Queer Azaadi Mumbai
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Queer Azaadi Mumbai Pride March ("Azaadi" meaning "freedom" in Hindi and Urdu), also called Queer Azaadi March and Mumbai pride march, is an annual
LGBTQIA ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is an ...
pride parade that is held in the city of
Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
, capital of
Maharashtra, India Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdivi ...
. It usually begins from
Gowalia Tank Gowalia Tank Maidan, officially renamed August Kranti Maidan, is a park in Grant Road West, in South Mumbai, in which Mahatma Gandhi issued the Quit India speech on 8 August 1942. It decreed that unless the British left India immediately, ...
(popularly known as August Kranti Maidan) ending at
Girgaum Chowpatty Girgaon Chowpatty ( IAST: ''Giragāva Chaupāṭī''), is a public beach along the Queen’s Necklace adjoining Marine Drive in the Girgaon area of Mumbai (Bombay), Konkan division, India. It is served by the Charni Road railway station. T ...
. It, along with the Pride Week, is organized by Queer Azaadi Mumbai (abbreviated as QAM), 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 India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
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.


Objectives

The following are the demands and objectives of the Queer Azadi March: * Equal rights for the LGBT community and an end to discrimination against members of the community. * Constitutional protection against discrimination on the basis of gender and sexuality. * Legal recognition for all members of the LGBTIQ community, and equal rights for those who do not fit the male-female classification. * Sensitisation of society towards the rights and aspirations of the community, to put an end to practices like forced marriages. Specific sensitisation for the medical community regarding the treatment of community members. * Elimination of violence, hate, homophobia and transphobia within families, educational institutions, workplaces and public places.


History

Pride marches have been held annually in Mumbai since 2005, however, it got its official name Queer Azaadi March in 2008.


2008

The first Queer Azaadi March was held on 16 August, a day after the Independence Day of India, with about 500 people participating in it. It was flagged off by Indian actress
Celina Jaitly Celina Jaitly (born 24 November 1981) is an Indian actress who mainly appears in Bollywood films. She won the Miss India in 2001 and was the 4th runner-up at Miss Universe 2001. She made her acting debut with the 2003 thriller '' Janasheen''. ...
. The theme of this march was freedom from
Section 377 Section 377 of the British colonial penal code criminalized all sexual acts "against the order of nature". The law was used to prosecute people engaging in oral and anal sex along with homosexual activity. The penal code remains in many former col ...
of
Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted on the recommendations of first law commission of India established ...
(IPC). During the march,
Manvendra Singh Gohil Manvendra Singh Gohil (born 23 September 1965) is an Indian people, Indian prince who is the son and probable heir of the honorary Maharaja of Rajpipla in Gujarat. He is the first openly gay prince in the world. He runs a charity, the Lakshya Tr ...
, known as "India's first gay prince" gave a speech and demanded an apology from the British for including Section 377 in IPC.


2009

The Pride parade was held on 16 August, with
Celina Jaitly Celina Jaitly (born 24 November 1981) is an Indian actress who mainly appears in Bollywood films. She won the Miss India in 2001 and was the 4th runner-up at Miss Universe 2001. She made her acting debut with the 2003 thriller '' Janasheen''. ...
flagging off the march for the second year in a row. With over 500 people turning up, gay activists claimed it to be one of the biggest pride marches in the country.


2011

The fourth Queer Azaadi March was held on 29 January with the Queer Azaadi Mumbai Pride Week (from 22–29 January) preceding it. It was inaugurated by
Anand Grover Anand Grover is a senior lawyer known for legal activism in Indian law relating to homosexuality and HIV. Along with his wife Indira Jaising, he is a founder-member of the Lawyers Collective. He was the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the r ...
, founder of Lawyers’ Collective, who has also represented Naz Foundation since 2001. Another person to inaugurate was Vivek Patil, chief-executive of Humsafar Trust, the oldest LGBTQ organization in India. The Pride Week, held for the first time in the Mumbai march, included festivities, like QAM Mela and drag shows, play readings, shopping, panel discussions and films. There were also live music and dance concerts at the Carter Road open auditorium and the SNDT University at Juhu. This pride became famous for it Pride Week and because people came in large numbers, with only a few wearing masks and being open about their identity.


2012

The fifth pride march was also held on 28 January. This year witnessed
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
’s first flash mob at the Pride Week celebrations. More than 2000 queer individuals took part in the event that was a display of gay pride. As a part of the march, Queer Azadi Mumbai also organised queer games which was held on 15 January 2012. In the run up to the Mumbai Queer Azaadi March 2012 , the organizers held a live performance by the Hijra community and band "Agnee", at Carter Road Amphitheatre, on 5 Jan and a photo, Cartoon, Caricature Contest against prejudice. Pictures were displayed at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Chembur on 21 and 22 January.


