Mumbai’s seventh annual Pride Parade brought together hundreds of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered members of the city’s queer community. The overwhelming joy and irreverence of the most recent parade belies the Indian government’s recent trend of backsliding on LGBT rights in the country.
In 2009 The High Court of Delhi ruled that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalized homosexuality, was unconstitutional. The law had been in place since 1860 when it was first implemented under the British occupation of India. In 2013, however the Indian Supreme Court overruled the decision, stating that repealing the Penal Code was a decision best left to the country’s Parliament, rather than its Judicial body.
Since then the Indian government has slowly continued to chip away at the rights of its queer citizens by denying same-sex couples equal adoption rights and going so far as to suggest state-backed initiatives to “cure” queer youth. Socially, however, there have been moments of progress like the election of India’s first transgender mayor and television news anchor.
Despite India’s social turbulence, Pride-goers were confident in their decisions to march.
"I am marching to spread awareness because of my son who is gay,"a 74-year old mother told Vice. "For the first time in my life, I am fighting for the right cause."
Watch footage of Mumbai's 7th annual gay pride parade AFTER THE JUMP…
