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Social media has grown enormously popular among Indian users for nearly a decade. Not only the youth, but a large section of the elderly population are active users of social media today. The popularity of the media among the audience has increased the audience’s vulnerability to the media message. Speaking of the Indian context, social media today is reflecting India’s sociocultural behaviours. Therefore, many identity groups are using social media as a platform for expression. The social media space is slowly turning into a new field of ethnographic studies in India.The study focuses on the use of social media by the LGBTQ+ community as a platform to represent and express themselves and create a social identity. LGBTQ+ people in India have long been treated as sexual minorities with no rights and no voice. Since 2018, after the repeal of Section 377 of the Indian Constitution, these sexual minorities have been using social media platforms to share their stories and struggles. As a result, a few social networking pages are flooded with ethnographic data from LGBTQ+ group members.The study is an analysis of pages on Facebook and Instagram that specifically cater to these sexual minorities. It focuses on LGBTQ-specific social media pages and how they use social media to express their ideologies and behaviours, as well as how they use social media to sensitive others about their existence. Also, the study answers the question of constant exposure to these identity-specific social media pages and its impact on increasing acceptance for LGBTQ+ members in Indian society.

1. To understand the use of social media as a platform of expression by emerging identities.
2. To understand the use of social media for LGBTQ community mobilization in India.
3. To find out the impact of identity-specific social media pages on acceptance for LGBTQ members in Indian society.

Ethnography is the study of people in naturally occurring settings or 'fields' using methods which capture their social meanings and ordinary activities, involving the researcher participating directly in the setting, if not also the activities, to collect data systematically but without the meaning being imposed on them externally[4]. It is a study in social anthropology to understand an identity group's culture, behaviour, values, knowledge and practices. It is a long participant observation to contextualize insights into the culture of a community being studied.  The study is rooted in understanding cultural behaviours and how an identity group emerged and earned social relevance. Social Ethnography is understanding how social identities emerge and evolve.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, transgender, and Queer+ (LGBTQ+) are not new to any culture or society across the world. This identity group is of self-recognized individuals who decide their individualities for themselves based on their acceptance of who they are and how they wish to be recognized by society. We can understand it as a calling from the inner self. Apart from setting social notions, members of the LGBTQ+ community choose their individual and sexual preferences. Members of the LGBTQ+ free themselves from traditional gender-specific roles and allow themselves to be who they are from the inside.  Most of the Trans members explain their identity as “having a soul not meant for the body they are born with”. Therefore they either get clinically transformed into a different gender using surgery or else they continue to live a life and perform gender roles of another gender male/female being born despite with a body.

In India, before 2018, it was illegal to identify self as lesbian, gay or bisexual. Although, the transgender community has been part of Indian culture and society for ages, still deprived of basic human rights. Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code 1860 speaks of an unnatural offence which prohibits carnal intercourse against the order of nature. It was in 2018 when a remarkable judgement passed by the bench of five Supreme Court judges headed by CJI Deepak Mishra in Navtej Singh Johar vs. Union of India (2018)(Navtej Singh Johar v/s Union Of India, n.d.)[5] in which carnal sex was decriminalized. The Supreme Court of India considered sexual preference as an individual’s understanding of personal choice and personal freedom. The bench upheld articles 14, 15, 19, and 21 of the Indian constitution and decriminalised homosexuality. Since then the members of the LGBTQ+ community have been recognized as an identity group in India. Despite receiving legal recognition, members of the LGBTQ+ community of India are still deprived of social recognition. It is a long way for them to earn social acceptance in an orthodox society. Since 2018 several campaigns have been organised to create awareness and acceptance for this Identity group the Indian Society. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter played a remarkable role in spreading awareness and sensitizing society about the existence of the respective community.

