Gurgaon Holds First Queer Pride Parade Ever, Remembers Victims Of Orlando Shooting
By Cake Staff:
The city of Gurgaon got its very first LGBT+ Pride Parade on Saturday evening, at the Leisure Valley Park, just off the Delhi-Ajmer expressway. As the day receded to night, weekend picnickers, joggers and strolling families were treated to the sight of a large rainbow banner flanked by about 200 people. The program included an open-mic session with music and poetry readings, and a number of stirring speeches by members of the queer community. Marchers quickly warmed up to the idea of occupying a heretofore unfamiliar space and turning it into a queer one. Carrying placards, posters and anything in the shades of the rainbow, the rhythmic chants of “hum kya chahte? Aazadi!” (What do we want? Freedom!) turned into cheerful renditions of old Hindi love songs — to say #LoveIsLove. People had brought their families and friends along to share in the occasion.
But — as is with most pride parades in the world — the colourful, musical and vibrant atmosphere is always tinged with the anxieties of living in a world where so many still bear ill will towards you because of your gender or sexual orientation.
Ever since 2009, the legal status of LGBTQ individuals in India has been on tenterhooks — first with the decriminalizing of homosexuality, and then the recriminalizing of it, followed almost seamlessly by vehement and politically elevated right-wing opposition to non-normative identities in general. While the initial anxieties about how the right wing government’s stances would affect queer people in India has gone on to energize queer activism, and the United States’ 2015 marriage equality success gave many hope, recent events have let a sombreness settle into every LGBTQ space in the country. The brutal murders of activists in Bangladesh, of trans women in Pakistan, and the Orlando shooting have only made people more aware of just how much hatred exists in the world. Even as marchers at the Gurgaon Pride lit candles in memory of the 49 lives taken by gunman Omar Mateen only two weeks ago, they found a community and a safe space amongst each other.
The two-and-a-half hour event was organized by Gurgaon resident Puja Bajad and supported by the Delhi Queer Pride, which has held its annual march through Central Delhi for close to a decade now. The small but enthusiastic turn out seems to suggest that the community in Gurgaon is ready to boldly claim spaces in which LGBTQ issues and achievements can be freely discussed.
