Time to put community identity to the side for a bit and find other ways to help each other out SAFELY

Hey guys, as you all know, we're facing a global pandemic of unprecedented magnitude and a lot of us are soon going to have to deal with incredibly dire consequences.

We initially thought that the nationwide lockdown was going to end on March 28th, then it got extended to 15th April. Given recent alarming spikes in Covid-19 cases, especially in Delhi, there's a good chance that the lockdown could be extended again and even harsher restrictions imposed.

I just wanted to urge everyone, at least on this subreddit, to take a moment to stop thinking of ourselves as parts of communities based on gender or sexual identity and start thinking of ourselves as collective members of the human race.

PLEASE, PLEASE for fucks sake STOP meeting up in groups. Every day I still get invites on Grindr, PlanetRomeo, Tinder and OKCupid for gay parties and hookups. This is NOT the time for spontaneous hookups or queer book clubs or group meetings about protests and rallies or private parties or drag shows.

People are already rationing out their groceries, losing their jobs, companies are running at HUGE losses, employees are on deferred salaries and can't pay their rent or EMIs. It is just reckless, inconsiderate and downright foolish to disregard warnings during these times just to sustain some semblance of human contact.

At least until things settle down for a little bit, PLEASE heed to the following:

• If you're horny, watch porn or video chat. DONT invite strangers over for a hookup.
• If you're lonely, stay connected with loved ones DIGITALLY. Use apps like Slack for workplace team management and group chatting, Discord / Hangouts for chatting with friends, WhatsApp and Telegram for texting, ZOOM for video conferencing etc.
• If you think you might be sick, DO NOT immediately go to the hospital and risk spreading the virus during your commute. Use online telemedicine services or digital health apps to schedule an online consultation with a specialist. ONLY IF they feel like your symptoms are serious and warrant a physical checkup should you proceed to the nearest hospital / clinic for further testing.
• Stock up on long-lasting shelf-stable groceries. More rice, dry lentils, rajma, chickpeas, potatoes and onions. Cut down on fresh veggies that spoil quickly (mushrooms, broccoli, berries etc) because that will save you trips to the grocery store. SHARE recipes for creative use of boring ingredients. We're all going to get sick of eating the same crap over and over again. If you know of a creative way to make something unappealing taste better, please share it.

We can only beat this thing if each and every one of us complies. The sooner we beat it, the sooner we can get back to our lives of relative normalcy, and we'll all be free to jerk off creepy uncles behind bus stations or go for gay brunch or have tacky themed parties with glitter and thongs and whatever the fuck we usually do to kill time. Love you all. Please STAY SAFE.