Chandigarh LGBT Pride Walk

Last updated

The Chandigarh LGBTQ Pride Walk is an annual march held as part of the "Garvotsava" pride week celebrations in Chandigarh, the capital city of the northern Indian states of Punjab and Haryana. The event aims to celebrate and bring together the LGBTQ community and its supporters.

Contents

Chandigarh was the first city in North India after Delhi to have a pride march in 2013. The parades in Chandigarh are spearheaded by Saksham Trust. [1] [2] The Pride March route typically begins at the Panjab University Student Centre and culminates at Sector 17 plaza in Chandigarh. [1] The march incorporates several local folk dances such as Dhol and Gidda. [3]

History

2013

The first pride march in Chandigarh was held on 15 March 2013. [4] The parade started from Panjab University Student Centre and ended at the City Centre, which is at the heart of Chandigarh. Although more than 500 people were expected to participate, the turnout was low with only 100 people participating in the city's first pride march. [1] [3]

2014

The second edition of the Chandigarh Pride Walk was organised on 2 March 2014. It was the culmination of the LGBT celebrations week which started on February 23. [5] The celebrations came against the backdrop of the Supreme Court Verdict on Section 377 on 11 December 2013. [6] The week long celebrations included a conversation on Gender and Sexuality and a Qawwali and Kavi Durbar. [7] During the march, participants raised slogans against the Supreme Court ruling on Section 377 and sought legal and social protections for the LGBT community. [8]

2015

The city hosted the LGBTIQ Pride parade for the third time on 8 March 2015. [9] This edition saw the participation of a large number of people, especially students of Panjab University, who did not identify themselves as LGBTIQ, but turned up in support of the LGBTIQ people. [10] Students' organisations such as Ambedkar Students' Association (ASA) and Students For Society (SFS) had extended support for the march. [11]

2016

The fourth edition of the city's pride march took place on 6 March 2016. Several student organisations from Panjab University, IISER and Chitkara University were expected to participate in this edition of the pride march. [12] Their demands included: enactment of comprehensive anti-discrimination laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of age, sex, class, caste, religion, tribe, ability, ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation, effective implementation of the provisions of the Supreme Court judgment in NALSA versus Union of India on the rights of trans people, stringent action against violence against minorities and the silencing of freedom of expression and dissent, and repeal of Section 377 (unnatural offences, sex against order of nature) of the Indian Penal Code. [13]

2017

In 2017, the city named the LGBTQ celebrations "Garvotsav" (translates to: A Festival of Pride) which was a week-long event which wrapped up with the Pride march on 26 March 2017. The festival included a flash mob, plays, film screenings, seminars and other events to encourage open discussion. [14] [15] The march was organised by Saksham Trust and Alankar Theatre Chandigarh with support from the Canadian embassy. [16] [17]

2018

The 2018 Chandigarh Pride Week "Garvotsav" celebrations began on March 12 and ended with the Pride March on 18 March 2018. The event was organised by Saksham Trust and Nazariya Foundation, a short film productions company. The Canadian Embassy also co-sponsored the celebrations for the second consecutive year. [18] [19]

2019

The 2019 Chandigarh Pride Week "Garvotsav" starting earlier than previous years, 25 February, ended with a pride march on 3 March 2019. More than 250 people attended the pride march from Punjab University to Sector 17. [20] With this year a special focus on transgender sexual identity acceptance, the walk was organized by Mangalmukhi transgender welfare society and Saksham trust. The pride week got co-funded by the Canadian embassy for the third consecutive year. Several other organisations, Humsafar trust, Harmless Hugs, FPAI and Keshav Suri Foundation collaborated with the NGOs for the walk. [21] [22]

Related Research Articles

Pune Pride is an annual LGBT pride parade that was first held in Pune, Maharashtra on 11 December 2011. It is the second Pride parade to be organized in the state of Maharashtra, after the Queer Azaadi Mumbai Pride March.

LGBT culture in India

India has a limited culture for LGBTQIA people due to widespread stigma, stemming from ancient Indian culture, in the modern-day populace. However living conditions and media representation have been improving in recent years, especially in terms of representation of transgender people.

Queer Azaadi Mumbai Pride March, also called Queer Azaadi March and Mumbai pride march, is an annual LGBTQIA pride parade that is held in the city of Mumbai, capital of Maharashtra, India. It usually begins from Gowalia Tank ending at Girgaum Chowpatty. It, along with the Pride Week, is organized by Queer Azaadi Mumbai, a collective of organizations and individuals working for the rights of LGBTQIA community. The participants of the march include people from the LGBTQIH community as well their "straight allies", from India and outside. In addition to being a celebration of queer pride, the pride march and related events are a platform to ask for equal rights.

Delhi Queer Pride Parade Annual LGBT event in Delhi

Delhi Queer Pride Parade is organised by members of the Delhi Queer Pride Committee every last Sunday of November since 2008. The queer pride parade is a yearly festival to honour and celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and their supporters. The parade usually runs from Barakhamba Road to Tolstoy Marg to Jantar Mantar.

Gaylaxy is an Indian lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) magazine. The magazine is based in Kolkata.

XUKIA is a queer collective based in Assam, India that works for LGBT issues in the region. It is one of the first Queer Collectives to come up in the North East India.

Queer Pride Guwahati

Queer Pride Guwahati was organised for the first time by the members and supporters of the local LGBT community in Guwahati, Assam on 9 February 2014. The Queer Pride Guwahati was the first LGBT Pride in the entire North Eastern India. The Pride is expected to become an annual event.

The first Pride March in Gurgaon, India was hosted on 25 June 2016, at Sector -29 Leisure Valley. It was created in order to fill the vacuum of spaces that are queer friendly and pave way to creating a culture of LGBTQIA+ community meets and open dialogue. The LGBTQ community all around the world is under constant threat of abuse, discrimination and even criminalization. Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code considers homosexuality as unnatural or against the order of nature.

