ABOUT benGAYliz

Like anywere else in the world, being gay in Bangladesh has never been a phenomena.  It just has never been identified as being gay but often refeared to as being a bachalor or "Chiro Kumar" as in bengali.  We all come across of people in our society mainly from the older generation, who have chosen to live bechalor life style for their entire life.  Now was it a choise for all, to be a bechalor for rest of their life? I think not.  I mean what other option did they really have.  Society was never gona accept tehm as being diffrent.  People weren't allowed to have sexual preferances.  So being bachelor and living a complex free life was probably the only convincing excause.

Today at the turn of the century  more and more of us gay guy's, both at home and abroad are coming open about our sexuality.  This ofcourse consists of mainly a mixture of educated, unignorant and affluent Bangladeshi's across the world.  A lot of relationships develops in the closet and continues discreetly, this is common mainly with the bi guy's.   In Bangladesh people are coming to term with and being more open minded then ever, about the whole LGBT concept.  Almost in every other TV dramas or Films there are funny gay or transgender characters.  There are educational documentries made and shown on TV about the transgendred life style in Bangladesh.

In the western world  many Bangladeshi LGBT guy's have started living with their partner or been single and explored the gay life like any other gay or lesbian since a long time ago.    In 2002 a Bangladeshi guy married a Amerian guy in USA and made headlines in every Bangladeshi news papers across the world.  In UK and in a lot of european countries LGBT guy's are taking previlages of the newly introduced same sex civil marrige right's law. 

It hasn't always been as simple for Bangladeshi gay people though.  In 1999, two gay guy's from Dhaka were forced to live Bangladesh and seek asylum in Australia, as they lost their jobs and a religious court issued order sentencing them to deth by stoning, as a consequences of coming out. 

Today government project's and a lot of gay and non gay social networks, voluntry online forums including UK's Naz Project, UK's Imman, USA's Al Fathiha group, Yahoo's Bangladeshi gay forum BOB (Boys of Bangladesh) and ofcourse the Daily Star news paper of Bangladesh are working in support and help to promote and provide a better life style for the LGBT community in Bangladesh.   

A reseasrch study founded in 1996 by the UK's Naz Project, revealed that as many as 10% of the Bangladeshi population could be gay.  That is of the 133 million population, which will be 13 million Bengalis approxmaxly.  Since then the government has started a number of project across the counrty to provide help and support for the gay people mainly.  In July 2007 BRAC University,s James P Grant school of Public Health hosted (countrys first) a three day International Workshop on Gender and Sexuality, in an attempt to tacle society's ignorance and indeffrance towards the LGBT and the minority gruops. 

These are just a few of the fact's about the Bangladeshi LGBT reality but good enough evidence to say that we have started to accept our own true identity, our true selves.  The government of Bangladesh is yet to give the green light to live freely as a gay individual  but if we all stand together and demand a place in the society, I am sure it will only be a matter of time before we have a better LGBT life style in Bangladesh.  

benGAYliz (word made out of  Bangladeshi gay and lesbian) aims to bring all the LGBT Bangladeshi's and their admirers across the globe, together.  To let the world know of our existance.  To make a place for our selves in the society, and to stop being ostracised not only by the hetrosexual world or by our own mother land "Bangladesh" but by the entire civilization.