LGBTQ community marches for pride, equal rights in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: The annual Pride March celebrating the LGBTQIA community took place in the city on Sunday in a shower of colours and oodles of enthusiasm. The march, organised by the Coalition of Sex Workers’, Sexual and Sexuality Minorities’ Rights (CSMR), started at Thulasi Park near Majestic and ended at Town Hall.

In the first of its kind disabilities-friendly Pride event, some 4,000 lesbians, gays, bisexuals, asexuals, the broad spectrum of transgenders, including intersexuals and homosexuals walked the Namma Pride March and protested against the rampant killing of transgenders in South India.

The march was also a protest against IPC Section 377 that criminalises abnormal sexual relations, Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016 introduced by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Section 36 A of the Karnataka Police Act and surgeries on infants with intersex variations.

The Pride was a flamboyant celebration of the community’s sexual orientations although the main objective this year was the inclusion of people with disabilities, said Mathumitha Venkataraman, one of the organizers.

“I work with people from across the spectrum and I see that if you are queer and have a disability then you are part of two minority groups, making you doubly marginalised.” Translators and special cabs for these participants who needed assistance were also provided whenever required at the event.

The march ended with a candle lighting ceremony in memory of all transgenders who faced violence recently, a symbolic tribute on International Transgenders Day. Celebrated Kannada author Vasudhendra Chanda launched his much-awaited book Mohanaswamy, the story of a gay man in modern India, published by Harper Collins. While Bengalureans were a major part of the crowd, there were also participants from Russia, Czech Republic and the United States.