ignored by mainstream events: women, gays and lesbians, new immigrants, and activists. The festival began as a cultural project of Khush: South Asian Gay Men of Toronto. Initially titled "Salaam Toronto,” the daylong festival was organized in May 1988. The new festival, sponsored by Khush and The Euclid Theater, was called "Desh Pardesh, a Festival/Conference Exploring the politics of South Asian Cultures in the West,” and was first held in March 1990. It was a great success and the second festival followed in November 1991. For the third festival in March 1993, the working committee received support from government and private agencies at national, provincial, and local levels, with active participation from community-based organizations across the country. It was at this festival that Desh Pardesh was established as a permanent, independent, coalition-based arts and cultural organization. Ness, Carol, “Prying Open closets of South Asian gays; San Jose immigrant creates community”, San Francisco Examiner, June 1, 1995. Trikone, 1986, was the world’s first organization and newsletter for South Asian gays and lesbians. Trikone has quarterly circulation of 1,100. India Currents started in 1987 has circulation of 24,000. This month has the first Bay Area conference of South Asian gays called Pride Utsav,‘95.
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