When the organisers of Mumbai’s first major gay event - the Queer Azadi Mumbai Pride Week — asked advocate Anand Grover to inaugurate the festival, it was an acknowledgment of the role played by the lawyer in getting homosexuality decriminalised in India.
When the organisers of Mumbai’s first major gay event - the Queer Azadi Mumbai (QAM) Pride Week — asked advocate Anand Grover to inaugurate the festival, it was an acknowledgment of the role played by the lawyer in getting homosexuality decriminalised in India.
Since 2001, Grover has represented Naaz India Foundation, the group that filed the petition that led to the successful ‘reading down’ of section 377 IPC to exclude consensual sex between adult gays from the ambit of the clause.
Mumbai has hosted gay events even during the days when the colonial era legislation could be used to prosecute homosexual men and women. There were parties, pride marches and film festivals. But the events were always held in an atmosphere of fear and were, subsequently, on a small scale and almost secretive.
The QAM Pride Week from January 22 to 29, which includes drag shows, play readings, shopping and films, is probably the first big gay event to be held without worries about being accused of violating laws. This is also the first time the events are been organised under one banner.
When the first gay pride march was being planned in 2008, the event organisers wondered if anyone would join it. “We told each other that if others do not join, we will march, even if it is just 16 people,” said Singh.
During the 2010 pride march in the city, more than 2,000 people joined. This year’s march, which is planned for January 29 could be bigger. “We have a lot of support from outside the community,” said Vivek Anand, chief executive of Humsafar Trust and one of the organisers of QAM, talking about Grover and Anjali Gopalan of Naaz India Foundation.
“It is a great change. When we started, there was oppression and a lot of fear. Now it is open, free and independent. It is possible because of what we initiated almost nine years ago,” Grover said.
Simran Singh of Azaad Bazaar store in Bandra, one of the hosts for the festival, said, “It was a conscious decision to ask Grover to inaugurate the event. We wanted to have someone who made such a difference to the community.”
Grover who founded and runs The Lawyers’ Collective - a group that has fought several public interest litigations relating to marginalised and oppressed groups - with his wife Indira Jaisingh, Supreme Court lawyer and now an additional solicitor general, represented Naaz India Foundation against the section, which though rarely enforced, was often used to harass or blackmail gays. In July 2009, the Delhi high court said that consensual sex between adult gays should no longer come under the gambit of the section. Grover is now waiting for the SC order on the appeal filed by some groups against the high court’s decision.
The other person who inaugurated the festival was Vivek Patil who works with Humsafar Trust. During the time, when getting permission from the police for gay events was difficult, if not impossible, Patil was the manager who got things done.
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