We are excited to present Shaam-e-Queer this Pride season through a collaboration between the South Asia Institute, Trikone Chicago, and Desi Rainbow.
The evening will begin with Centering Joy: Queer Spaces in 2026, a panel discussion featuring organizers and activists from Desi Rainbow and Trikone Chicago. Together, they will explore how queer South Asian communities are cultivating spaces for joy, resilience, care, and belonging within today’s political and cultural landscape.
Following the discussion, the night will continue with drag performances by Chicago-based South Asian drag artists, celebrating self-expression, artistry, and queer pride.
The event will also feature an archival table highlighting materials and histories connected to Chicago’s South Asian queer community, offering attendees an opportunity to engage with the stories, organizing, and cultural memory that continue to shape the city’s South Asian LGBTQ+ landscape.
At a time when queer communities continue to create spaces of affirmation and solidarity, Shaam-e-Queer centers joy as an act of presence, resistance, and celebration. Through dialogue, performance, and archival exploration, the evening invites attendees to reflect on the richness and diversity of South Asian queer experiences across generations.
We invite you to join us in celebrating South Asian queer joy in all its forms during Pride Month.
About Panelists
Aruna Rao (she/her) is the proud parent of a queer and transgender young adult and the founder and Executive Director of Desi Rainbow, which provides support, education and
advocacy for diasporic LGBTQIA+ South Asian Americans and their families. She is deeply committed to building a world where all LGBTQIA+ identities are affirmed and celebrated. Her work is rooted in lived experience and deep understanding of community needs. She has served on the PFLAG National Board and has over two decades of experience as a mental health advocate and non profit executive.
Gaurav was born and raised in Mumbai and moved to Chicago in 2023, where he found something he had always been looking for — community. A marketer by profession working in market research, he is also a board member of Trikone Chicago, where he contributes to event programming and community-building initiatives. Having grown up in a family that did not accept his identity, he understands firsthand why South Asian queer spaces matter. For many of us, these spaces are not just events — they are the first place that feels like home. That understanding is what drives his commitment to showing up, contributing, and helping build what he once needed himself. He believes that community is not something you find — it is something you build. And he is here to build it.
Ronnie is an emerging filmmaker, documentary artist, and archivist whose work explores memory, identity, and collective struggle through a political and cultural lens. Rooted in progressive South Asian organizing, they work as a community organizer focused on cultural storytelling, public education, and grassroots political engagement. Ronnie has also performed as the drag king “Kamdev,” using performance as a space for queer expression, satire, and resistance. Their films and archival projects have screened at local film festivals and community.
About Moderator
Ankit Khadgi is a Chicago-based writer, organizer, and curator. He currently serves as a board member of Trikone Chicago, where he helps organize events and build community for South Asian queer people across the city. In 2024, he was named one of Windy City Times’ Top 30 Under 30 LGBTQ+ leaders in Chicago. Ankit is also the curator of People Who Came Before Us, an archival project documenting the history of Chicago’s South Asian LGBTQ+ community.