MUMBAI: IIM Bangalore (IIM-B) will, for the first time later this month, start conversations around lesbian gay bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues in a movement that is gaining momentum across the country’s premier institutes.At IIM-B, the conversations will be built into the incoming batch’s orientation programme as a first step towards the formation of an LGBT group later this year.“In a society like ours, if these issues have to come into the mainstream, they need a voice,” says professor Vasanthi Srinivasan chairperson , alumni relations at IIM-B.That voice is now growing stronger across India’s student community as LGBT groups gain a bigger footing across campuses.This year alone, several Indian Institutes of Technology including those at Roorkee, Kharagpur and Gandhinagar have either set up — or are planning to start — LGBT support groups. Similar groups are under consideration at IIT Guwahati and IIM Ahmedabad, say members of campus LGBT communities.“The youth are today far more open about coming out and wear their sexuality on their sleeve,” says Pallav Patankar, director, programmes at the Humsafar Trust , a Mumbai-based voluntary organisation that promotes LBGT rights.At IIT Kharagpur, an initiative to launch an LGBT group on campus is under way. The newsletter will also invite people to write in anonymously. It isn’t easy starting an initiative like this in a town like Kharagpur, says a student who’s part of the process. In more ‘open’ metros like Delhi and Mumbai, people are seen having it much easier.Institutes such as IIT Bombay have been the forerunners in this space. Saathi, IIT-B’s LGBTQ resource group, was launched in mid-2011, the first of such groups at the IITs. Today it has over 150 members including students, faculty, staff and alumni.Across the IITs, Saathi and IIT Delhi’s Indradhanu are among the most active LGBT resource groups. IIT Kanpur has Unmukt and IIT Madras, Vannam, which was started less than a year ago. Among other institutes, IISC Bangalore, TISS and Jadavpur University also have groups on campus; in some cases, informal. These groups typically organise film screenings and talks, post articles about sexuality and provide counselling.“Knowing there are people who support you; others similar to you who have gone through various levels of taboo makes a big difference,” says Nimisha Agarwal , who is part of Queer IISc.IIT-B also has a project called Saathi Connect, a multimedia anthology of young queer India, where young LGBTQ people are being invited to contribute their stories. At IIT Kanpur, handouts are distributed and people who are bullied because of their sexuality, are guided through meetings and sometimes referred to psychiatrists, says PhD student ARoychowdhury.Earlier initiatives have paved the way. Last July, for instance, Aditya Shankar of IIT Bombay’s Saathi uploaded a video called ‘First Love’ on YouTube . Meant to sensitise IIT-B freshers about sexual orientation, the video had a bunch of students — some straight, some gay — speaking about their first love. It was a follow-up to Aditya’s video a year earlier that spoke of his own coming out.Both the videos went viral and inspired several others across campuses – including several at IIT-B --to come out and say they were gay. But there is still a long distance to cover.While a small group of students are now open about their sexual orientation, there are many more who are afraid.“Sexuality in general is kept under wraps in India,” says Queer IISc’s Nimisha. She has seen numbers of such students increasing to 60 from around 10 in the past four years. But that’s not much, she says, considering the campus has 5,000-plus students.Patankar of Humsafar Trust says that often students prefer an outside support group. “Students aren’t sure if coming out on campus improves/skews their chances with recruiters. In a cutthroat world like this, people tend to think it can hinder their chances.” And then there’s the shadow of Section 377 of IPC, which deems homosexuality illegal.“Barring a few organisations including Google Infosys and the Godrej Group , most organisations typically do not want to know about LGBT. And if they know, they do not want to engage with it,” says professor Neharika Vohra of IIM Ahmedabad who has been part of a study on Inclusion in India Inc. And that’s where campus groups are invaluable, said IIT Bombay’s Aditya Shankar. “Earlier it used to feel like a thankless job. We knew there were a number of gay people on campus because of the dating apps but no one came out. It took three years of working without expectations for things to change.”