It’s June again when Chennai bursts into colour and unabashedly shows its ‘Rainbow Pride’.
The LGBT (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender) community is celebrating Pride month in an artsy fashion this year — a foreign film festival, art and photography exhibition, documentary screenings and magazine launches will mark this year’s festivities.
The slew of events organized by members of the ‘Rainbow Coalition’, a group of NGOs working towards ending violence and stigma against people with alternate sexualities, will also be a platform to discuss more serious issues.
“The main objective of Chennai Pride is to encourage visibility and acceptance of sexual minorities.
We urge the Supreme Court to uphold the Delhi high court’s move to scrap Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, and de-criminalize homosexuality,” explains Shiva, a counsellor of Sangma, an NGO. “
Our events will also be a voice against other problems that go unnoticed— how the film industry keeps stereotyping people of alternate sexualities, how students from the LGBT community are stigmatised and bullied in schools and colleges ,among others,” Shiva adds.
However, Rainbow Pride will also have its dose of fun and games with cultural programmes and the annual parade at Marina beach on June 21.
At least 400 people are expected to participate in the march, singing, dancing and waving banners. For more info on the coalition’s events, log on to orinam.net/Chennaipride.