The South Asian Lesbian & Gay Association of New York City (SALGA) serves to promote awareness, tolerance, acceptance, empowerment and safe spaces for sexual minorities and people of all gender identities, who trace their heritage to South Asia or who identify as South Asian. Our mission is to enable community members to establish cultural visibility and take a stand against oppression and discrimination in all its forms.  We pledge to encourage leadership development, provide multi-generational support, work towards immigration advocacy, address health issues such as HIV / AIDS, and foster political involvement in the interest of creating a more tolerant society.

Local Courts Making Transgender Name-Changes Easier

Posted: February 3rd, 2010 | Author: Deen | Filed under: Blog | Tags: , , , | No Comments »

by Samuel Newhouse (sam@brooklyneagle.net), published online 01-28-2010
NEW YORK — Courts around New York City have recently earned a new distinction, that of being one of the easiest and most popular places for transgender individuals to change their names.Two recent rulings in New York have eased the name-change process for transgender people. In one case, a Westchester judge recently ruled that the general requirement that name change and home addresses be advertised in newspapers should not apply to transgender people, as they face some safety issues while in transition.

Some transgender people reportedly received strange or intimidating letters after publicly announcing that their names were being changed from that of a man to a woman, for example… (more)

Pakistan SC orders equal benefits for transvestites

Posted: July 16th, 2009 | Author: NB | Filed under: Blog | Tags: , , , , | No Comments »

By Nasir Iqbal
Wednesday, 15 Jul, 2009 | 09:00 AM PST |
SOURCE:  Dawn

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has ordered that transvestites, being equal citizens of Pakistan, should also benefit from the federal and provincial governments’ financial support schemes such as the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

‘They are citizens of Pakistan and enjoy the same protection guaranteed under Article four (rights of individuals to be dealt with in accordance of law) and Article nine (security of person) of the Constitution,’ ruled a three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali and Justice Jawwad S Khawaja on Tuesday.

The bench had taken up the petition seeking establishment of a commission to emancipate effeminate men ostracised by the society for no fault of theirs.

Islamic jurist Dr Mohammad Aslam Khaki, who researched on the conditions of the ignominious merrymakers and discovered them to be the most oppressed and deprived segment of the society and subjected to humiliation and molestation, had filed the petition for the welfare of the transvestites left by the society to live by begging, dancing and prostitution.

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