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Students come to IIT Kanpur with many hopes and aspirations. While coming to their new home, it is expected that they get a community of people that provides them with fruitful interactions and an accepting environment. However, is this true for everyone?
According to the Freshers’ Survey conducted by Vox Populi for the Y24 batch, for a question regarding their sexualities, approximately 12% of the batch does not identify as heterosexual. This means that a significant number of students fall under the queer umbrella, and their experiences deserve attention too.
This article aims to shed light on the experiences of queer students on campus, questioning the inclusivity of our environment and what more needs to be done.
We conducted a series of anonymous interviews of queer students, and talked to the managers of Unmukt of the 2024-25 tenure to understand the challenges faced by them and reflect on how we can make IITK a more inclusive space for everyone.
Arrival:
“I had really high and positive expectations from college… especially when the apparent “brightest minds of the country” come here. And I had heard of Unmukt – the gender and sexual diversity club at IITK as well. But the reality was quite the opposite”
– Y23 UG student
“Well, I thought IITians were well read and educated, boy was I wrong my first ethics session and its homophobia and misogyny galore”
– Y23 UG student
These are some of the responses of the interviewees when asked about their expectations from the people of the campus in terms of acceptance towards the LGBTQIA+ community.
There was a stark difference between what people expected the community to be before they arrived here and how it is.
From seniors making casual homophobic jokes during early wing meets to outright derogatory comments about queer identities, initial interactions often leave queer students feeling alienated.
Post graduate queer students have also faced the brunt of the homophobia widely prevalent in the campus, with one 5th year PG student sharing how the initial conversations went-
“The lab environment is largely heteronormative and the one time the conversation happened, one of our lab mates said they don’t support the LGBTQIA+ due to religious reasons”. However, he went on to say, “My initial friend group has always been supportive, or at least they did when I came out. Few of them are proud allies where we had meaningful discussions about various aspects covering gender and sexuality, whereas few don’t know much but unconditionally extend their support”. Another PG student claimed, ”Didn’t really come here with any expectations but I always found people around me here, accepting so I never really had to do the whole ‘coming out’ kind of thing.”
“IITK is no different from my hometown (or my ug alma mater) when it comes to a supportive environment. The vast majority is unaware, and the rest are mostly conservative. The only aspect different is the sense of community (thanks to unmukt). Neither my alma mater or my native had a queer rights organization”
Overall, all the interviewees agreed that the campus doesn’t present itself as an accepting place as a lot of them expected it to.
Conversations
We now look at how the daily conversations and interactions with their peers look like for queer students.
“There were many many incidents with my wingmates and my department friends where they just said pretty homophobic and transphobic things openly out loud and it would get very uncomfortable for me”
-Y23 UG Student
All of the interviewees reported witnessing instances of queerphobia from the people around them, with whom they regularly interacted. Here are some examples elaborating the queerphobic environment :
“One such incident would be when my wingies were discussing, “If you were to become a baapu, what would you do if your bachha came out as gay?”…Even one of the sweetest and closest friends at the time, who I knew to be pretty kind-hearted, was like – “Agar mera bachha gay nikalega mai to uska gala kaat dunga”…”
-Y23 UG Student
“If a girl has a boycut – chakka, hijra. A boy doesn’t actively talk about pussy – chakka. A boy doesn’t like sports, cars, gym, etc – chakka. A boy listens to Taylor Swift – chakka. I could go on and on with examples…”
-Y23 UG Student
“I didn’t think people would be openly and blatantly homophobic like they are here, I thought they would keep their homophobic views to themselves. But here everyone takes pride in being queerphobic and keeps saying queerphobic things either to sound ‘cool’ or just for fun,”
-PG Student
Evidently such an unaccepting environment hinders the interaction queer people have with their peers. It also makes them conscious of themselves and the way they are perceived.
“Consciousness as in it made me question every single action or behaviour of mine – how I talked, how I walked, what things I talked about with them, etc etc. Basically, every interaction I ever had with anyone, I had to make sure I didn’t give anything away.”
– Y20 UG Student
“Like I met my partner online here. We both live on campus… Initially we both would hesitate holding hands while walking in the campus, but we are both feel freer now, although whenever there’s a big group passing by, or a group of boys, we usually don’t hold hands.”
-PG Student
Due to all of this negativity, queer people are forced to remain closeted, this also implies that they are hidden from other queer people too. We found that it is extremely hard for queer people here to connect with other queer people because of the anonymity that everyone is forced to maintain.
“It is almost impossible(to find other queer people). Even the one queer guy I found was sheer luck I’ll say. Because every queer person here is closeted, so unless you are out, other queer people won’t find out (unless they have a strong gaydar)”
-Y23 UG Student
” It’s not easy to connect with other queer people on the campus, mostly because a lot of them are closeted for various reasons.”
-Y20 UG Student
'Support' Systems ?
From the responses it is evident that the campus community is largely queerphobic and it is difficult for queer people here to fit in. The next question is, are there any support systems on campus that can help them?
