EQUALLY: Stories by Friends of the Queer World

by Srini Ramaswamy

Equally: stories by friends of the queer world is a first-of-its-kind anthology of powerful personal stories by individuals who have stood up and spoken for the LGBT+ community, and created safe spaces at home, schools, colleges, work places, and in society. The book features 45 authentic stories of influence Rs, corporate leaders, parents, teachers, teenagers, and celebrates life experiences, perspectives, and sentiments of their journey to 'allyship'. each tale in this book is an inspiration, a motivation, and a reminder that there are people across the country for whom the aspect of an individual's identity and existence is imperative. Conveying their solidarity towards the LGBT+ community through their written experience of realisation and transformation into an ally makes this more than just a book-it is a significant milestone on the path towards inclusion. Everyone has 'ally' stories to tell and we recognise that with each retelling, these stories create stronger connections, inclusion and bring about change. This is not just a book, but a movement!.

168 pages, Hardcover

Published April 10, 2021

Reviews

[Rahul · Rating 2 out of 5]

The "Greta Thunberg" of Indian corporate, patting their own backs.

Half of articles were just HR material that gets published to show their role or the company in good light.

1 or 2 were really good, touched the subject on the core, had some real connect with community, but that could very well have been just 2-3 pages. Rest was just self promotion and some were so biased
"79 yo granpa understood, middle aged aunty to grasp"- Ageism
"Indian society bad, me good - I am champion for this cause" - saviour, god syndrome
"it is more challenging for me(hetersexual friend/relative of queer), than the person who opened up, as i needed to come across as open minded and excepting" - Did you just make this about yourself? you knew you were writing for a book on queer?

most stories fall into these 2 categories
"I saw someone, say X, and I gave a befitting reply...", "I was shocked to see X, i understood Y and became Ally..."
else
"I was the VP,CEO,HR of X Y Z company, I travelled, came back from US , i was working as " my friend was making gay jokes, i saw someone in traffic signal , "I ran a campaign in our company for Diversity Inclusion"... enter rest of resume

I just hope these guys got the personal branding they wanted, because this would have been a thousand times better had even a single LGBTQ+ person had shared their experience or dwelt into any complex issue and peeled through layers.

To conclude :
We shouldn't judge books by it's cover
We should have an open mind
We should exercise regularly and drink lots of water.

[Payal Pasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book contains stories by allies of the queer world about their relentless efforts and endeavor to fight for the rights of the LGBT+ community and help them to lead a dignified life. The tales are very endearing and enlightening and compel us to broaden our horizons, look beyond the set protocols of a rigid society and empathize with the community. An eye opener that breaks all myths and misconceptions and gives one an inside view of their factual world. A book I recommend to all.

[Anuradha Batra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an anthology of Interviews of people who are playing an important role being an ally to LGBTQ+ community members. I am impressed with the emerging trend of setting things right at workplaces, schools and institutions regarding equality, diversity and inclusion & mutual respect however, one thing that’s bothering me since I was turning pages of this book and reading through the experiences and initiatives of allies, parents and industry leaders that I am hardly seeing any initiative from Indian conglomerate having no roots in foreign land, all this is coming from MNCs. It will be interesting to see initiatives coming from Indian roots, giving true sense to Rabindranath Tagore’s widely discussed poem “where the mind is without fear and the head is held high”