Social media can be understood as a platform to communicate virtually. Different platforms provide distinguished features and have a separate user base. Users often tend to share their personal/professional experiences with members they are connected with through these social media platforms. Those can be their family members, friends and alike. A study conducted on 1000 adolescents says that approx. 74.5% are moderate users of social media and about 0.7% confirm their addiction to these platforms[6]. A document released by the Government of India confirms that “social media have emerged as a powerful platform for forming an opinion and generating mass support. In India, Facebook alone has over 40 million users. Even the microblogging site Twitter has about 16 million users. These sites offer an opportunity to reach out to this audience at a key stroke. Many of these facilitate access through mobile devices and with nearly 900 million mobile users in India, it offers an unprecedented outreach”[7]. This means every new feed on social media is a sort of data that is provided by the user consensually over the internet. Not only individual experiences but several identity-specific social media pages provide a platform for people of a particular community to come up and share their stories and experiences. The statistical data of personal stories that represent cultural values, traditions, practices, etc. is continuously increasing with the increasing popularity of social media among all stakeholders of society. Thus, unknowing and unintentionally it slowly turned into a new field for ethnographic study.

Just like traditional media, social media also brings into play some kind of media effect. Consciously or unconsciously the media audience/users vulnerable to media messages are likely to reiterate, confirm, and nourish (i.e. cultivate) their values and perspectives[8]. The procedure of understanding the effect of media on its users is called cultivation analysis. It is usually a longitudinal survey of users’ opinions on certain subjects with the key variable being levels of media reception. As stated by Marshall McLuhan “the medium is the message”[9] means media has a powerful effect on society. It tends to shape the thought process of its consumers. Also, a few early media analysts believed the media audiences to be passive receivers who readily accept the media messages which led to the development of the ‘Hypodermic Needle Theory[10]. Thus media, irrespective of its form is capable of influencing its consumers. Consumption of social media is increasing so is its effect on users. The graph of screen time on different media platforms is touching its peak.

Thus, the LGBTQ+ community is actively using social media to sensitize people about their existence in society. Since the platform does not charge any kind of subscription fee for its access, millions of unfiltered thoughts with real-time expression stream uninterrupted over the internet. After the decriminalization of section 377 from the Indian Penal Code the members of a sexual minority group started coming out of the closets and identifying themselves as the Indian LGBTQ+ community. They used social media as a tool to mobilize individuals who were still hesitant of identifying themselves as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Asexual etc. and facilitated moral and monetary support. Identity-specific, new social media pages emerged to normalize homosexuality. The initiative is to sensitize heterosexuals about homosexuality and to earn acceptance in society as members. Efforts were to increase the interaction of different identity groups. The mode of interaction came in the form of first-hand experiences of the LGBTQ+ members specifically on Facebook and Instagram. As a result, a few social networking pages got flooded with ethnographic data provided LGBTQ community themselves.

Research Problem

The popularity of social media platforms among the Indian population increased the vulnerability to media messages[11]. LGBTQ+ is a socially marginalised community which lived as a sexual minority for years in Indian land. After the decriminalization of section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, this sexual group got recognition as a social identity group. Still after five years of the repeal the respective community is struggling to earn social recognition and acceptance. The members of the LGBTQ+ and allied community launched a campaign and used media as a tool for sensitization and social change. Instagram is one such social media platform. Several LGBTQ+ content-specific Instagram pages share everyday stories from the respective community members. In this context, Instagram, just like other social media is acting as a platform for social change. Most of the feeds are based on the lives of the Indian LGBTQ+ members and their first-hand experiences of love, hatred, fear, hesitation, acceptance or denial, etc. by society. These social media feeds by an organization or individuals themselves are a new form of ethnographic data for social science researchers[12]. It is important to understand the effect of new media and how the end users perceive this “Identity and Community” specific media message.

Thus the statement of the problem is “Emerging Identities and Discourses: Use of Social Media in Community Mobilization (A Study of the Indian LGBTQ+ Community)”

Research Design

The study usesa Mixed Research Approach to understand various dimensions of media messages and media effects. The Qualitative Approach uses content analysis of Identity and community-specific social media pages which will be a virtual ethnographic observation of the active LGBTQ identity-specific group. The observation is both descriptive and interpretative as we describe the use of social media for community mobilization.The parameters of observation are the frequency of LGBTQ-specific posts on the respective pages, the type of content, the motive behind the content, and the intended effect of the content. It also interprets emerging culture, values and traditions of the LGBTQ+ community of India. Social media feeds between January 2022 and January 2023 available on five identity-specific social media pages on Instagram are studied to understand the use of social media in Community mobilization, followed by a Quantitative Research Approach using a survey method to know the impact of Identity specific social media pages on acceptance for LGBTQ+ members in Indian society.

