Delhi just hosted its ninth annual Queer Pride Parade. Progressive people from all walks of life marched in protest along with LGBTQI identified individuals against discrimination and oppression of trans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex, and the many gender and sexual non-conforming folks.
But this year, people “walked under a growing cloud of war threats and nationalist jingoism that threatens to suspend freedom and rationalise the subjugation of a whole spectrum of people. From countless deaths and blindings in Kashmir and the thrashing of dalit men in Una by gau rakshaks to the everyday terror of pop-nationalists threatening people’s liberties and right-wing forces rampaging on universities.”
Check our 360 degree video for an all-round view.
(The video works as a gyroscope. Click on the video and drag the mouse pointer in order to rotate it all around.)
The first pride March was held in Chicago in 1970, shortly after the historic Stonewall Riots. Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a law drawn up during colonial times, crimimalises homosexuality. In 2009, the Delhi High court decriminalised the section. In 2013, the Supreme court of India overturned that ban.
The demands raised in this year’s Pride are:
•No discrimination on the basis of age, sex, class, caste, religion, tribe, ability, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
•Effective implementation of the Supreme Court’s NALSA judgment and withdrawing of the current Transgender Rights Bill.
•Strong action against anti-minority violence, the silencing of the freedom of expression and dissent, and a crack down on extortion and threats in the name of nationalism.
•Repeal of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, anti-beggary, anti-Hijra laws, the exception of marital rape from rape law, sedition laws, UAPA and AFSPA.
Camera: Erum Gour
Video Editor: Puneet Bhatia
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)