Good Lifestyle

Haima Simoes and Shruti Venkates are the first same-sex couple engraving Vogue India's coverage. Is it a brand new chapter for India, or is it just the beginning?

Haima and Shuti are not professional models, nor huge celebrities, but they are chosen to defend the LGBTQ + movement in India by attracting the blanket of the Vogue. Haima Simoes is a freelancer who works in digital advertising and social media, while Shruti is a developer. Modeling is just a hurry aside for them, but they say it's an excellent opportunity.

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Shruti and Simoes met at College in Mumbai, it's the place of LGBTQ + people in India. It is relatively safe to be out and proud here, without attracting too much unwanted attention. It's not like that everywhere else. For example, Simoes grew up in Goa, was intimidated at school when she came out to her friends at the age of 13. However, she was lucky enough to have a family of support, who has always met her.

Go to college in Mumbai was a wonderful moment for both women. It was a chance to finally be themselves and meet new friends and people sharing the same ideas. Shruti and Haima met in 2017 and since then they were almost inseparable. They do not consider yourself a couple, they are also best friends, they are a team and they support themselves in everything and they have adopted a chat together.

When the pandemic hit India, Shruti and Haima had to separate. 2020 was a difficult year - jobs were lost, the rent of the apartment has become a problem, many were forced to come back with their families after years of life separately. Haima spends the pandemic with his family in Goa, and that means she had limited opportunities to see Shuti. Only travel and photoshoots related to work like this for the vogue.

The two women agree that the fashion industry, in general, is the most welcoming industry at LGBTQ + Folk in India, even if it is not quite perfect and has disadvantages. There is a very obvious lack of representation. The two women agree that the fashion industry, in general, is the most welcoming industry at LGBTQ + Folk in India, even if it is not quite perfect and has disadvantages. There is a very obvious lack of representation.

Being part of the LGBTQ + community in India is sometimes difficult. In order to go out and live the life you want to live, you have to have a solid base of support and security, financial and emotional. It is not surprising that most of the representation of the LGBTQ community of India be superior gay men. They have a certain amount of privilege, while women do not feel so sure to be at the forefront of this movement, because their swimming pool of career opportunities in India is already smaller and the limit may be even more far.

However, the times change, and the fact that Vogue India has presented a single sex couple on their blanket is a good sign. Hope this means that there will be more representation in the media and that the company will also be more welcoming and acceptable.