Anwesh Sahoo

Anwesh Sahoo
Born	(1995-07-04) 4 July 1995 Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
Alma mater	IIIT Delhi
Occupations	Artist Writer Model TEDxSpeaker Blogger
Years active	2016–present
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)

Anwesh Kumar Sahoo (born July 4, 1995), often shortened to Anwesh Sahoo, is an Indian artist, blogger, writer, model and a TEDx speaker who was crowned Mr. Gay World India, 2016 and subsequently at the age of 20, became the youngest contestant ever to win the crown. He represented India at the Mr. Gay World 2016 pageant held in Malta, Europe and made it to the Top 12. He is currently a student of IIIT Delhi, pursuing Electronics and Communication Engineering.

Early life and education

Anwesh was born in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on 4 July 1995 to Jagannath Sahoo, an engineer with NTPC, and Kanak Sahoo, a homemaker. Anwesh grew up in a small township of Kaniha in Odisha till the age of 13 until his parents moved to Noida, Uttar Pradesh. He completed his schooling from Vishwa Bharati Public School in Noida, and has mentioned of multiple instances of bullying throughout his school life in his interviews and blog posts. In an interview with Gaylaxy Magazine, he said how he had a very good childhood until middle school happened to him and the bullying intensified. He said his only respite were his books and the dream of acing his 12th boards. He went on to score a perfect 95% in his Higher Secondary Exams. He came out as gay to his sister at the age of 16, and by the age of 18 had started writing a blog 'The Effeminare', to combat homophobia in his own little way and create awareness related to LGBTIQ issues in India. He went on to write an article called Under the Lucky Star for Pink-Pages, a National LGBT Magazine in India, where he came out to the readers and later on, also to his parents through the article. In his article he writes, "There is an underlying sense of security that only the walls of the closet can ensure. But then follows the phase of suffocation. The walls that once protected us begin to make us feel restricted. And what follows is the “end of self denial”. This is when it all gets better." He went on to write another article the following year for Pink-Pages called 'Growing Up Gay', where he spoke of how contrary to the reactions of people, growing up gay in India isn't half as bad. He continued to write for online forums that same year including 'That Time I Chose To be Gay' for Youth Youniverse and 'Miscellaneous Miley' for Artists At Work Productions' blog.

Career

Sahoo was a 3rd year engineering student at IIIT Delhi, when he was crowned Mr. Gay World India, and at 20 was the youngest contestant at the World pageant. His campaign Fitting Out gained widespread acclaim that year garnering the highest marks at the World pageant. Post winning Mr. Gay World India, he became a part of the 50 Shades of Gay campaign shot by Shubham Mehrotra and was featured on the Gay Star News that year. He became the first former contributor of Pink Pages to feature on the cover of the magazine in its June 2016 issue. Anwesh later gained mainstream visibility due to a video he shot with Gaysi called Silly Questions Straight People Ask Gay Menthat went viral over the Internet and was subsequently featured on numerous Indian and International websites including BuzzFeed India, Cosmopolitan India, Vagabomb and Logo TV's NEWNOWNEXT. Another video featuring him belly dancing to a popular Bollywood number 'My Name is Lakhan' went viral later that year in December, with popular websites and news outlets featuring him including Indian Express, Storypick, Queerty and Vagabomb. He also works as a writer for Swaddle, a parenting website where he writes on sexuality and gender related issues for parents. Some of his notable works on the site include, "What do you do if you think your child is Gay?", and "Gender and Sexuality Terms: A Sensitive Glossary for Parents". Anwesh has also written of his experience of being bullied online post winning the crown of Mr. Gay India, where he was criticized for not being 'pretty enough' and being 'too dark' to represent India on his blog The Effeminare, which was later published on Gaylaxy Magazine and covered by Pinksixty News. He also organized Delhi University's first pride walk in association with IIT Delhi's Annual fest Rendezvous to create awareness and promote acceptance for the LGBTIQ community. Anwesh has also been photographed by British photographer Olivia Arthur for a photo-series exploring sexuality in Mumbai, India which were later exhibited at the FOCUS Photography Festival, 2017 at Elysium Mansion, Colaba. He was the ambassador for 'Dance4Pride' event organized by Delhi based organization Those In Need in association with Scruff in April 2017. He has also featured in a social media campaign for Delhi based brand Poem bags.

TEDx Experience

Anwesh is also a TEDx speaker and has spoken at 2 TEDx events namely, TEDxMAIS 2016 (Mallya Aditi International School, Bangalore) and at TEDxXIMB (Xavier's Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar) where he spokeof growing up in a society that did not know how to deal with those who did not conform to gender stereotypes and the need to accept gender as a spectrum and not a binary concept.

See also

• Mr Gay India
• Mr India World
• Rohit Khandelwal