In an effort to offer some support to the LGBT community, a 24x7 helpline called the Sahaay Helpline was set up to answer queries on health and psychological issues. In 9 months the line received more than 100,000 calls from 39,800 callers.

According to the data, almost 70% of the callers did not report HIV testing in the year. When asked, 50.82% of callers said they did not get tested out of “fear”. In India, men who have sex with men often face physical violence and harassment from police and the society. Many such men do not disclose their sexual preferences, especially if they are married to women and have families. Nearly three-fourths of the callers identified themselves as belonging to this category.

Several callers faced psychosocial problems like “self-identity crisis”, crisis in family relationships, violence and abuse, substance abuse, addiction, discrimination in workplace or educational institutions. Read More