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ShareBangalore: If last year's Pride was an affirmation by the sexual minorities to celebrate their diversity, this year's week-long events aim to reach out to a larger audience, heighten their awareness and dispel myths. Siddharth Narrain, an event organisers, said, "Bangalore is the only city in the country to have a week-long events for the Pride."The events are a build-up to the Bengaluru Pride March that will take place on June 28.
Call it "popular demand", but the week-long events also reflect the increased enthusiasm and energy this year. The Karnataka Queer Habba is being organised by a coalition of individuals and organisations that have come together under the banner of the Campaign for Sex Workers and Sexual Minority Rights (CSMR).
Various members of the campaign have joined to put together an impressive line-up of programmes. The events reflect the thought process that went behind the entire line-up as they cover a wide range of issues, including sensitive and important topics like the Dalit-sexual minority dialogue and the "laws that terrorise seminar".
Banking on the cricket mania -- notwithstanding the dismal performance of the Men in Blue in the recent T20 World Cup -- the events start with a cricket match. "We aim to reach out to varied audiences through sport, art, culture, religion and political dialogue, while stressing the common themes of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) rights," said Siddharth.
The run-up to the Pride march is a platform for the sexual minorities to draw attention to serious issues. Siddharth pointed out one such issue, "We have been campaigning for the repeal of Section 377 of the IPC, the law that criminalises homosexuality."On a more local note, he said, "We'd like to highlight issues related to police violence against hijras in Bangalore which has seen a sharp increase since November last."
