While Sunday's rally saw over 3,000 participants, the first one, in July 1999 was partaken by about 15 persons. It marked the beginning of a long battle against the criminalisation of same sex relationship.
The 20th episode of Kolkata LGBTQ (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer) Pride Walk witnessed an impressive turnout on Sunday.
Members of the West Bengal Transgenger Development Board, Aparna Banerjee attributed the good show to the September 6, 2018 verdict of Supreme Court which decriminalised homosexuality by striking down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
"There was a sustained effort from people both within and outside the community to generate awareness so that there is no discrimination on the basis of people's sexual orientation," Banerjee said.
While Sunday's rally saw over 3,000 participants, the first one, in July 1999 was partaken by about 15 persons. It marked the beginning of a long battle against the criminalisation of same sex relationship.
The 3-km march on Sunday, in south Kolkata neighbourhood of Hazra, was dotted by performances by a dance group, 'Group of Odds' which specialised in LGBTQ-theme based performances.
Navonil Das, a fashion designer and one of the organisers of the rally, said that their next fight would be against Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2018, which had overlooked the suggestions of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transgender Persons' Bill, 2016, transgender and different gender variant groups. "Just like the last fight, I think it is time we raised our voice against this bill and I am confident this time too, we will win the battle," he said.
Other than, people of the community, many who did not belong to the community including guardians of members of the community also participated in the rally expressing their solidarity reflecting the growing acceptance of the community among people in general and their changing mindset towards the LGBTQ community.
They said that it was now upheld by the Supreme Court that having different sexual orientation did not make people criminals and that is how it should be looked at.
ANOTHER FIGHT
One of the organisers of the rally said their next fight would be against Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2018, which had overlooked the suggestions of the Parliamentary Standing Committee, transgender and different gender variant groups.
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