Sonal Giani

Early life and education

Sonal was born in Pune and raised in Goa. Her father, Cdr. Rajinder Giani is a retired Naval Officer and Chitra Giani, her mother is a home-maker. She has a twin sister Rupa and an elder brother, Dhaval. Giani's family has been very supportive and vocal about her work in the community. She has a staunch supporter in her sister, Rupa, who has also featured in various interviews and her TV show with her.

She showed leadership abilities early in life, winning the prestigious 'Rashtrapati Award' (Presidents Award) of the Bharat Scouts and Guides movement.

She completed her BSc in Hospitality and Hotel Administration specializing in Housekeeping from Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, Goa in 2007. She worked briefly in the field before moving on working with the LGBT community and in films.

Appearances on television

Giani has spoken about bisexuality and LGBTQ issues on numerous occasions on television.

Her first appearance on small screen was in 2011, she was interviewed on IBN 7 for the popular TV show “Zindagi Live”. On the show, she openly spoke about being bisexual and the challenges she faced in her adolescence. She is amongst the first few Indian women to do so.

In 2013, Giani was part of the prime time TV show Connected Hum Tum, that aired on Zee TV, She recorded her life on camera for over a year showcasing different aspects of her life ranging from her sexuality, her work in the community, her family and her relationship with her girlfriend. The show was hosted by famous Bollywood actor Abhay Deol and directed by renowned director Paromita Vohra.

In the same year, Giani appeared in the Stephen Fry documentary ‘Out There’ a BBC2 series on the LGBT scene worldwide. In the episode, she talked about being bisexual and about the difficulty of asserting one’s sexuality and desires as a woman in India.

Giani also appeared on the widely watched and critically acclaimed Indian TV show, ‘Satyamev Jayate’, as an advocate for LGBT rights in the episode titled “Accepting Alternative Sexualities” which aired in 2014.

In the year 2015, Sonal was interviewed by Sushant Divgikar, Mr. Gay India, 2014 for his web series, The Backseat with Sushant Divgikar.

Activism

Sonal has worked closely with the LGBTQ community for over 7 years. Her journey began when she joined The Humsafar Trust as an Advocacy Officer. As part of the job, Sonal worked very closely with community members and sensitized police, politicians, policy makers,lawyers, doctors, teachers and allies. She has conducted over 200 training sessions PAN India with them to educate them about LGBT community and the challenges they face. Giani has been vocal about her work with the LGBTQ community and crimes against them and was instrumental in addressing and redressal of many cases of discrimination, abuse and extortion.

Her contribution to the LBT (Lesbians, Bisexual women and Transpersons) movement has been instrumental. She is one of the first few Bisexual women in India to come out and speak to the media.

She is one of the founders of Yaariyan, an LGBTQ youth initiative founded in 2010. The group currently reaches out to more than 4000 LGBT youth and addresses issues of adolescent sexuality. Her work has been influential in creating the LGBTQ youth movement. It was while working on Yaariyan, Giani quickly realized the importance of having a safe space for Lesbians, Bisexual women and Transpersons (LBT) persons. This is how she became the co-founder of Umang, a support group for LBT based in Mumbai. Initiated in 2011, it addresses issues pertaining to sexuality, societal family pressure, relationships, health, peer support and provision of a safe space dedicated to LBT. It also runs a helpline number offering support on crises, SRS (Sex Reassignment Surgery) and counseling.

She has been a key part of the collective that organizes Mumbai Pride: Queer Azaadi Mumbai since 2010. She was involved in managing the Annual Mumbai Pride Walk, flashmobs, exhibitions, social media and other cultural activities in the Pride month. Sonal has been in the forefront in acquiring required Pride permissions every year. She also co- founded the campaign, Pictures Against Prejudice,which is an integral part of Mumbai’s Pride Week since its inception in 2012. It is a photo exhibition showcasing queer themes.

In the year 2013, Sonal organized a protest against a media report in Lokmat for mis- reporting and invasion of privacy of LGTBQ individuals in Akola district of Maharshtra.

2014 Giani along with renowned Activist and friend Harrish Iyer, led a campaign titled ‘Placards for Change’ where she and a group of volunteers held signs and banners with slogans relating to LGBT in prominent locations across the city of Mumbai post the Supreme Court verdict criminalizing LGBTQ in India.

She was also awarded the Kingfisher Mast Mumbaikar award as part of Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon in 2015 where she walked in a rainbow colored sari and shackles and chains. She received her prize from BJP spokesperson, Shaina NC. “ I wore a saree in rainbow colors because when you tell people you are gay, they try to take the Indian-ness out of you by terming it a 'Western' concept. I am proud to be Indian and want equal rights like any other Indian citizen”, she said.

