INDIA LAUNCHES GAY TAXI SERVICE!

By Samuel Leighton-Dore

Hold onto your beloved ubers, because the mobile taxi race in India just took an unexpected turn for the fabulous with new plans to implement a nationwide LGBTQIA personal travel service. Starting in Mumbai, the “Wings Rainbow” company will train an initial five volunteers to bring some much needed safety to members of the local queer community.

And, to be honest, it’s really great fucking news.

When I traveled to Kolkata and Darjeeling several years ago, I recall being resoundingly warned by family, friends, and various millennial travel blogs not to openly disclose (or “flaunt”) my homosexuality. After all, the ongoing prevalence of homophobia in the country has been reasonably documented over the past few years. Despite being one of the few countries to socially embrace a third gender, instances of violence, rape, and murder are still shockingly common – and often go unreported.

Launched by Wings Travels and Humsafar Trust, the daring travel initiative is expected to be fully functional by early 2017; encouraging drivers to undergo customer etiquette training in the 9-12 months prior to receiving their full driver’s licenses. It’s not just a welcome change for passengers, either – with a number of previously unemployed LGBTQI locals being given the invaluable opportunity to forge themselves a career.

There are so many of us who are in the sex trade or begging on the streets,” Sanjeevani Chauhan, who has been working as a counsellor for Humsafar for nearly three years, told Middle-Easter news website Al Jazeera.

“Working as a cab driver will not only give us a job and security but also a different kind of respect and acceptance within the society.”

Arun Kharat, the founding director of Wings Travel, adds, “We want them to be eventual entrepreneurs and own these vehicles. We want to ensure that the LGBT community in India enjoys the same rights and livelihood opportunities in India as their counterparts in the West.”

The launch of Wings Rainbow certainly indicates a positive shift for members of the LGBTQI community in India, with the success of 2014’s NALSA vs Union of India case meaning transgender people have finally been given constitutional rights and freedoms.

“After the NASLA (National Legal Services Authority) judgement, several business houses came forward to offer employment to the transgender and sexual minority community.” Said Pallav Patankar, the program director at Humsafar Trust.

“In the current batch, we have two members of the community, but we hope that more members of the transgender community will come forward.”

Level of awesomeness? Darjeeling unlimited.