Pride march conducted in full fervour in Chennai

CHENNAI: The 15th Rainbow Pride March by the LGBTQIA+ community in the city was organised at the Rajarathinam Stadium in Egmore on Sunday.

It was not just the members of the community, but also proud parents, friends and ally who were seen in full fervour to celebrate love.

From horizontal reservation for trans people, to conversion therapy, raising their voice on same sex marriage, fighting stereotypes and asking for workplace inclusiveness, the members of the LGBTQIA+ community highlighted all of these issues during the pride march.

In like with this year's theme, Rage and Resilience, the members of the community also talked about the need to protest against their oppression and ill treatment.

"It is good to see so many people celebrate love and happiness. The pride has seen more people this year and more people are here today without the masks. It shows that people are fighting the odds and accepting their identity, their sexuality and their own existence," says Thanishka, a transwoman.

She says that people should not see the members of the community with pity because we are as capable as anyone else.

"We should be given the opportunity to study and work just like everyone else. I am now a corporate company employee and I urge the other members of the LGBTQIA+ community to come forward to empower themselves with education and strengthen ourselves so that we are not labelled as just someone pitiful," added Thanishka.

Rainbows and colours everywhere with dance, music and sparkle just made the celebration a vibe one cannot forget. Sabitha from Thozhi organisation, a non-profit organisation working for the welfare of the transgender women community said that the parade is becoming stronger with every passing year.

"It was just LGBT earlier and we have been open to accepting other members of the community. Ofcourse, there are misconceptions and people should understand that you cannot change someone from who they are to someone else. If someone is gay, you cannot make them a straight person. We still have people who tell parents that they can change their children to whatever orientation they want. They say people have medicines to change an individual's identity and sexual orientation. It is wrong to do so," said Sabitha.

It was not just the locals but people from other States and countries in Tamil Nadu, participated in the parade.

Emphasizing the importance of pride, Harpreet from Punjab says that we hope that Pride changes the mindset of people and once more parents start supporting their children, we need not fight for our own identity.

We need to start with schools where LGBTQIA community is normalised and then we need to educate the parents to support their children.

Many parents who proudly walked during the march said that the societal stigma and taboo is not their concern anymore because they are happy to be there for their children and support them to be able to live the way they want.