Pride and Prejudice Aparna

Vignesh Babaiah was born in  Bengaluru and grew up in Hyderabad. Raised in a close-knit Telugu family, he was constantly surrounded by family and friends, who showered tons of affection, care and love. 

He went to graduate school (Computer Science) in 2013 at the Northwest Missouri State University and has worked/lived in several states across the US. He has been in Dallas since 2016.

He says that it has been an interesting journey to find himself, form his identity in the LGBTQIA+ community and learn how to embrace it every day that he exists. He has learnt to make his own traditions, unlearning and relearning ways of approaching life. 

He is grateful to every person, situation and feeling that made him who he is and all that which is yet to come.   

Please note that this is a segment that aired on Radio Caravan, Dallas, on June 22, 2023, to spread awareness during the Pride Month. It doesn't have his entire personal story and is just a small excerpt from his journey, but the full interview will follow.


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Shyraa Roy is a Pakistani Singer and an actress. She started her journey in 2016 with cameo roles in bollywood movies like Mohenjodaro, Saaho and Street dancer and ended up working with B-town celebrities. 

Shyraa is a transgender women with gender dysphoria, a condition which involves a conflict between a person’s physical or assigned gender and the gender with which he/she/they identify. Shyraa felt that her gender was not alligned and she coorected that with surgery. She now feels whole and correct and continues to fight the constant judgement that she faces from society.

After many struggles and uphill battles, Shyraa is now a playback singer, in Bollywood. Her first single, Raat, was picked up by the famous director, Vikram Bhatt, and used in his movie. This was her first musical break in Bollywood.

Shyraa is also a producer and writer who owns a media company called Roy Motion Pictures.


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Avani is the second daughter of Indian immigrants who moved to the U.S. in the 1970s. After being born in Pennsylvania, she lived in several different states before moving to Texas when she was 10 years old. She has spent most of her life here and now works at a large research university as a career coach for health professions students. She is passionate about animals, the environment, and helping create a world where there is more open dialogue rather than censoring opinions that may make us uncomfortable. She truly believes there are teachers all around us from the tiniest ant to the largest whale in the ocean.

This interview is split into two parts. You are listening to Part 2 of Avani’s journey where she talks about her mother, Pragna Trivedi’s, incredible response and support after she got to know about Avani’s identity. You will also hear about her mother’s own journey as a child raised in a large joint family in India, to migrating to the States, to making the leap from a homemaker to a career woman, all the while ensuring that she never neglected her family’s needs.

We’ll continue from where we left Part 1.


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Avani is the second daughter of Indian immigrants who moved to the U.S. in the 1970s. After being born in Pennsylvania, she lived in several different states before moving to Texas when she was 10 years old. She has spent most of her life here and now works at a large research university as a career coach for health professions students. She is passionate about animals, the environment, and helping create a world where there is more open dialogue rather than censoring opinions that may make us uncomfortable. She truly believes there are teachers all around us from the tiniest ant to the largest whale in the ocean.

This interview is split into two parts. You are listening to Part 1 in which you will get to hear about Avani’s journey right until the point where she came out to her mother.

To hear about her mother’s side of the story, please listen to Part 2.


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Brinda Dass was born and raised in India and currently works as a science and policy expert in Maryland. They moved to the US to pursue a Ph D in cell and molecular biology and have since worked as a researcher, University professor, and scientist in Texas, California, and Maryland over the past 25 years. They are a graduate of Texas Tech University and University of Maryland-Baltimore in the US having first completed  degrees at Madras Christian college and University of Poona in India. Obviously they are a glutton for academic rigor 😬

They live with their partner, also a scientist, two Maine Coons cats, and a dog.

They love the outdoors especially rock climbing, hiking, camping, kayaking, and photography especially macro photographs of insects and other creatures.

They are very active in the LGBT sports community in the DC/MD/VA area especially in helping minority folx find a safe and accessible space in the rock climbing community.

They are definitely very much gay!!


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Kandeel Javid is an Pakistani American from New York. He has a Bachelors of Engineering from Stony Brook and graduate level education from Harvard. He is an Engineer, and an Adjunct Professor of Mathematics. He is a certified Imaam and a community co-Director of a local chapter of Muslims for Progressive Values. He has been happily in a relationship with his partner for about 3 years. In his free time, he and his partner like to go for hikes, sight seeing and traveling.

In addition to being on this podcast, this interview was also aired on Radio Caravan (www.radiocaravan.com) as part of our inclusivity series. The views expressed are that of the host and the guest, and not the radio station or any of its affiliates.

Before listening any further, please remember that this segment is intended to educate, not offend, and may not be suitable for children.


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