Sampling Design

The purposive sampling method is used to identify two popular LGBTQ+ identity-specific Instagram pages for the study.The convenience sampling method was used to collect responses from as many as 100 social media users living in different cities of northern Indian states (Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan) to analyse the impact of identity-specific social media pages on the acceptance of LGBTQ members in Indian society

Two Instagram pages selected for the study are:

1. The Humsafar Trust’s Yaariyan LGBTQ+
2. Museum of Queer Swipe Stories

Content Analysis of LGBTQ+ Identity-Specific Instagram Pages

The Humsafar Trust’s Yaariyan LGBTQ+

Instagram handle: yaariyan_lgbtq

The page of Humsafar Trust has 10.3k active Instagram followers. To reach out to LGBTQ groups in the Mumbai Metro and neighbouring areas, journalists Ashok Row Kavi, Suhail Abbasi, and Sridhar Rangayan established the Humsafar Trust (HST) in April 1994. It became the first openly gay community-based organisation to be given space in a municipal building in Mumbai after extensive networking and advocacy with the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. To educate people on Gay, MSM, and Transgender concerns, Humsafar Trust organises advocacy workshops for government authorities, the media, the student community, health care providers, law enforcement, judiciary, legislators, politicians, and political parties. For young LGBTQ people, and people living with HIV, HST has fostered the support organisations YAARIYAN, UMANG, and SANJEEVANI respectively. Each of these organizations has separate Instagram pages working in the same direction. In addition, HST offers its communities guidance on nutrition, mental health, and crisis management.

Most of the feeds on yaariyan_lgbtq Instagram handle are information rated to queer movements like the Pride Parade, the release of cinema based on homosexuality and stories of coming out as LGBTQ+ to the society, love experiences, ventures and initiatives launched by the members of the community, workshops and seminars organized for them, open talks and discussions, job opportunities etc. From January 2022 to January 23, twenty-two new feeds were added to this Instagram page based on personal experiences from LGBTQ+ members. Every piece of information that could be of minimum importance to the members of the community is shared daily.

It also celebrated February 2022 as a virtual pride month and provided free promotions for LGBTQ+ -related initiatives. One of them is a v-log, posted on 7^th Feb 2022 on a Mumbai-based tea house called Bambai Nazariya. It is a socially inclusive tea house which gives employment opportunities for transgender individuals as all the duties in the cafe are performed by the transgender. It is an initiative of Diego Maranda and Glens Disa to change the perception of society about the transgender community.

Yaariyan_lgbtq launched a venture called “The Acceptance Meet” in which stories are shared from the community members on how their family, friends and other close ones showed acceptance for them and their individuality. The first story from the queue is of Ash, a 19-year-oldteenager who came out as Queer in 2019. He recognizes himself as a Genderfluid (a person does not have a fixed gender identity. Instead, their gender is flexible and may shift and change. It is a type of non-binary gender identity) and Abrosexual (having different levels of sexual or romantic attractions throughout your life). He shares his gratitude to his 12-year-old younger sibling Anish, for accepting his choice of identity and always supporting him for who Ahs is. His brother Anish is a living embodiment of the fact that nobody is ever too young to understand and support the beauty and uniqueness harboured by the queer community. The next story is of 23-year-old gay living in an orthodox family with his two sisters. Initially, he was terrified of his Identity and was scared about coming out as Gay. He isolated himself from his friends as he wasn’t confident about his sexuality. The moment he came out to his sisters they were in a position of denial but later they accepted him for his individuality. Their bond grew stronger with time and the three of them became best friends sharing clothes and jewellery.

