The first requisite of advocacy for a cause is visibility. There is very little probability of carrying the issues forward and mainstreaming them if people involved are not willing to become visible. What started as efforts to sensitize and make Government Officials and other Policy makers aware that MSM exist, has evolved into advocating for their rights in all facets of Mainstream Society.

The Advocacy Component has sub components and one goal to seek equity and a human right to exist. It seeks (1) visibility (2) validation (3) access to community services. (4) Funding from government and international bodies. (5) Co-option of reluctant community members. (6) Out-sourcing of skills within the community.(7) Sensitizing gatekeepers to the community like police, railway station masters (8) Seeking equal human rights for the population.

Humsafar also worked towards establishing good working relations with the State and Municipal AIDS Societies. Likewise imperative is the achievement of Humsafar's advocacy with doctors, nurses, counselors and other health care professionals, especially at Sion Hospital and Cooper Hospital. What started off as a model partnership with the LTMG (Sion) Hospital has now over a period of time resulted in numerous such partnerships viz. KEM Hospital, Jaslok Hospital, Bellasis Rd STI Clinic with Bhagavati and Rajawadi Hospitals?


Setting up of INFOSEM (India Network for Sexual Minorities)

The India Network for Sexual Minorities (INFOSEM) is the resulting seed planted by people who have a track record of community work and over a period of time envisaged it becoming a national network for providing health services to the LGBT community in India. A resolution that was passed unanimously at the Millennium conference in 2000 sprung into an umbrella of more than 22 organizations across India in 2004.

The first capacity building workshop for INFOSEM members was conducted in August 2004 with support from IMPACT. In early 2006 a proposal was written to DFID and approved to provide capacity building to 25 MSM and Transgender CBOs across the country in setting up and managing HIV interventions projects.