30/10/2024
AS well as it being Hallowe'en this week (sacred to many earth centred religions and also marked by Catholicism as All Souls Day), so LGBTQIA+ people of South Asian background and their friends will be marking Diwali or Deepawali, which unites the Hindi, Sikh and Jain religions as the Festival of Light, where the triumph of good over evil is celebrated. Asian radio stations such as Lyca Radio in London and Manchester, Radio XL on 1296 kHz AM In Birmingham and Sunrise Radio on DAB services nationwide will be marking the festivities which are joyful and characterised by colour and light. Many British cities where there are Indian populations will be celebrating, and there will be some congestion in inner cities where parties and parades are taking place. What with Hallowe'en also falling now, we can say that we are formally in the "festival season" which is noted by Americans as starting with Hallowe'en, then moving to the festivities for Thanksgiving before moving on to Christmas and the New Year. If you are marking Diwali, we wish you a pleasant and blessed time.
LGBTQIA Hindu portal: https://galva108.org/
LGBTQIA Sikhs: https://www.sarbat.net/
Jainism is a small religion based in Northern India and known for its ascetisim. It teaches that broadly, all sexuality is wrong, but not in the fire and brimstone tradition of Christian evangelicalism, Jains regard heterosexual attraction as wrong as well. Nevertheless, there are groups of LGBTQIA+ people of Jain background who have embraced the different parts of their being, as per this article from the top gay newswire Pink News: https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/02/03/jainism-lgbt-jain-coming-out-just...
