Who Is Jiwandeep Kohli? New Details On The Man Who Went Viral After Posting Picture In Rainbow Turban In Support Of Pride Month

Happy pride month!

By Lauren Margolis — Written on Jun 18, 2019

Photo: getty

Who Is Jiwandeep Kohli? New Details On The Man Who Went Viral After Posting Picture In Rainbow Turban In Support Of Pride Month

Jiwandeep Kohli is a proud bisexual! He showed his pride in a rainbow-colored, custom-made turban that he posted to Twitter on June 1st. He said he made the colorful turban using normal black turbans that he supplemented with strips of other colors in exactly the right places. Kohli says it took him about an hour of tying, untying, and safety pinning to get it just right. Kohli said to Buzzfeed News, "A few years ago I saw a photo of another Sikh man at a pride parade who had a few colors in his turban... I was looking at that, and I realized the way I tie mine it had the exact right number of layers to make a rainbow."

Who is Jiwandeep Kohli and what happened after the picture he posted in his rainbow turban went viral?

1. Jiwandeep Kohli has many talents

Aside from making unique turbans, Kohli has many other cool traits and talents. The San Diego native is a neuroscientist and clinical psychologist in training. According to his Instagram, he is also a talented photographer and an amateur pastry chef. He says on his website, his love of baking came from his mom. Kohli seems to make some pretty tasty treats because he was also a semifinalist on the Great American Baking Show!

I’m proud to be a bisexual bearded baking brain scientist. I feel fortunate to be able to express all these aspects of my identity, and will continue to work toward ensuring the same freedom for others. #PrideMonth #PrideTurban #LoveIsLove pic.twitter.com/SVhc0iwDF0
— Jiwandeep Kohli (@jiwandeepkohli) June 1, 2019

2. The viral picture is one year old

Kohli's picture was posted on June 1, 2019 and started getting a lot of attention, but the picture is actually a year old. He wore the rainbow turban to San Diego's Pride last year. Kohli said San Diego's festival is in July, so he hasn't had a chance to wear it this year and take new pictures in it. He decided to post the photo to celebrate this year's pride month and was surprised by the public's reaction. Kohli says he's happy to see so much positivity from so many people.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jiwandeep Singh Kohli (@jiwankohli) on Mar 31, 2019 at 9:15pm PDT

3. Kohli's rainbow turban got Barack Obama's attention

Never in a million years would Jiwandeep Kohli have expected to be noticed by Barack Obama! The former U.S. President complimented Kohli on the turban in his viral photo. Obama commented on Kohli's post and said, "You’ve got a lot to be proud of, Jiwandeep." He added, "Thanks for everything you do to make this country a little more equal. Turban looks great, by the way. Happy Pride Month, everybody!" Kohli said to CNN, being acknowledged by Obama was an incredible honor that left him speechless. He said it reinforced that the photo was worthwhile to post.

You've got a lot to be proud of, Jiwandeep. Thanks for everything you do to make this country a little more equal. Turban looks great, by the way. Happy Pride Month, everybody! https://t.co/SO7mgnOkgl
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 4, 2019

4. Kohli has gotten lots of positive feedback on Twitter

Since Kohli posted the picture in his rainbow turban for Pride month, he's gotten tons of positive responses. His post has hundreds of thousands of likes, retweets and comments. People online love the turban Kohli made himself! One tweeter commented: "So much divine love for you! You sharing your beautiful truth will give strength and courage to so many other souls, especially in the Sikh/Punjabi community. Thank you!"

So much divine love for you! You sharing your beautiful truth will give strength and courage to so many other souls, especially in the Sikh/Punjabi community. Thank you!
— Jasmine Kaur G (@jgarcha) June 4, 2019