Pink Sabha
Project Leads:
Writer and Curator
DPhil Student
Department of Computer Science
DPhil Student
Department of Computer Science
Collaborators:
Associate Professor in Human Geography
Associate Professor of Machine Learning
About The Project:
Pink Sabha is a civic technology project at the intersection of queerness and politics that seeks to dynamically document statements by Indian politicians on LGBTQ+ rights.
India stands at a turning point with respect to LGBTQ+ rights today. After the striking down of a colonial-era anti-sodomy law, Section 377, by the Supreme Court in 2018, the LGBTQ+ community has taken significant strides towards equal rights in the country. However, there is an urgent need for the conversation around LGBTQ+ issues to go beyond the courtroom and into the public domain to consolidate the progress made so far.
Pink Sabha builds upon the work of Pink List India, an advocacy group created in 2019 to address the lack of information around the views of Indian politicians on LGBTQ+ rights. Originally presented as a list of queer-positive MP candidates, the Pink List has now gone on to become a mappable archive of statements on all LGBTQ+ issues by elected MPs. This project seeks to continue this documenting of political discourse while automating the creation of the archive and presenting it in a more intuitive and user-friendly way.
The final product created will be a searchable map that allows LGBTQ+ Indians and grassroots community organisations to see the track record of their elected representative on LGBTQ+ issues. This will be important to improve transparency and accountability while allowing community leaders to identify political allies.
Contact: outreach@pinklistindia.com
This project is funded by the Minderoo AI Challenge Fund
