Maulik Pancholy Officially Out Of The Closet. Actor Maulik Pancholy (30 Rock, Sanjay and Craig) officially came out in this year’s top 100 list of influential LGBT celebrities from Out magazine. In 2012, Out identified him as an “out actor” but this interview is the first time Pancholy has publicly spoken about it.
“I just celebrated my nine-year anniversary with my partner,” he says. “It feels like a nice time to be celebrating something like that, especially on the heels of the DOMA and Prop 8 decisions.”
Thank you @outmagazine, what an honor to be on this list. And thanks @daniellelevitt for making me look so good! http://t.co/v4cWTw7jMZ
— Maulik Pancholy (@MaulikPancholy) November 12, 2013
Bangladesh Government Officially Recognizes Hijras. On Monday at a cabinet meeting chaired by the nation’s prime minister, Bangladesh decided to officially recognize hijras as a separate gender, and approved a proposal to use their identity on documents like passports and national ID cards. The cabinet secretary who publicly announced the decision after the meeting said there are 10,000 hijras in the nation who face discrimination in education, housing, health services and other areas. [Dhaka Tribune, The Daily Star]
From Bangladesh to Brooklyn: An LGBT Activist’s Story. Randal Mason interviews Shakhawat Hossain, who may be the first openly gay Bangladeshi. Hossain works at Boys of Bangladesh, the “largest network of self-identified Bangladeshi gay men from home and abroad,” and he’s in the US on a four-month fellowship at the Brooklyn. He says, “If you go back 50-60 years in the U.S., it’s directly relevant to where Bangladesh is now in terms of LGBT rights” but is also quick to say “we have to find our own way.” [Huffpost Gay Voices]
The Girl Whose Rape Changed a Country. Mathura was an impoverished teenager of 14, maybe 16, when she was raped in 1972 by police officers in Desaiganj, India. She bravely pressed charges in a landmark case that went to the nation’s highest court. CNN reporter Moni Basu set out to find Mathura and visited the places and people Mathura knew along the way. Vivek Singh’s black and white photographs bring them to life. [CNN]
Pavani Yalamanchili is a co-founder and editor of The Aerogram. Email her at editors@theaerogram.com. Find her on Twitter at @_pavani. Follow The Aerogram on Twitter at @theaerogram.
