A playful afternoon was organized in city on Sunday as the lGBTQ (lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer community) marched to break the heterosexual stereotypes.
The second Pride Parade of the city was organised along with a fashion parade. To welcome a more equal world by breaking down stereotypes about beauty and fashion, a fashion parade was organised
Borrowing from the tradition of Drag, people dressed in the clothes of the opposite sex and lGBTQ sought to explore their identities by putting on different personas as form of expression. This was followed with the Pride March starting from Amer bakery hut till Shaurya Smarak.
“For far too long, many in the queer community have been focused on the law and prides. legal recognition is important, yes, and section 377 is a reprehensible law that must go, but our social and cultural spaces must become more inclusive,” said one of the participants of the pride march.
The march was city’s most colourful public parade and participants attended with children, parents, partners, friends and pets.
This year, the Pride rainbow flag was a record breaking 18x36 metres long, and people danced their way to the end on dholak tunes maintaining the rhythm throughout.
Colourful saris, feathered head accessories and balloons and several bright props were used by the people to create a big rainbow on the roads of Bhopal. Besides, the organisers of the Pride march this year presented a manifesto asking for equality.
“We want freedom for the Queer community and we believe its existence incompatible with the existence of orthodox gender norms and draconian law.
Our struggle stands with our rights to love freely who we want without being subject to prejudice and violence,” said one of the organizers Kokila Bhattacharya.
She further said, “Our struggle stands for the right to privacy and agency in regard to our sexualities. We want liberty; we seek to claim for every member of the Queer community the accessibility and right to do whatever job and work we please and the means and education by which to do it. As a society, we must come together to achieve these goals”.