Hundreds have marched in Delhi’s 10th Queer Pride Parade to call for improved LGBT+ rights in India—where homosexuality is still criminalised.
The event went ahead despite Delhi’s skyrocketing smog levels with organisers describing it a battle against discrimination.
“This pride represents a milestone 10 years of collective struggle to battle all forms of shame, stigma, transphobia, homophobia, and socio-economic hierarchy, at a time when such an assertion of dignity and self-respect grows in need and vitality,” a Facebook post for the event read.
Co-organiser Manak Matiyani told the Times of India that the LGBT+ community deserved access to the same rights as everyone else.
“We're fighting for the right of everybody in this country to live as an equal citizen, which means that everybody should be able to live their life the way they want to," he said.
Organisers of the parade set out their demands to the Indian government —including the call for comprehensive anti-discrimination laws to protect people who are targeted because of their “gender, class, caste, religion, ability, race, tribe, sexual orientation, and ethnicity.”
The group also called for Section 377 to be read down, and an end to anti-transgender and anti-hijra legislation.
Same-sex sexual activities are banned under Section 377 of India’s colonial-era penal code. The section was decriminalised in 2009 but that judgement was then overturned in 2013.
