There are the yearly conventional calendars that gets hung on the walls with the advent of the New Year and then there is the Mumbai Queer Pride calendar which sets out an agenda for awareness all through January, the Mumbai pride month, highlighting a series of events lined up by the Lesbians Gays Bisexual and Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) community.
“It has been a practice by the Mumbai Queer pride community to organise the pride march on the first Saturday after republic day at August Kranti Maidan, the historic site of the Quit India movement. This started as a fight against section 377, the remnant of the British law that criminalised consensual sex between adults. Now we march for equality and justice on all spheres of our queer lives” said one of the co- organisers of the pride march and the calendar, Harish Iyer.
“We have won the battle of decriminalisation of consensual sex. We have several more to win – the right to a life without discrimination, the right of legal recognition of our relationships, the right to adopt… we will not rest till we have all the rights that are afforded only to cis gender heterosexual citizens of our country” Iyer was formerly residing in Kamothe and has moved the Honorable Supreme Court against 377 and for marriage equality.
“The month-long calendar of 13 events besides the pride parade, represent the diversity within the LGBTQIA+ community.“ said Christina Evars, a transgender activist and co-organiser of Mumbai Queer Pride.
The celebrations were initiated in Juhu beach with Queer Hugs where the queer community extended warm hugs to fellow mumbaikars. “Mumbai is a city of hearts, queer hearts included. We could strike a conversation with people and tell them that what we love is beyond gender” said Apurva Paithane, the organiser of Queer Hugs.
“It’s not a cliché when I say that Queer lives as as diverse as the colours of the rainbow, We are not a monolith and we exist in conjunction with other truths of our lives in the intersections of caste, religion, environmentalism and other lived experiences and realities” articulates Harish Iyer.
The Pride Mumbai Queer Pride March 2025 is to be held on February 1 from 3 pm to 6 pm starting from August Kranti Maidan.
The next event is on January 11 wherein screening of the film Amma’s Pride and U for Usha will be held at Gaysi studio in Khar (W). “ We will be having the Queer premier league with participation by the lesbian bisexual and transgender community organised by Umang and Gaysi. There will be discussions on topics like Tans Lives Matter, What the folks- discussion with the parents of the Queer persons and many more events,” concludes Christna Evers while chirpily wishing everyone “Happy Pride Month.