The members of the LGBTQ+ community get on opportunity to choose their family among the community if their bloodline refuses to accept them.  Here is the story of Aayush, living in a conservative family with his 7 cousins. It was during his 12^th Boards when he came out as gay to “her” sister Dr Anjali Bagrodia. Being a doctor she was already aware of such a community that supported her brother. Later all of the seven got to know about Aayush’s identity and they showed all kinds of support and understanding. In the words of Aayush “We come from a pretty conservative family, so I know I could never come out to the elders. But what I do know is that my siblings will always have a place for me in their hearts. The beauty of this community is that we get to choose our own family. I am just lucky that my chosen family is also a part of my blood family.”

The succeeding story comes from a father Atul Kumar, who is proud of his daughter and her individuality. The time when his daughter comes out to him as Queer, he was a bit terrified. Being a teacher by profession, Atul researched and tried to understand the concept of sexuality to understand how his daughter is dealing with her identity issues and depression at the same time. He realized that it was high time for him and his family to accept, understand and support his Trans daughter. He says “Queerness was not something I had ever been exposed to or given much thought about. I never had those conversations in my household or with my kids either. Now I know that those are essential conversations. Homes are meant to be spaces of unconditional love. As the father of a Trans-daughter and as a teacher, I’m trying to make my classrooms and my home the safe spaces they should have always been. Children deserve teachers who want to make them good humans. Those things are not luxuries, they’re necessities. Queerness is a challenging thing. Your queer children will have to face challenges, but won’t it be so much better for them to face those challenges with you at their back?”

Ritik Bhaviskar, a 22 years male, gay by sexuality lives his entire teenage just like other heterosexual males. His mother the sole breadwinner of the family works as a household help for foreign families. Ritik was 18 when he came out as gay to his mother. The lady was scared of the society she lives in and tried every possible way to turn him “straight”. Slowly his mother started accepting him but was stared for his future. When she got to know that Ritik was dating someone, she realized her son was not just one of his kind. There are many others like him. Others who will accept, support and love him. This was a flex for her. She realised what ultimately matters is the individual’s happiness. Later she became his major support system. After being accepted as gay by his mother, Ritik says “I live with my boyfriend now, and my mother is my biggest ally. She is proud of me, of all that I am and isn’t afraid to say it even in front of our relatives. She says that whenever the community gets marriage rights, she will be the first one to get us married”.

Praduman Verma is a 23-year-old heterosexual man who is willing to share his journey of acceptance for his gay best friend. Being born in small towns and traditional families both the boys lived a life of straight guys dating girls and having fun. When his friend came out as Gay to him, he was appalled and was not able to react. He chooses to distance himself from his friends and avoids any kind of conversation between them. Meanwhile, he got curious about the LBGTQ+ community and started reading and understanding the concept. It took him time to accept his friend but today they are closer than ever. Both of them have their personal lives and will completely accept each other.

Next feed is from Nipun Sahai, 26. This story is about howthe feeling of a homosexual is suppressed under the fear of social acceptance. Every individual is aware of their sexual choices. Under the pressure of family, friends and other social institutions they start behaving like heterosexuals to feel accepted in society. Something similar happened with Nipun. He tried to believe he was a Heterosexual and had a long relationship of 6 years a girl. He initially came out as bisexual to his sister followed by his girlfriend. He says “I told my girlfriend. We had been friends way before we dated. We were on a break, after which I told her that I was Bicurious, then Bisexual, and finally that I was Gay. She, too, said that she already knew. My sister and my then-girlfriend, both were aware that I was gay, and they wanted me to go on my path of self-discovery. They asked me questions and helped me along the way. I feel like we talk a lot about inclusiveness, but many people don’t understand the meaning of it. It means ‘we include them and they include us, it goes both ways, rather than making rigid systems. Our gender or sexuality should not define who we are as a person. It is a part of our personality, not our whole being.”

