Video by  G.H.A.R, the Gay Housing Assistance Resource

Nineteen years ago, Sachin Jain founded G.H.A.R, the Gay Housing Assistance Resource, to help LGBT people find safe and friendly housing. In a country where LGBTQ people are still unable to find acceptance, a project like this was revolutionary.

The hostility Jain and his gay friends had received from their straight roommates, landlords, and neighbours when renting rooms at the start of their careers in the 1990s was what inspired him to start the project. Initially starting off as a small Yahoo group, G.H.A.R has now gone on to become a closed Facebook group with 2,260 active members. We were “forced to go back in the closet, and be hidden, and anxious, and insecure in our own house,” cites Jain as his reason for starting this resource. He ended up creating a safe space for fellow queer people to find solidarity, safety, and happiness. Jain continues to hope that that G.H.A.R can help queer people who undergo a constant series of struggles with respect to ‘home’ and housing to find their family of choice.

Cover Image: The Hindu