Anjali Gopalan was born on September 1, 1957, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her father, Group Captain Dr KR Gopalan, was an officer in the Indian Air Force and her Punjabi mother was a homemaker. Anjali did her schooling in La Martiniere Lucknow.
"It is a reflection of what we are doing with our minorities. Be it in Kashmir, be it in the North East, be it rights for the sexual minority, animal rights, it is the same attitude. We are becoming more and more intolerant of the other". All individuals, if you give them the space, will prove to be productive citizens. "But if you impose your sets of right and wrong and therefore they have no right to live, then what can you expect from people?"[8]
— Anjali Gopalan on re-criminalisation of homosexuality in India
Early work
Anjali worked for nearly a decade with community-based organizations in New York City[1] where she worked for migrants from Southeast Asia who lacked valid documents. She later started the Naz Foundation, which changed the lives of LGBT people, women's, and children who are HIV positive. Providing direct services for HIV/AIDS and Marginalization issues Circumstances led her to live and care for HIV-affected undocumented migrant laborers, schoolchildren, and South Asian communities.[2][9]
1990s
When Anjali returned to India, She established Delhi's first HIV clinic[10] in 1994 and the Naz Foundation (India) Trust, an HIV/AIDS service organization that concentrates on prevention and care.[1] The foundation currently works on issues of sexuality rights.
2000s
In 2000, she opened the country's first holistic home for orphaned, vulnerable HIV+ children and women. She trains health professionals and caregivers to treat HIV+ children and recognizes that existing facilities need to expand their scope to include them. She has designed a system that provides multi-faceted care to infected children, both in the home and in foster care.
Her main concern remains providing quality care to those living with the HIV infection, which she has done through founding and managing a care home for HIV-positive children and women. As a strong advocate for the sexual health and rights of the LGBT community, she spearheaded the eight-year legal battle against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). In 2001, her organization filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) to decriminalize homosexuality and put an end to the archaic law under which individuals were harassed and discriminated against based on their sexual orientation. The Delhi High Court ruled in favour of Naz India in 2009 and declared Section 377 an infringement on individual rights.[11]
When I started working in the 1990s on addressing rights of gay men, I never thought that I would be sitting in a place like Madurai and discussing about LGBT issues, I feel very ecstatic.[14]
— Anjali Gopalan, on the Alan Turing Rainbow Festival Organized by Srishti Madurai
In 2001, she was awarded the Commonwealth Award[11] for her work with marginalized communities. The Chennai-based Manava Seva Dharma Samvardhani presented her with the Sadguru Gnanananda Award in 2003, for her work in supporting those living with HIV/AIDS.
In March 2007, Gopalan was honored as a Woman Achiever[11] by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, along with nine other awardees. She was felicitated by Sri Somnath Chatterjee, speaker of the Lok Sahba, in the presence of the Minister of State for Women and Child Development. On July 29, 2012, Gopalan inaugurated the Alan Turing Rainbow festival and flag of Asia's first genderqueerpride parade as a part of the Turing festival organised by Gopi Shankar Madurai of Srishti Madurai. This was the first gay pride parade attended by Gopalan.[15] Since September 2, 2012, she has served as the advisory head of the committee of Srishti Madurai.[12][16]
In 2012, Gopalan established an animal sanctuary called "All Creatures Great and Small" at Silakhari, Harayana.[17]
On October 25, 2013, Gopalan was awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur in the order of the legions of honor, the highest award from France presented to her by Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Minister of Women's Rights for France. Gopalan is the first Indian Tamil woman awarded the "Legion of Honour".[18][19]
Anjali Gopalan Srishti Awards for Social Justice Journalism
The academic committee of Srishti Madurai awards the Anjali Gopalan Srishti Awards for Social Justice Journalism to distinguished social journalists. The first award was received by V. Mayilvaganan and V. Narayanswamy from The Times of India for highlighting issues of genderqueer and Santhi Soundarajan.[22]
