Queer Circle!

02/07/24

Queer circle- Pride Month- June 2024

Connection and community are two words that resonates with the Auroville spirit. For pride month we decided to take inspiration from a game created by our team. This game, Blind Babble, was created for people to connect, skip small talk, meet people and create special bonds with strangers & friends. For the queer circle we created a new version called The Queer Game Project. This time the categories were : Love & Relationship, In the eye of the other and Category is Yapping. We build the game around questions about identity, queerness, societal perception and light/fun topics.

After a quick introduction about YouthLink we got to introduce our game and the values behind it. We also explain the necessity of creating a safe atmosphere, with non violent communication and active listening for playing the game. We created small groups of 4 to 6 people taking turns  answering the questions. We played two rounds of 45 minutes with a 20 minute break in between. During the break people got to greet their friends and talk with new people, as well as enjoy nice drinks and biscuits.

Connecting people to make them feel seen, understood and meet new people was the goal.   Through discussion and questions everyone got a chance to open up, relate or explain their point of view on different subjects. We got to meet 30 lovely people from Auroville & Pondicherry. It was great to see old & new faces at the French Pavilion. Some people offered to help us to organize and host the next queer events. It was very uplifting to see & feel a sense of community and that strong bond.

After the event we got people reaching out to thank us and tell us how excited they were about connecting with other members of the community and how they couldn’t wait for the next queer event. It warmed our heart and we felt like we were getting a step closer to building that sense of community, connection and support that Auroville is known for.

Written by Anna