Alcohol and LGBTQ+ Punjabis - Suffering Alone?

Alcohol and LGBTQ+ Punjabis - Suffering Alone?

This April we were lucky to collaborate with Asra and Sarbat Sikhs to talk about alcohol and being Punjabi LGBTQ+. These are some of our reflections from the online meeting.

The idea for this meeting came from someone who identifies as LGBTQ+ Punjabi and has had a personal journey with problematic alcohol use. They reflected on the fact that there aren’t any specific spaces for this intersection and that people in this group might appreciate having a space to talk about their experiences with each other.

The group was well attended by a mix of LGBTQ+ Punjabis and allies and we used breakout rooms to give people time to talk to each other about their experiences with alcohol in Punjabi cultures.

What was clear is that alcohol has a complicated place in Punjabi cultures and there is a lot of shame and secrecy associated with alcohol drinking. For some of the attendees this meant that when their alcohol use started causing problems in their lives, they struggled to find a safe way to discuss this with their family and friends and this made the problem worse.

When this fact was combined with the challenges of being LGBTQ+ and Punjabi, it led some of the attendees to experience ‘double shame’ and this was a big burden to carry.

Alcohol is also linked to gender in Punjabi cultures and much of the alcohol drinking that people see in music and films is by men. This meant that some of the men in the group felt different pressures to drink in public as a part of male bonding and that the women felt they had to drink in secret. These rigid roles also contributed to people feeling trapped in situations which could sometimes make problem drinking worse.

We covered a lot of ground in the session and it was a very powerful group to witness and co-facilitate. What is clear is that there are not enough spaces for Punjabi LGBTQ+ people to talk about their struggles and triumphs with problematic alcohol use.

We hope to take part in creating another space like this in the future and if you’d like to take part in this, either as an attendee or organiser, please get in touch.

We are grateful for being part of the group and for all the people who shared their personal journey’s with us.

The Open Minds Project

If you’re looking for resources about problematic alcohol use from a Punjabi perspective take a look at Asra’s website here - https://asranow.ca/

If you want to find out more about Sarbat Sikh’s then you can find their website here - http://www.sarbat.net/

Image Credit - Photo by Angelo Abear on Unsplash