new delhi the indian institute of technology in new delhi a leading campus for science technology engineering and mathematics has started taking steps on making its portals a safe space for lgbtqia studentsthe change which is nascent became possible on a maledominated stem campus because of the cumulative effort of professors and a twoyearold students collective called indradhanu which started with 14 members but now has 250timesviewmembers of lgbtqia community often endure discrimination in society such intolerance emerges from prejudices internalised over the years sensitisation helps change such negative behaviour the institute has taken a progressive step which will help in creating more perceptive young men and women who understand and accept the beauty of diversity other educational institutes can take a similar stepin february indradhanu held iit delhis first queer parade called vibhinn there are also infrastructure changes such as setting up genderneutral restrooms happening on the campusiit delhi has also made it compulsory for students and teachers to attend a sensitisation workshop on diversityindradhanu organises film screenings and talks regularly on campus on august 2 it will screen ek jagah apni a film by the ektara queer collective followed by a discussionvaivab das a phd scholar in the department of humanities and social sciences is the student coordinator of the collective i dont want anyone to lose their prime years facing stigma and discrimination because of their gender or sexual orientation the way i did that is why i am very motivated to work for this collective vaivab told toithe importance of indradhanu on an iit campus is not lost on vaivab or the others in the collective the campus like most engineering colleges is maledominated as many stem institutes are jokes on homosexuality and gender pronouns by students are common lgbtq individuals are often seen as troublemakers who disrupt traditional values it was time to shatter those stereotypes vaivab saidthe collective has a website which states that they are a resource group raising awareness on issues relating to the lgbtq community and advocating an inclusive campus experience for allit has nine core members of whom five are from stem departments vaivab a nonstem scholar has two masters from the tata institute of social sciences and the national law schoolvaivab said that the collectives earlier informal nature made it a challenge to engage in meaningful discussions as people could easily dismiss our intentions and plans our proposal to formalise the collective received overwhelming support we collaborated with numerous other student outfits to help the campus understand the significance of having such a student organisationthis year when the students orientation was held for firstyear newcomers last week indradhanu also conducted its orientation eventthe collectives faculty coordinator arudra burra from the department of philosophy said indradhanu has been conducting queer film screenings virtual art projects pride parades webinar conversations on themes like urban queer panellists and social media campaigns to initiate dialoguehowever there is still a long way to gomeghna hooda a thirdyear humanities and social sciences student who prefers