Museum of Queer Swipe Stories

Instagram handle: queerswipestories

In 2019 “Museum of Queer Swipe Stories” Instagram page was created to raise awareness about and among the Indian LGBTQ+ community. Currently, it is followed by 9688 Instagram users from India and across the world. The name of the page ‘Museum of Queer Stories’ is justified in the number of stories published on the page. From 2022-2023, seventy-two new feeds were made. All of them were members of the community sharing their love life experiences. This page is a true account of ethnographic data from the members of the LGBTQ+ themselves. Also, it speaks for the rights of LGBTQ+ community members. The current campaign is to receive marital rights for the community members. Approximately 20 posts are shared each month with different intents. It comprises the journey of coming out with a specific identity. How their family members accepted and supported them and how society denied their acceptance initially but with time things began to normalize. A few stories from the account are picked for the analysis of the content.

Lopamudra Pal, 26 shares her experience of love on a dating app where she met her partner Shreyashee. After being in a relationship for four months, Lopamudra collected the courage to come out as a Lesbian to her parents. They didn’t take it well and tried to push conversion therapy. She shifted to her partner’s apartment. Shreyashee’s parents were aware of her sexuality and they readily accepted the couple. They celebrated Christmas together. In her words “Her family came down to celebrate with us. She never told her parents that we were living together; they found out through an Instagram story. But, they took great interest in me and got to know me. We would talk often on video calls. But, when they decided to come down, I was nervous. I was worried it would be awkward and decided to keep zero expectations but, when the holidays rolled around, it was like a fantasy come true. The four of us had a great time. We indulged in traditions like decorating the Christmas tree together. We cooked dinner together and ate to our heart’s fill. In the end, I didn’t feel awkward at all. They just accepted me in a heartbeat. I have very cool in-laws! And, it took a while, but my parents accepted me as well”.

Samarth Saini, 22, is gay by sexuality and a makeup artist by profession. He was in 6^th grade when he used makeup for the first time he found it appealing. His parents discouraged him from using makeup frequently as being a male, using makeup is not acceptable by society. He got himself educated in the field using the internet. Later he came out as gay to his parents. Initially, they were upset but somehow they already knew it and hadn’t taken much time to accept the facts. It was the lockdown period he used as an opportunity to pursue his dreams. In his words “Stuck at home, without anything to do, I decided to play with makeup for fun, like in the old times. What I didn’t know was that makeup was my lifeline. I realised that it didn’t matter if no one was standing by me because my work would always speak for me. I fell in love with makeup and I started exploring the makeup industry as a freelancer, Instagram influencer and content creator. Soon after, I came out and I honestly feel like I’m finally breathing now!”

Jitesh R, 21 identifies himself as Gay, Cis-Male. He shares his experience “When I was a kid, I would often be inclined towards movies and toys that were targeted at girls. I liked what girls of my age liked during my childhood. My peers and classmates, seeing this, often taunted me and called me names. They would tauntingly call me a girl and tell me I don’t belong. At the time, I wasn’t sure about what they meant by saying that. It left me feeling confused. When I was 15, I slowly started educating myself on LGBTQ+ issues and I finally understood and came to terms with who I am. But, I didn't have anyone to support me, not even my friends. I came out to my parents. They were sceptical and not supportive at all, and they thought about taking me to conversion therapy. But, I stood my ground. I made them understand and my parents gradually accepted me. We all went to therapy as a family, which helped. Over time, support poured in from my cousins and my social media friends. My one advice to my queer friends is that you must come out whenever you want and, in my experience, being independent and financially stable when you do so helps!”

Fathima, a 24-year-old single mother identifies herself as a Demisexual, Bisexual woman. Demisexuality is a sexual orientation in which the person feels sexually attracted to someone only after they've developed a close emotional bond with them. For such people, it is comparatively difficult to form instant bonds and they like setting boundaries in a relationship. She says “I wish people would respect the boundaries which we mention in our dating bios, or have the courtesy to move on if it's not okay for them. When you have a kid, you don’t want to jump into something without trying to get to know the person. Some people need time to feel ready for that intimacy. Forcing people to talk about their sexuality and their past traumas, is upsetting and makes me want to not try”.

