Pride of place

The slew of rainbow flags and a bevy of colourful costumes made for a wondrous display at the ninth Mumbai Pride March organised by the Queer Azadi Movement. And what shone brighter than all the colours of the rainbow, were the faces of the thousands that had gathered there, beaming with hope at the prospect of Section 377 being repealed. Unlike last year, and the editions before that, when angst would be the predominant mood in the pride march, this year is throbbing with a feeling of optimism even as the LGBTQ waits with bated breath for the Supreme Court’s five-judge panel to sound its verdict.

Adding to the cheer and lifting up spirits at the pride march this year was the team of Aligarh — actors Manoj Bajpai and Rajkummar Rao — who greeted everyone with a ‘Happy Pride’ message as the parade was being flagged off. Support flowed in from all quarters as even those gathered on the streets and windows cheered the paraders. And it wasn’t just the LGBT family. Their friends, supporters and well wishers too turned up in large numbers to fight against discrimination. But while the march, as it always has been, was one of hope, it was not one of celebration — at least not yet. The immediate goal for the community has for long been the repeal of section 377, but the fight for complete freedom still has a long way to go, felt the participants. >>Turn to page 22

While many at the pride were those who have been associated with the movement from the very beginning, there were a good number of first timers as well. According to popular LGBTQ icon and actor Sushant Divgikar, this year also saw an increase in the number of heterosexual supporters. He said, “I can vouch for the fact that this time we have a lot more people from the heterosexual community than ever before. Everyone is bringing friends along who are cheering them on and even in my case more than 40 of my friends are here to support me.” However, Sushant also feels that the one thing that can give the movement more traction is more participation from the film fraternity. He says, “This is a personal qualm that I have that there aren’t many people from the film fraternity taking part in the movement. They need to throw their weight behind this cause and make their support open.”

Also showing solidarity were several supporters from foreign countries who joined in on the fight for LGBTQ rights in India. Guillaume, a French national and writer, who is attending the Mumbai Pride March for the first time shares his reason behind participating the pride. “In our country, my generation was able to enjoy the freedom of being proud of one’s sexual orientation because our previous generations had fought for it and won it. We never really had to fight for LGBTQ rights, we were enjoying them anyways. So my reason for coming here is to help the next generation in India to enjoy the same rights that we grew up with,” he says.

Kolkata based doctor Krishnendu Chatterjee was another debutant at the pride march this year. Krishnendu, who is also a coordinator of the queer forum Harmless Hugs, said, “It is an absolutely amazing experience and it really brings out the support that the community has. This is my first time at the pride march and I am thoroughly enjoying it.” While he too is hopeful of the Section 377 being repealed soon, Krishnendu reveals that his main reason for marching this year was to fight against the stigma that is prevalent in his own community. “It is both astonishing and sad at the same time that there is actually a lot of discrimination and stigma even within the medical community. As a doctor, I’ve seen how even doctors, who have the knowledge that homosexuality is a natural thing, discriminate against LGBTQ people. This is the first thing that needs to change as the doctors, especially counsellors and mental health doctors are often the first contact point for many from the community who are still confused about their sexuality,” Krishnendu said.

Calling the Pride march a revolution and a show of strength by the LGBTQ community, Parmesh Shahani, coordinator of Godrej Culture Lab said that apart from gaining constitutional validity for gay sex, sections of society such as the corporate world too needs to be more open and supportive. “This is something that has changed for the better in the recent years and I can speak for my company which has done a lot of work in supporting the LGBTQ community in the workplace. There are several other corporates who are doing good work for the community. But this is a slow process and the situation will surely become better with time.”

Ankit Bhuptani, a member of the NGO Vidya has been participating in the pride for five years now. Sharing his experience this time, he said, “This year I can see that there is a lot more hope in the faces of the people. While the major reason is the fact that the Supreme Court has appointed a five-judge panel to review the Section 377, it is also because the environment now is much more conducive and hopeful than it was before. I think a big factor is that while earlier the debate was about whether or not homosexuality is natural, now the debate has moved to the constitutional validity of gay sex. I am sure that change is nigh for LGBT rights.”