Numbers dwindle, but families, new faces make it to gay march

CHENNAI: A man's bright red belt and glossy red shoes, which flashed in stark contrast to his black outfit, held the attention of a bemused family as he passed their car. Though they did not see the multi-coloured flag and banners that his peers held up in a procession ahead of him, the family did get the pamphlets that were being handed out, calling for an end to discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

The second edition of the 'Chennai Rainbow Pride March' — an event to celebrate alternative sexuality and gender identities — on Sunday saw fewer participants when compared to last year but activists said it was the people themselves who mattered.

"We are seeing some families marching with us this year and a lot of new faces, so we are happy. Those who were here last year are playing a larger role and that is a good thing," said Aniruddhan Vasudevan, a Bharatanatyam artist and member of Shakti Center, a collective that aims to foster dialogue on gender and sexuality. "While transgenders have always been at the forefront of this movement, we have lesbian, gay and bisexual people attending the event as well. It takes a lot of courage for them to come out and make a statement," he said.

The march was the culmination of a series of events to mark 'Pride Month', including a meeting of parents of LGBT persons at the Centre for Counselling, a two-day LGBT performance festival called 'Nirangal' and the Ms Sahodaran beauty pageant. Vasudevan said it was important for more events like the Pride March to be organised for the general public to be aware of LGBT rights.

Raghvendra Upadhyay, a freelance writer working with an AIDS prevention centre in Varanasi, who was at the march, said he saw fewer lesbian couples at the march in Chennai when compared to Delhi and Mumbai.

Kiran Mova, an IT professional from Bangalore who had come to Chennai to attend the event with his partner Elen, also endorsed this view.

"There were more families at the Pride March in Bangalore as there are more organisations working for the LGBT community there. It seems like a more closed group here," Kiran said.

As the evening grew cooler, the march wound up at Labour Statue by around 5.15pm with a joint proclamation by the community that the event was a celebration of their identity and the decriminalisation of section 377 by the Delhi High Court.

Activists requested that transgenders be recorded in the 2011 national census in the gender of their choice and not be limited by the available binary choices of 'male' and 'female'.