17/10/2025
Our colleagues at community radio stations that serve the Asian community, such as Sunrise Radio (DAB), Lyca Radio (1458 kHz in London) and Radio Asian Fever (101.5 FM in Leeds) remind us that LGBTQIA Hindus, Sikhs and Jains - the three ancient religions of India, will be marking the Festival of Light, known as Diwali or sometimes Deepawali, on Monday 20th October and for the following five nights. Diwali has been celebrated for thousands of years and represents the victory of light over darkness and reason over ignorance. It is a prominent celebration of the Autumn season, and changes its precise date as it is calculated on a luni-solar calendar. Therefore, the date of Diwali can be as early as September, or as late as Mid November, when it often joins with other late year festivals like Thanksgiving, Hallowe'en, Hanukkah and Christmas as part of festival season. Diwali often entails dressing in fine clothes, sharing sweets and enjoying meals with family and friends. Sarbat is the UK's national charity for LGBTQIA+ Sikhs. GALVA108 is the national organisation for LGBTQIA+ Hindus. In addition, there are cross-religious meet up groups such as Gay Indian Network. All these groups are worth investigating if you are in need of social and spiritual support around your sexuality and gender identity. https://www.sarbat.net/ https://galva108.org/
However you celebrate, we wish you a very very Happy Diwali. Let the celebrations commence!
