India holds first-ever nationwide gay pride parades

Jun 29, 2008, 14:45 GMT

New Delhi - Hundreds of activists and supporters of gay rights gathered in three Indian cities Sunday for the first nationwide gay pride marches in the conservative Asian country where homosexuality is illegal.

Part of the annual global event, the 'Gay Pride' march that is being conducted in 20 cities across the world, the parades were held in the national capital Delhi, southern Bangalore and eastern Kolkata city.

Transsexuals, gays and lesbians, who have been demanding that their sexual choices be respected, participated in the march, which was the first of its kind in Delhi and Bangalore.

The march was a success in Delhi with 350 people people gathering in the central business area of Connaught Place - more than twice the number expected.

In Kolkata, nearly 400 people took part in the parade, drawing stares from onlookers who watched the procession. Bangalore, also known as country's IT hub also witnessed its first gay-pride parade.

'I feel great that the turnout here is much more than expected. There would be discrimination, many would be scared of being fired from their job, could be someone's landlord will kick them out but they have come out nonetheless,' said a gay activist in New Delhi.

'It's a sort of a political statement to come out and say I'm a lesbian in such a society,' she said.

The parades were as much of a protest as a celebration as activists waved banners and shouted slogans demanding the scrapping of section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

Under the provision which dates back to the pre-independent British ruled India 'carnal intercourse against the order of nature' is punishable by a fine and a 10-year prison terms.

Although the law is archaic and rarely used, it underlines the social stigma faced by gay people and encourages police to treat homosexuality as a criminal act.

Many incidents of police beating up same-sex couples in public places and parks have been reported over the years.

Many of the participants in the marches in the Indian cities wore masks to conceal their identity.

'I am hiding my face because of the society, because of my parents and people. But I came here to show that we need to be respected for our sexual choices,' a participant told reporters in Kolkata.