Many at the march held placards that read ‘Homosexuality is not an illness,
homophobia is,' ‘Born this way,' and ‘Straight but not narrow'.
Photo via The Hindu
According to media reports, some 300 members of the LGBT community, along with their family members and supporters marched in a rally from Marina beach to create awareness about the discrimination that the LGBT community faced in their day-to-day lives.
Participants at the third annual Chennai Rainbow Parade are said to be more willing to reveal their identities this year than in the previous teo years. A report on IBNLive noted: "The Pride March of the previous two years perhaps had more people wearing masks to keep their identities under wraps. This year, there was a visible shift as more people walked without masks, proudly flaunting their identities."
The report quoted Sunil Menon, a LGBT rights activist and founder-director of Sahodari Foundation, as saying: "As I see more people without mask, I will definitely say the pride marches are actually helping us gain confidence of the community. At the same time, the LGBT community feels empowered by the public support they enjoy."
The event marked the culmination of events, including panel discussions, sensitisation programmes, groups meetings and film screenings highlighting the concerns of the LGBT community, organised by several NGOS this month.
The Sahodari Foundation and the office of the American Consulate General at Chennai organised a panel discussion on ‘gay pride’ to mark the Gay Pride Month in which Matthew K. Beh, political officer at the American Consulate General, spoke about giants like Mahatma Gandhi and great American leaders who worked for human rights; and the importance of observing the Gay Pride Month, reported the Deccan Chronicle.
The Hindu newspaper also quoted U.S. Consul General in Chennai Andrew T. Simkin as saying: "Gay rights are human rights. It is basically respecting each others' differences and an individual's right to live without fear."
In related news, the world's biggest gay pride parade took place in Brazil on Sunday, where more than a million people paraded down the main avenue of the most populous city in the country Sao Paulo.