Cognizance
Cognizance, an event for freshers focusing on gender sensitivity and queer awareness, is the only compulsory queer-awareness event on campus, however that too has some drawbacks as the event is conducted by the CTM’s who themselves aren’t sensitized enough to take a session. Some queer people believe Unmukt should take a more active role.
“Cognizance is a joke amongst my batchmates. It is something that is constantly being made fun of from time to time. But even personally I don’t like how it is being conducted and think more well-informed people should conduct it with better slides which have more than just Wikipedia-pasted information”
-Y23 UG Student
“I didn’t even blame the kids; they didn’t know much. But the sad part was the CTMs didn’t either.”
-Y23 UG Student
The managers too believe the responsibility should lie with Unmukt.
“I think it’ll be better if the Unmukt manager and secretaries conduct Cognizance. We’d be able to touch on more sensitive topics.”
-Auhona, Unmukt manager (2024-25)
There are ongoing discussions to shift this responsibility to Unmukt, whose members may be better suited to lead such sessions with greater sensitivity and depth.
Unmukt
Unmukt is the gender and sexual diversity forum of IIT Kanpur. They raise issues and awareness on all topics related to gender and sexuality, and advocate for a more inclusive campus for queer people.
However, the body faces several challenges in the conduction of its events which include low participation and queerphobia, majorly stemming from the stigma that is attached to it.
“Yes, there’s a lot of difficulty, both in terms of participation and the hate we receive. This is something any queer body faces—you get a lot of stigma attached to your organization. Because of this, people aren’t very willing to attend our events, and many mock those involved with Unmukt.”
-Ragha Shrutilaya, Unmukt Manager (2024-25)
There is a stigma attached not only to attending the events of Unmukt but also to being a part of Unmukt, and this often devolves into mocking and bullying.
“There is no concept of “being an ally” thing. What I have heard in my case, since I went on to become a manager, probably I belong to the community.”
-Auhona, Unmukt Manager(2024-25)
“The secretaries in my tenure often told us that their wingmates questioned them about why they were part of Unmukt. I remember one guy who had been with us from the beginning, but he had to leave because he was being bullied for being a secretary of Unmukt.”
– Ragha Shrutilaya, Unmukt Manager(2024-25)
This creates a gap between queer students, those interested in joining, and the organization itself. This is largely due to the perception that being associated with Unmukt automatically means someone is queer. As a result, both allies and queer individuals hesitate to engage with the group out of fear of being judged or outed.
Auhona remarked –
“Any event that Unmukt organizes sees low participation, and a major reason for this is the stigma attached to it. People worry about how they will be perceived if they attend.”
Addressing this issue, a manager clarified, “A common misconception is that people think being part of Unmukt means you are gay. That’s completely untrue. There are many cishet (Cisgender Heterosexual) members on our team. You don’t have to be queer to support the community.”
Ultimately, the stigma surrounding Unmukt stems from deep-rooted queerphobia.
As pointed out by one of our interviewees, Unmukt is seen as a “gay club”, and those associated with it face ridicule and isolation. This pressure forces some students to cut ties with the organization or avoid it altogether. Unfortunately, this only worsens the struggles of queer students, who desperately need the safe space Unmukt strives to provide.
The support systems are scarce, and those that exist face serious problems. This leaves queer students to face the queerphobia themselves, while hindering their ability to interact fruitfully with their peers.
Conclusion
Although IIT Kanpur often presents itself as a space of open-mindedness and academic excellence, the lived experiences of queer students paint a different picture. From casual homophobic jokes to violent rhetoric it is embedded in everyday interactions.
These aren’t isolated incidents. Nearly every queer student we spoke to recalled moments of discomfort, fear, or invisibility, whether it was feeling the need to police their mannerisms, avoid holding hands with their partner on campus, or being unable to connect with others like them due to the enforced closet many are pushed into.
Even institutional efforts meant to offer support, like Cognizance, fall short due to the lack of proper sensitization among those conducting them. Meanwhile, Unmukt, the only body actively advocating for queer rights, is often met with ridicule, low participation, and stigma.
The result is a culture of silence and suppression. Queer students are not just struggling with acceptance they are often struggling alone.
We must move beyond surface-level inclusion and start having necessary conversations about queerphobia on campus. True change will only come when awareness is met with accountability from peers, from institutions, and from ourselves.
To conclude, as one of our interviewees put it:
“Since this is meant to be read by the campus junta, I would probably just want them to know and believe that queer people are so much more than being queer.
Because a common rant I hear from homophobic people is that “gay people try to shove their sexuality in our faces”. I am here to work hard, study, make my future, make friends and have fun. I don’t ask for sympathy from anyone just because I am gay. All I ask for (and probably every other queer person as well) is to not feel isolated and left out, solely because of a little part of myself. I have a life outside of my sexuality, just like you…
I only ask for people to understand me, nothing else. And no, I am not mentally retarded or mentally ill or abnormal – I worked hard to crack the same exam that you did to come here, and completely by merit, so my sexuality has no relation with my potential.”
Design – Abhinav Kumar Chaudhary, Pankhuri Sachan
Written by – Saurya Singh, Dhriti Barnwal, Mudita Roy, Raziq, Namrata Chavhan, Akshada Bhagwat, Harsh Ashok Kumar
