As a centre of history, arts and politics, the capital is an organic melting pot for the LGBTQI community
Owing to its cosmopolitan and open-minded culture, it’s easy to assume that Mumbai would be the friendlier city to queers. But Delhi has a lot more happening than just a party scene, finds Prasad Ramamurthy, who as a Mumbaikar was curious to investigate the claim that Delhi is India’s friendliest destination for queer travellers. Cruising the events and safe spaces that the community flocks to on a regular basis, he explores what makes Delhi a destination to visit if you’re a rainbow traveller. The full feature, From Delhi With Pride, appears in the June-July 2017 edition of Condé Nast Traveller India, out on stands now. An excerpt:
As a Mumbaikar, I find this relaxed scene, especially surprising for Delhi, given its reputation for crime and violence, and the conservative attitudes prevalent in neighbouring Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Despite this, the city has managed to create sufficient LGBTQI centric avenues to entertain a visitor on any day of the week, in a manner that Mumbai and other cities in India haven’t. “It shouldn’t be surprising, considering Delhi’s history as a centre of art, literature and culture,” says Eeshaan Kashyap, who runs two popular watering-holes, PCO and ATM. “This tradition interplays with various emerging pockets of society to make Delhi much more accepting and embracing of equality than in the past.” That could be one reason the new Chez Jerome — Q Café (www.facebook.com/ChezJeromeQCafe), on the rooftop of men’s spa Mykonos (www.mykonosdelhi.com) openly displays its rainbow flag. It offers itself as a venue for LGBTQI fund-raisers, poetry readings and open-mic events.
According to Sukhdeep Singh, editor of popular e-zine Gaylaxy (www.gaylaxymag.com), Delhi’s tag as a destination that’s friendly to queer visitors has much to do with its position as India’s political capital. “The fact that the politics around legalisation is centred in Delhi and most of the national media is based here, has contributed to this.” The Delhi High Court was the country’s first to decriminalise homosexuality, in 2009. The subsequent battle in the Supreme Court is still being fought by activists and individuals, most of whom are Delhi residents. The city’s annual pride parade is one of India’s oldest. And every December, it hosts the Delhi QueerFest (www.facebook/com/delhiqueerfest). Plus, a sizeable number of the city’s well-heeled — fashion designers, artistes, collectors, hoteliers, restaurateurs, diplomats, journalists — openly identify themselves as gay, lesbian or queer. Delhi sees more international tourist arrivals than Mumbai, so there’s always a floating crowd of people who are keen to explore the city. And of course, there’s economics at play. “Entrepreneurs always look at opportunities that generate revenue and contribute to profitability. Their orientation adds value as a by-product of being affirmative and inclusive of a progressive community,” says Keshav Suri, Executive Director, The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group. In Mumbai, prohibitively high rents alone often force businesses to broadbase their appeal.
Ultimately, it seems that Delhi, using an organic algorithm of history, arts, politics and economics, has found a way to one-up its traditional rival, Mumbai — at least where entertainment options for the LGBTQI crowd are concerned. On everything else, though...
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