Awadh Queer Pride

One of the organizers of Awadh Queer Pride at 4th Awadh Queer Pride Walk. The first Awadh Queer Pride Parade, was held on 9 April 2017, exactly 18 years after India's first Queer Pride Parade in Kolkata. It saw at least 300 people marching hand in hand, waving rainbow flags or wearing its colours. Many of them had come from as far away as Mumbai, Kolkata, Chandigarh and Jaipur. It was organised by Awadh Queer Pride Committee.

Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk (KRPW) is the oldest pride walk in India and South Asia. The first march in Kolkata was organised on 2 July 1999. The walk was called The Friendship Walk. Kolkata was chosen as the first city to host the march owing to Kolkata's history of movements for human and Political Rights. Currently, Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk is organised by the Kolkata Rainbow Pride Festival (KRPF).

Bhopal Pride March

The Bhopal Pride March was an event held in 2017 to celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) culture in Bhopal, India.

Hyderabad Queer Pride has been celebrated on one of the Sundays in February since 2013. First held on 3 February 2013, Hyderabad became the 12th Indian city to join the Queer pride march bandwagon, fourteen years after the first Indian pride march was held in Kolkata. In 2015 it was renamed as Hyderabad Queer Swabhimana Pride, emphasising the self-respect and the acceptance of the community of themselves, as they are. In 2016 it was altered to Hyderabad Queer Swabhimana Yatra and has been retained since.

The Patna Pride March, held in Patna, India, is a civil rights march for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people to build communities and socialize. It has had three editions so far separated by seven years.

Queer Gulabi Pride Jaipur is the name of Rajasthan's LGBT Queer pride walk, first held in March 2015 in Jaipur and organised by Nai Bhor Sanstha, a community based organisation working for LGBT rights and development for the last 15 years.

Bengaluru Namma Pride March is a queer pride march that is held annually in the city of Bengaluru in Karnataka, India, since 2008. The march is organised by a coalition called Coalition for Sex Workers and Sexuality Minority Rights (CSMR). The pride march is preceded by a month of queer related events and activities

Queer Campus Bangalore is a support group and safe space for queer youth in Bangalore, India. It is open to school, college, and university going youth in the city.

Jamshedpur LGBTQ Pride is held in Jamshedpur city, in the Indian state of Jharkhand since 2018. The pride march is organised by Utthaan JSR.

LGBT Pride marches have been held in the Indian state of Gujarat in various cities since 2013. The first LGBT pride march was held in Surat on 6 October 2013. Since then, pride march in the state has been held in Ahmedabad and Vadodara.

Being in the capital of the United States, LGBT culture in Washington, D.C. is heavily influenced by the U.S. federal government and the many nonprofit organizations headquartered in the city.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Chandigarh's First LGBT Pride Walk On March 15 - Gaylaxy Magazine". gaylaxymag.com. 28 February 2013. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
  2. ↑ "2013: What It Meant For LGBT India - Gaylaxy Magazine". gaylaxymag.com. 30 December 2013. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
  3. 1 2 Mulchandani, Lavina (4 February 2018). "Beyond the Rainbow". Press Reader.
  4. ↑ "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories". tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
  5. ↑ "Chandigarh To Hold Second Queer Pride Parade On March 2nd - Gaylaxy Magazine". gaylaxymag.com. 24 February 2014. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
  6. ↑ Venkatesan, J. "Supreme Court sets aside Delhi HC verdict decriminalising gay sex". The Hindu. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
  7. ↑ "Chandigarh To Hold Second Queer Pride Parade On March 2nd - Gaylaxy Magazine". gaylaxymag.com. 24 February 2014. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
  8. ↑ "Chandigarh Successfully Hosts 2nd LGBT Pride Walk - Gaylaxy Magazine". gaylaxymag.com. 5 March 2014. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
  9. ↑ Ratnam, Dhamini (2015-03-03). "The Pride returns to Chandigarh". livemint.com/. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
  10. ↑ "Pride walk brings LGBT issues to heart of city". hindustantimes.com/. 2015-03-09. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
  11. ↑ Ratnam, Dhamini (2015-03-03). "The Pride returns to Chandigarh". livemint.com/. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
  12. ↑ "4th edition of Chandigarh Pride Walk to be held on Sunday". The Indian Express. 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
  13. ↑ "LGBT community holds fourth Pride walk at PU". hindustantimes.com/. 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
  14. ↑ "Chandigarh's Garvotsava Ends with Powerful Pride Walk - Gaylaxy Magazine". gaylaxymag.com. 29 March 2017. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
  15. ↑ Aditya Bondyopadhyay (2017-03-29), Aditya Bondyopadhyay's Speech on LGBT Rights at Chandigarh Pride-26March2017 , retrieved 2017-07-27
  16. ↑ "Chandigarh LGBTQ Pride Walk 2017: Celebrating the Gender & Sexual Diversity". Chandigarh Bytes. 2017-03-24. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
  17. ↑ Thakur, Bhartesh Singh. "At PU, Canada reiterates support for transgender rights". Tribune.
  18. ↑ "NewsNumber | 6th Edition of LGBT Pride week, Garvotsava 2018 ends on a colourful note". newsnumber.com. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
  19. ↑ "Pride Week concludes with a rainbow of hope - Times of India ►". The Times of India. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
  20. ↑ "Garvotsav: Chandigarh Pride 2019: CHANDIGARH: More than 250 people". Latest Punjab News, Breaking News Punjab, India News | Daily Post. 2019-03-05. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  21. ↑ "Chandigarh celebrates its various colours with pride - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  22. ↑ "Walking the talk on gender identity".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.