LGBTQIA+ community takes out 14th Delhi Queer Pride Parade

The LGBTQIA+ community took out the 14th Delhi Queer Pride Parade on Sunday.

The parade started from Barakhamba and concluded at Jantar Mantar.

"Delhi Queer Pride march, where we dance, love, and rage on the streets of Delhi. We march to Jantar Mantar, at a time when even this single stretch of space provided for the expression of democratic sentiments is under threat," stated an official statement.

The statement further said that they marched against the alleged "oppressive attacks and discrimination" against the LGBTQIA+ community.

"We think that legal rights remain valueless, unless we build a culture of acceptance for personal expression, love in all its consensual forms, across the barriers of gender, caste, class, ability, religion, region, and language which constrain us?

"We march for the right to determine our life choices, to build our families, and for all queer people to have our fundamental rights accepted and legally protected," a spokesperson said.

Dancing to drums and music, the participants walked for more than three hours to Jantar Mantar, holding banners reading "Equality for all" and "Queer and proud" slogans.

"We march against regressive legislation that targets transgender people, we demand reservations for our community people across institutions, policy changes to protect the community, and implementation of these principles by the government.

"Our march is also against the instigators of hatred, terror, (and to) denounce lynchings in the name of caste, region, race, gender, and sexuality," said the spokesperson.

The Delhi Queer Pride Parade, which had more than 1,000 participants, comes just over a month after the Supreme Court denied legal recognition to same-sex marriages in India.

"Our march is very important for us, as we feel that we also have the 'right to breathe'. We hardly get support from society or our family members," a member of the LGBTQIA+ community said.

Another member said, "See our march has so many different reasons. We march in memory of the people who lost their lives to the Covid pandemic, which disproportionately affected the queer and transgender people. We demand healthcare and dignity for all, against discrimination by medical institutions."

They said that their march was also against the alleged discrimination in educational institutions that leads to suicides.