The city of lakes was painted in rainbow colours on Wednesday. The first pride parade of State Capital was organised by Bhopal’s lGBT community to fight against heterosexual stereotypes. The march began from Van Vihar at 5 pm and ended at Hotel lake View Ranjit.
The pride parade was a march involving members of the lGBT community and their allies to celebrate love, gender equality and different sexualities. It was jointly organized by local organisations including the Citizen Action Network (CAN), Anmol Seva Sansthan, Mitra Shringar Samiti and Center for Social Justice.
lGBTQ activist Harish Iyer while informing about the parade said that if a gay pride parade could happen in lucknow, there was no reason why one couldn't be organised in Bhopal. He also said that with the help of a courageous few people they were able to reach out to the local lGBT community.
It is to be noted that youth group CAN organized various events observing Bhopal’s first ever Pride Week. During the Pride Week various awareness activities were organized. There were five days packed with activities from panel discussions, open jam, flash mob and cultural programmes.
Organizer of the event Kokila Bhattacharya said, “Charity begins at home and while lGBTQ people are getting placements in various jobs, their social acceptance is much needed.”
Talking about the idea, she said, “Once somebody asked me why any pride event didn’t happened in city yet. So it was just the idea that struck to our mind and then we got in touch with Humsafar Trust for guidance to organize Bhopal’s first ever pride march.” Elaborating further, she said, “Instead to making it a one-day event we decided to make it a grand affair to aware and create a long-lasting impression on people about lGBT community.”
Members from the lGBT community were on cloud nine, as they felt inch closer towards emancipation. Apart from locals, people also travelled from different corners of the country like Indore, Kolkata, Chennai and Nagpur to support the cause.