Representing LGBTQ India globally

In the year 2014, She represented The Humsafar Trust at the World Pride and its Human Rights Conference in Toronto, Canada and was a panelist on the panel discussion on “Politics of Pride Parades". She has also presented a paper on ‘Films for Change: Advocacy initiatives aiming stigma reduction of vulnerable populations’ at 11th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP 11) in Bangkok, Thailand.

She also participated in LGBTQ Human Rights and HIV Programming - Horizontal Learning Exchange in Bishkek, Kyrgyzthan. The exchange involved sharing the political and legal situation in the two countries as well as sharing crisis management techniques involving LGBTQ communities.

In 2016 she took a session on Gender and Sexuality with corporate leaders at the World HRD congress, speaking at the Forum on Diversity and Inclusion.

At Reincarnate 2016, organized by the Bandhu Welfare Trust, Bangladesh, she spoke at the South Asian Panel Discussion on ” Freedom to Express in Troubled Times: Exploring Our Fears, Hopes and Opportunities”.

She has been a keynote speaker at the Mingle Youth Summit, Godrej Culture Lab's LGBT Youth leadership programme in 2015. Giani gave a workshop and training on leadership to the next generation of young LGBTQ leaders.

She has been part of the festival management team of Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival for five years and returned to it in 2016 to speak on a panel about Section 377 and punitive laws around homosexuality. At the panel Giani spoke about the Indian scenario and the way forward for the community.

In 2015, the Cell for Human Rights and Access to Justice organized a lecture, documentary screening and discussion by Giani on Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and ground human rights violations.

She was also at a panel discussion ‘She the People’ organized by Feminist Rani in 2016 where she related her experience with workplace discrimination for being LGBT.

She was among the panel of judges for Mr Gay World India, 2016. She also supported the initiative.

Film

As an Advocacy manager, Sonal has effectively used films as a medium for her to take forward LGBTIQ issues to mainstream audience. She has donned various hats in the field, that of an Actor, Assistant Director and Producer.

Her first stint with the medium came in the year 2010 where she was the Assistant Director and one of the actors in a film called, Aa Muskura. The film shows the journey of a counselor dealing with HIV positive clients. It was a film made for the counselors.

She went on to become the Chief AD for The Humsafar Trust’s oral history project called Project Bolo. The project, supported by UNDP, documented the lives of 20 LGBT activists and history of the Indian LGBT movement. She has also been the AD for The Humsafar Trust’s Sahaay Helpline videos.

In 2013, she co-directed a short film ‘Love v/s Law’ supported by The Humsafar Trust. The film portrays the impact of section 377 on LGBT youth post the Supreme Court judgment of December 2013 reinstating the section criminalizing sexual minorities in India. She also acted in Jehangir Jani's short film, Urmi.

Giani acted in the Bollywood film “W: Women Today” in the year 2014, directed by Tarun Madan Chopra, where she played a lesbian character.

She was also part of Sridhar Rangayan’s documentary film ‘Purple Skies’ that focuses on the journey of LBT women in India. Sonal featured in the documentary along with her partner. Purple Skies is a documentary produced and broadcast by the PSBT. It has had over 100 screenings across the globe at various Film (LGBT and non-LGBT) festivals.

Theatre

Sonal has been the Executive Producer (2005-2016) for Ek Madhav Baug, performed by Mona Ambegaonkar and directed by Vijay Kenkre which described the story of a mother who realizes her son is gay and how she accepts him. She also produced the Marathi version of the play ‘Ek Madhav Baug’ directed by Late Chetan Datar.. Ek Madhav Baug has had over 100 shows across the country. Performances in prestigious venues such as Prithvi Theatre and NCPA, Mumbai were full house and received standing ovation.

In 2014, she was the Executive Producer of ‘Hyacinth’, a musical, directed by Dance Maestro Sandip Soparkar. The dance drama depicts the emotional turmoil of LGBT through the Greek mythological story of Hyacinth. The musical also starred top model, Jesse Randhawa.

Queer writing

Giani has also dabbled in queer writing. In her scathing piece about media representation of LGBT issues in India titled “Why is the Media Devaluing the LGBT community” (2015) she writes: The reality is that there are not even five registered organisations across India which provides support for LBT women. With the heavy repression of women’s sexuality, I am gearing for a tough fight.”

She has also contributed to the Gaysi Family website, an online forum for the Indian LGBTIQ across the globe for sharing their personal experiences and stories, with various articles. She has written about love and about her experience as an out person in the community. Her piece on Bisexuality, “To B or Not to B, The B in LGBT, encapsulates her experience as a bisexual.

She wrote a humorous piece on biphobia for Agents of Ishq, a multimedia project about love, sex and desire.