Impact of Identity-Specific Social Media Pages on Acceptance for LGBTQ Members in Indian Society.

To find out the impact of identity-specific social media pages on acceptance for LGBTQ members in Indian society a survey was conducted in which 100 responses were received from social media users living in different countries of northern India with different educational and occupational profiles. Therefore, this survey can be considered a generic Social media user's opinion. The collected data is analysed and presented in percentage format represented by pie charts separately.

When the users were asked if they come across LGBTQ+-specific content on Social Media 72 out of 100 respondents said yes, while 23 out of 100 said no and 5 of them said they could not specify. (See Fig 1)

Fig 1:

 

This means Social media is helping the members of the LGBTQ+ community in reaching out and connecting with other members of society. The results signify how actively social media is being used in promoting LGBTQ+ community concerns as almost 70 % of the respondents confirm their encounter with LGBTQ+ community-specific content.

The respondents were asked if they follow any LGBTQ+ community-specific, Identity sensitization social media page in which stories related to this identity group are shared. Out of 100 respondents, 32% confirm that they are active followers of such pages. Even though the number is comparatively less, it still has something to say about people's interest in understanding the concerns of a marginalized community. Though 49% of the respondents confirm that they do not follow any such pages they might encounter such random feeds once in a while. 14% assert they are not sure while responding to this question and just 4% might be following such pages. (See Fig 2)

Fig 2:

On the question Does LGBTQ-related content influence your perception of this identity group? Almost 50% accepted the influence of media messages. The content they come across in the tent influences their perception of the identity group. 24% say despite the number of encounters with LGBTQ+ community-specific content their perception is static. Whereas 20% of them accept the possibility of certain changes sometimes and 9% are not sure about the changes in perception. (See Fig 2)

Fig 3:

The succeeding question was if LGBTQ+ community-specific posts impact their acceptance by the respective community. As a response, 61% of the respondents confirma positive impact. This means the motive behind creating community-specific social media pages is a success to some extent. Just 3% confirm the negative impact of such posts and they tend to deny acceptance by the respective community. 23% say they are not sure about the impact such post creates on their perception and acceptance. While 12% confirm neutrality to such initiatives. (See Fig 4)

Fig 4:

When the respondents were asked to share their views on the impact of LGBTQ-specific social media pages on their acceptance in Indian Society 58% confirmed that such initiatives of creating awareness have the potential to positively influence the society.  While 5% of them believe such social media campaigns are of no use and the impact is negative. Instead of accepting, such initiatives set the community aloof from mainstream society. 29% of the respondents are not specific about the potential of social media in influencing society and 7% of them believe does not impact acceptance for a community in the society. (See Fig 5)

Fig 5:

Undoubtedly social media is acting as a catalyst for change. Despite counting the number of potential cons the platforms could have, it gave voice to a sexually marginalized community. It provides a platform for emerging identities to express themselves and discuss their individualities. Though the counterparts work equally, such platforms are letting people from different social groups have open discussion topics like sexuality and appetence. Hence this is leading to creating an environment of social harmony. After the decriminalisation of section 377 from the Indian Penal Code, the use of Social Media by members of the LGBTQ+ seems like a success. The survey conducted for this study is a clear indicator of this success. Almost 70% of the respondents confirm their encounter with LGBTQ+-specific content. Social media is increasing the visibility of identity-specific content and normalises and educates people about their existence. The frequency of encounters makes people use any kind of content. Once an individual gets used to a person or behaviour, a general acceptance of that particular identity develops in the user’s subconscious brain. The same goes for the visibility and acceptance of LGBTQ+ community-specific social media posts. The more they are visible the more people will get used to them and the process of inclusion will speed up. Also, an appreciable percentage of the respondents confirm that they believe such utilization of social media can positively influence society. It will take time for an orthodox society to accept the change, to accept something they have been denying for ages, to accept something they consider morally incorrect. This process of change and acceptance will take place at its own pace. The ways LGBTQ+ community members utilised the potential of social media in reaching out to the world accelerated the process of change and acceptance.

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