Mumbai LGBTs walk with pride

The sixth Mumbai Queer Azadi March took place on Saturday and saw the biggest turn out since the city first began to hold its Pride celebrations in 2008.
It concluded a series of celebrations by the LGBTIQ (Lesbians, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer) community that included film screenings, fundraising parties and a spoken word event at an Andheri bar.
An estimated 1,000 people attended the march, which kicked off from August Kranti Maidan, a historic site from where Mahatma Gandhi had issued his Quit India speech in August 1942.
While the big names from the march, including Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil and Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi, were absent this year, the Pride retained its carnivalesque flavour. Several people turned up in brightly coloured costumes and elaborate headgears, and danced to the beats of dholak-walas. This year also saw a tremendous drop in face masks, a staple in previous marches. “It shows that people are gaining confidence,” said LGBT rights activist Ashok Row Kavi.
Writers Annie Zaidi and Musharraf Ali Farooqi, who are in town to attend the Times of India Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, also walked in the march to show support.
“There are stereotypes about the LGBT community, with reference to how they dress and talk. The fact that many people have come here in burlesquecostumesisacalltoembracetheiridentity. It’s a way of saying, ‘I will dress up like a fairy, but you still owe me a citizen’s rights’,” Zaidi observed.
Banners calling for the implementation of the Justice Verma Committee report, lauded by the queer community for recognising sexual orientation as a human right, jostled for space with other, jocular banners. A young man in a kurta carried one that stated, “My mom is seeking a husband for me – Anyone?” Another banner exhorted the Supreme Court to support the Naz decision, referring to the 2009 Delhi High Court order that decriminalised homosexuality by reading down Section 377 of IPC (unnatural sex), under which the community was routinely prosecuted. The order, popularly referred to as the Naz Foundation judgment based on the New Delhi-based petitioner Naz Foundation,was challenged in the Supreme Court. The apex body completed its hearings last year and is expected to deliver their verdict this year.