2013

The pride march was held on 2 February. The events leading up to the pride march included a kite festival, Queer Games, literary events and concerts.


2014

This year the pride parade was held on 1 February and became the first parade to happen after the Supreme Court
judgement Judgement (or US spelling judgment) is also known as ''adjudication'', which means the evaluation of evidence to make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. The term has at least five distinct uses. Aristotle s ...
of upholding Section 377 of IPC.


2015

This parade was held on 31 January with more than 6000 people participating in it. There were also many parents there in support of their children and the LGBTQIH community. Vikram Doctor, a gay rights activist, claimed that while earlier there was an occasional presence of mothers, sisters or aunts of the a gay person, this time there were fathers and brothers too. The theme of this march was fakr (meaning pride). People could be seen dressed colorfully, with head gears, carrying balloons and flags of rainbow colors. There were also slogans, chanting and banners and posters opposing the Section 377 of IPC.


2016

The pride march was held on 6 February. It started from August Kranti Maidan continuing to Opera House, and then Kennedy Bridge, before looping back to the maidan. There were speeches from equal rights activists like
Harish Iyer Harish Iyer, also known as "Aham", ''hiyer'' and "Harrish Iyer" (born 16 April 1979) is an Indian equal rights activist. Iyer engages in advocacy for a number of causes, including promoting the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transge ...
and Chitra Palekaras well as
Manoj Bajpayee Manoj Bajpayee (born 23 April 1969), also transliterated as Manoj Bajpai, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi cinema and has also done Telugu and Tamil language films. Regarded as one of the finest actors of Hindi cinema, he i ...
, the lead actor of
Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
movie ‘
Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Allygarh, and Kol) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district, and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the cap ...
’. The crew of the movie and Mahendra Singh Gohil were part of the more than 7000 participants. The screenwriter of ‘Aligarh’,
Apurva Asrani Apurva Asrani (born 21 March 1978) is a National Award, Filmfare Award & Screen Award winning filmmaker based in Goa, India. He has written the human rights drama ''Aligarh'' (2016), the courtroom drama Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors (20 ...
, even came out as gay for the first time during the walk. In the parade, people came dressed as drag queens, in jalabiyyahs, political figures from history and many other costumes.


2017

The ninth edition of the pride parade, held on 28 January, was the largest march of India yet with around 14000 people showing up. The Pride Week was also extended to a month long celebration, with new initiatives of community building and focusing on minorities within the LGBTQIH community. It was also Mumbai's first accessible pride walk. There were provisions like ramp to access the stage, sign language interpreters, and pick and drop services for people needing wheelchairs, as well as other volunteers to assist people with disabilities. 2018 The tenth edition of the Mumbai Pride Parade was held on 3 February 2018, with the theme #377QuitIndia. The theme, chosen by organisers Queer Azadi Mumbai, was a reference to
Section 377 Section 377 of the British colonial penal code criminalized all sexual acts "against the order of nature". The law was used to prosecute people engaging in oral and anal sex along with homosexual activity. The penal code remains in many former col ...
of the Indian Penal Code. This section criminalises "carnal intercourse against the order of nature", often used as an instrument to prosecute homosexuality. The March began from August Kranti Maidan (where the
Quit India The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule i ...
Movement was launched from) and ended at Girgaum Chowpatty beach. The Mumbai Pride organisers provided for sign language interpreters and mobi-cabs to enhance access to the disabled. This tenth edition of the Pride coincided with the 75th anniversary of the Quit India Movement and the organisers linked the event to the Quit India Movement to amplify the call for freedom from oppressive legislation. This was commemorated with the release of 'stamps' by organisers as each event logo. Indian corporate Godrej will be supporting the effort and organising some events. In addition to parties, a number of events were organised as part of a Pride month leading up to the Pride Parade: * Sporting events for LBT (Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgender) women; * 'Queer and Political', an event to analyse the political stance of the individuals within the
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...
community; * Networking, talks and discussions, such as Karim Ladak speaking about his experience with LGBTIQ movements across the world; * Theatre, such as 'Ek Madhav Baug', a play by Chetan Datar on the process of coming out; * The 'Mr. Gay World India Finale' With around 10,000 individuals, the event continued to show strong growth in the number of participants. Moreover, participants are increasingly comfortable revealing their identities, and fewer resorting to the use of masks.


2020

The police denied permission for the 2020 pride parade over concerns that it may be linked to the Citizenship Amendment Act protests.


References

{{Reflist


External links


Queer Azaadi Mumbai Collective

Queer Azaadi Mumbai Weblog
Pride parades in India LGBT culture in Mumbai 2008 establishments in Maharashtra Recurring events established in 2008