Pride Parades in India

The pride parades will continue to be a representation of governmental persecution, historical discrimination, and, of course, the pride of openly embracing yourself and your sexuality. And there are still many fights to be fought to make India a truly LGBTQIA+ friendly country.

Pride Month is annually observed in all countries to honour the LGBTQIA communities. Numerous companies alter their logos to feature rainbow colours, and celebrations include marches, walks, and parades. Although the West has witnessed the most of this phenomenon, India is catching up, with pride marches taking place all throughout the country. These parades combine political activity with a celebration of the accomplishments of the LGBTQIA community throughout the years.

A disturbance broke out in the early hours of June 28, 1969, near Manhattan, New York City, at the Stonewall Inn. Drag queens, butch lesbians, transgender persons, gay men, and homeless children were among the more than 500 individuals that attacked the New York City Police who were abusing and harassing the queer customers in the pub. Over a thousand people had joined the disturbances by the following day. People had for the first time revolted against the harsh anti-gay law code and the organisations that upheld it. The global trajectory of LGBTQIA+ rights was altered by Stonewall. On June 28, 1970, exactly a year after that morning, New York City hosted the first-ever Pride Parade. The procession, then known as the Christopher Street Liberation Day March, was held on June 28, 1969. It started on Washington Place between Sheridan Square and Sixth Avenue, continued along Sixth Avenue, and ended with a “Gay-In” in Central Park. On that day, 5000 people marched. Over 3 million people will march this year to celebrate Stonewall 50 years later.

Because of Craig Schoonmaker, the word “pride” has come to be associated with marches for LGBTQIA+ people. He participated in the 1970 Christopher Street Liberation Day March planning committee. He said, “First thought was ‘Gay Power’. I didn’t like that, so proposed Gay Pride. There’s very little chance for people in the world to have power. People did not have power then; even now, we only have some. But anyone can have pride in themselves, and that would make them happier as people, and produce the movement likely to produce change”. In 1994, a teacher by the name of Rodney Wilson established LGBT History Month, or as it is now more popularly known, Pride Month.

The first Gay Parade in India started in Kolkata on 2^nd July, 1999.It was called the Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk. It had only 15 attendees and none of them were women. The march, also known as the Friendship Walk, is thought to have been staged in Kolkata because of the city’s long history and close ties to a number of human rights movements, including feminist, Dalit, disabled, and child rights. It has now been 24 years since the 1999 Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk started. In 1999, 2003, 2004, and 2005, only Kolkata was the site of Pride marches. Bengaluru, Delhi, and Puducherry organised marches with Kolkata in 2008. Nearly 2500 people participated in it. A significant step forward was made in 2009 with the Delhi High Court’s decision to decriminalise homosexuality and the then-Prime Minister’s appeal in support of LGBTQIA+ rights.

The queer pride parade in Delhi takes place every year on the last Sunday in November, the Namma Pride Parade in Bengaluru is primarily held in December, and the Queer Azadi Mumbai Pride March is conducted between January and March. Since 2008, Bengaluru has had an annual pride parade, known as Bengaluru Namma Pride March, usually in the month of December. It is preceded by Queer Habba, a month-long series of queer events. Coalition for Sex Workers and Sexual Minority Rights is in charge of organising it (CSMR). The group is a coalition of all gay organisations, sex worker movements, Dalit movements, communists and other marginalised communities which was a first in the entire country in 2008. Individual identities that want to organise Pride come together each year to plan the Pride March as a representative of gay organisations. They have a policy against corporate engagement. To protect and not drown out the voices of those who founded Bengaluru Pride and who have since supported the movement when it was thought to be abnormal to be queer, corporations are not permitted to endorse, fund, support, or attend the Pride March as a company in Bengaluru. However, individuals are welcome to participate in Pride.

The Delhi Queer Pride Parade began on June 30, 2008. A small group of men and women initially showed up, and the police were present, but by dusk, there were about 500 people there, singing, dancing, chanting slogans, waving signs, and yelling “377, quit India.” The march started at Barakhamba Road in the centre of the city’s business sector and continued till Jantar Mantar, an astronomical observatory built in the 18th century. The fact that it was the first Pride Parade to take place in the nation’s capital attracted a lot of media attention and served as one of the main impetuses for the repeal of section 377. Every year, more than 5000 people watch the Delhi Pride march, which openly promotes the Dalit, feminist, and disability rights groups.

The Mumbai Pride Parade, more commonly known as Queer Azaadi, was first held on 16th August, a day after Indian Independence Day in 2008. While the initial March had up to 500 participants, today, the number has grown up to 10,000, making it one of the most significant pride events held in the country. The pride parade culture first made its way to Chennai, Kerala, and Bhubaneshwar in 2009–2010, and it has been raging with fervour ever since. The Pride march in Pune came after Mumbai as the second Pride parade to take place in Maharashtra. Since 2011, it has become a yearly occurrence. The first “Gender Queer Pride Parade” in South Asia was organised in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai in July 2012. Surat hosted Gujarat’s first-ever Pride parade in 2013. The next year, Chandigarh and Hyderabad also participated and hosted their first Pride marches, dubbed the “Chandigarh LGBT Pride Walk” and the “Hyderabad Queer Pride.”

Guwahati took part in the Global Day of Rage to protest the reversal of the Section 377 ruling from 2009, which led to the North East’s first pride parade being staged in 2014. Since then, it has always taken place during the first week of February. Awadh Queer Pride in Lucknow, Pride de Goa, the Pride Parades in Dehradun and Gurgaon, the Pride March in Bhopal, and the Queer Gulabi Pride in Jaipur were all welcome additions to India’s list of Pride marches after 2015. India’s Pride Parades collectively denounced the 2016 Transgender Persons Bill in 2017.

The Delhi High Court’s decision to decriminalise homosexuality in 2009, was overturned in 2013 and the oppressive law from colonial times was reinstated. This is partly responsible for the enormous rise in the number of pride marches staged each year. Thankfully, the queer community was not deterred by this setback and opposition; instead, it gave them more courage to carry on with their fight, which led to the triumphant victory in 2018 when the draconian Section 377 was finally overturned and the community marched once more with pride, but this time as free and proud citizens of the country. The pride parades will continue to be a representation of governmental persecution, historical discrimination, and, of course, the pride of openly embracing yourself and your sexuality. And there are still many fights to be fought to make India a truly LGBTQIA+ friendly country.