James R. Brudner '83 Memorial Prize

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This year’s James Robert Brudner ’83 Memorial Prize was given posthumously to Siddhartha Gautam (Yale ’85) for his important work on LGBT rights in India, which has in collaboration with many other activists’ work led to the repeal of Section 377 —India’s anti-sodomy law, a remnant from British colonialism. To celebrate Gautam’s life and work, we were joined by his two sisters, Sujata Winfield and Anuja Gautam. Also joining us from India were Vivek Divan and Arvind Narrain, both lawyer-activists who have engaged in years of organizing towards the repeal of Section 377, and Jayashree T. who is a community organizer, currently putting together an archive of queer activism in India.

During the panels held in New Haven (on November 4th at the Yale Whitney Humanities Center, moderated by Rohit De of Yale History and Evren Savcı of Yale WGSS) and New York (on November 6th at Thomas Erben Gallery, moderated by Svati Shah of UMass Amherst WGSS), our guests shared with us stories about Siddhartha Gautam’s childhood and youth in India, his move to the US and his times at Yale, and his work with ACTUP in New York and his work on the publication Less Than Gay. Divan and Narrain also spoke of their own work, inspired by Gautam, and other legal activism that led to the repeal of Section 377, and Jayashree T. shared visuals from her archive, including images of Gautam’s handwritten notes on queer activism and sexual liberation. The New Haven event, with many of Gautam’s friends in attendance, was truly moving thanks to the beautiful stories panelists shared that bridged details of Gautam’s personal life with his commitment to social justice until the very last day of his life. The participants also met with Outlaws (Yale Law School’s LGBTQ student group) and the South Asian Students Association for intimate conversations on legal strategy, organizing and community building. The New York event was standing room only with about 60 people there, cross-generational activists and members of the South Asian queer community, Yale alumni and friends of Gautam. During the informal discussion, audience members spoke up with memories of Gautam, his impact on them and on activism among South Asian queers.

The Brudner Prize Committee for 2019-2020: Evren Savcı, Ali Miller, Rohit De (co-chairs); Inderpal Grewal, Jill Richards.