Sarbat LGBT Sikhs
See below for a complete schedule of our ongoing series of #SarbatSocials and #OpenMinds. If interested, please sign up using the event links given below. The online meetings typically last 1 hour – 1 hour 15 minutes and are facilitated by Sarbat volunteers. We hope to provide a relaxed, warm and compassionate atmosphere to invite […]
A heartfelt thanks to those who joined us on 28th May and shared their observations and reflections about Sikhi faith and culture. The conversations were inspired by the experiences of a few Sarbat members who are enrolled in the Harvard online course “Sikhism through the scriptures” (scroll down for more info on this). We navigated many difficult topics with passion […]
Raj Kaur, writer and editor of Reviews by Sarbat. The L Word: Generation Q is the long-awaited sequel to The L Word series which aired from 2004 to 2009. The L Word enjoyed 6 successful seasons and was often commented to be ahead of its time; it was one of the first (Will and Grace […]
Open Minds April 2020 – Speaking with our Parents Thank you to all those who took part in our second online Open Minds meeting on the 29th of April 2020. This was our second April meeting. For some of us we have the privilege of being able to use the lockdown as a time to reflect and refocus our priorities. […]
Open Minds April 2020 – Looking After Ourselves During Lockdown Thank you to all those who took part in our online Open Minds meeting on the 15th of April 2020. It was our eleventh Open Minds meeting and we were joined by people from Birmingham, London and the south of the UK. The Open Minds project is a way for Punjabi LGBTQ+ people to share their experiences […]
Sarbat commenced a series of #SarbatSocial and Shraddha reflects in the article below. A few days after the PM announced a country-wide lockdown in the UK, we at Sarbat looked for alternative solutions to continue providing a platform for Sikh LGBT+ individuals and our allies to meet and come together. We know that members of […]
Makinder shares his reflections of the #SarbatSocial he hosted.
These are guidelines for individuals interested in attending online Sarbat meetings (e.g. Zoom video conferencing) during and after the Coronavirus pandemic. We will share some meeting details via our social media channels (Facebook / Twitter) and/or via our newsletter (click here to subscribe). To join this meeting, you would need to download Zoom on your […]
Sarbat volunteer Shraddha Kaur writes this blog post is in response to an email we received regarding being an ally in a religious household. Shraddha thinks each household comes with its own history, ingrained prejudice and ways of communication that can take a long time to deconstruct, so don’t be disheartened if you are unable to […]
Thank you to St Luke’s Community Centre for hosting February’s Open Minds (Khula Mana) LGBTQ+ Support Group. The group was facilitated by Dr Kuljit Bhogal on behalf of Sarbat and Taraki. It was great to see a mix of new and familiar faces. We started the discussion by talking about our own LGBTQ+ histories and […]
#OpenMinds #Punjabi #LGBTQ support group came to #Birmingham last week. The first meeting was to find out what the group should look like and how it should run. From our conversations it became clear that a safe space is needed for Punjabi LGBTQ+ people to connect in Birmingham. People were mainly from a #Sikh Punjabi’s, […]
At January’s #OpenMinds LGBTQ+ Punjabi support group we talked about success and praise in Punjabi culture. Traditional values have different expectations of men and women. Marriage and children can raise your status and being lgbtq+ can cause shame and guilt. Status is like having stocks or shares in a company and being #lgbtq+ can make […]
Find out more from Pritpal Bhullar, Sarbat volunteer based near London. I have been a volunteer for a charity called Diversity Role Models (DRM) for about 5 years. It is a charity which actively seeks to embed inclusion and empathy in the next generation, which will in time lead to a world where future generations […]
Coping with Christmas Thank you to St Luke’s Community Centre for hosting December’s Open Minds (Khula Mana) LGBTQ+ Support Group. The group was facilitated by Dr Kuljit Bhogal on behalf of Sarbat and Taraki. This is a summary of some of what was discussed. The Christmas period is a time when many people willingly or […]
Gender Stereotypes in Sikh Punjabi Culture Thank you to St Luke’s Community Centre for hosting Octobers’ Open Minds (Khula Mana) LGBTQ+ Support Group. The group was facilitated by Dr Kuljit Bhogal on behalf of Sarbat and Taraki. We were lucky to be joined by both of the facilitators of the Taraki Mens Forum (Chai in […]
Fifth #OpenMinds on 30th of October 2019