India has over 700 spoken languages. Yet, for the 125+ million LGBTQIA+ community, the only words that were common in regional languages were words of hate.

As someone dealing in language and culture through their vast network of channels, Disney Star Network spearheaded this initiative to help the community reclaim their identity, by identifying 246+ respectful words, across 7 languages.

The website is deep dive into the lives of the community. Apart from the pronunciations, it had human interest stories, articles authored by community members and most importantly, a thriving safe space for discussion on all things LGBTQIA+.

Disney Star Network - the nation's storyteller, reaches 700 million viewers monthly, with 20,000+ hours of original content in 9 languages. Present in households, families watch content together, giving us the power to shape narratives. To tell inclusive stories that influence the heart of India.

Their purpose is to ‘Inspire A Billion Imaginations’ with diverse storytelling that drives social change.

However, how does one tell stories of everyone without the right words?

Because the regional words for the 125+ million Indians from the LGBTQIA+ community seemed to be forgotten by most.

Even though same-sex relationships between consenting adults were decriminalized, the hate crimes and biases continued.

Words of Pride – A step towards visibility, equality and confidence

People’s native language is what makes them feel visible and closer to their identity, family and society.

Hence, only language had the power to shape the world.

Legally free but societally confined:

In a landscape, where only 1% of the LGBTQIA+ community in India identified with the English words and derogatory words in the 700 spoken and 22 official languages became popular - it pushed the community further away, impacting their self-esteem and sense of belonging.

The invisibility of the right words in their mother-tongue led to further isolation within families and communities.

Even with the decriminalization of Section 377, which made same-sex relations between consenting adults lawful, they were legally free but societally confined.

Language has the power to shape the world. It’s beautiful how a list of words strung together can tell stories of people, cultures and identities.

However, when language ignores issues of power and equity that shape people’s lives, it only foments further exclusion of marginalized people.

Because without the right words, how does one educate and overturn centuries of negative attitudes and perceptions?

The world is evolving, and it’s time our words did too.

Reclaiming Respect Through Language

A lexicon of 246 respectful words for the community, across 7 regional Indian languages - found and taught. We brought together a collective of language experts, scholars and members of the LGBTQIA+ community to create a unique vernacular dictionary.

So everyone could identify themselves with pride in their native tongue, and the words never fell short again.

A campaign that highlights the convergence of language and respect.

It was launched on the anniversary of the historic Section 377’s repeal.

30 months of research and 7000 hours of collective collaboration by 150 folks from the community, allies, collectives, language experts, linguists, writers, culture makers, legal teams and us at Disney Star went into identifying the words for the community in 7 different languages.

We had three audience segments:

The LGTBQIA+ community - To help them express themselves with pride.

Culture Makers: To make these words common parlance, we had to reach those who are responsible in creating change through their content - authors, lyricists, content writers and advertisers.

India at large: Our objective was also to create authentic allies, by educating them.

Our marketing mix, hence, was led by three pillars:

Social Media: that helped in maximizing awareness as well as create a community

Influencers: that sparked authentic conversations

On-ground events - that helped us induce action

Words of Pride - a website glossary of respectful words in 7 regional languages was launched on the 5th anniversary of the repeal of Section 377, detailed with the pronunciations and sample sentences to demonstrate their usage.

Bollywood’s biggest LGBTQIA+ persona, ace director - Karan Johar (although identity has never been confirmed), launched the campaign on social media.

Hundreds of influencers from the community joined in, urging people to learn and use the words, creating a genuine sense of pride and allyship online.

It was spoken of by superstar Mohanlal, host of India’s biggest reality TV show Big Boss and coincided with the Supreme Court of India releasing a handbook to combat gender stereotypes.

The conversation was taken up with culture makers at Jaipur LitFest and the Advertising Standards Council of India.

The campaign reached over 53.5 Million Indians and garnered 55+ Million video views including 196.6K+ engagements.

An impressive 45% of the views on the platform were organic, which is 5x the industry benchmark, showcasing genuine interest and engagement from the community and the wider society as well. We even garnered 117.9 Million impressions in 4 weeks.

Disney Star India’s website traffic jumped 171% over the previous month.

While other brands were getting lambasted for “tokenism” and being deemed “woke”, the campaign saw a 92.2% positive sentiment.

In an era characterized by evolving inclusivity, the ‘Words of Pride’ campaign stands as a potent catalyst for transformation.

Disney Star Network - the nation's storyteller, reaches 700 million viewers monthly, with 20,000+ hours of original content in 9 languages. Present in households, families watch content together, giving us the power to shape narratives. To tell inclusive stories that influence the heart of India.

Their purpose is to ‘Inspire A Billion Imaginations’ with diverse storytelling that drives social change on the grassroot level.

However, how does one tell stories of everyone without the right words?

Because the regional words for the 125+ million Indians from the LGBTQIA+ community seemed to be forgotten by most.

Disney Star Network decided to ignite a transformative change by allowing India to have respectful conversations when it came to the LGBTQIA+ community.