'Fewer Masks, More Parents': Marked Change At Mumbai's LGBT Pride Parade This Year [In Photos]

'Fewer Masks, More Parents': Marked Change At Mumbai's LGBT Pride Parade This Year [In Photos]
Karan Khosla

Saturday, February 6, saw Mumbai’s annual LGBTQI pride parade kick off from South Mumbai’s August Kranti Maidan. Members of the community as well as its allies assembled outside the maidan at 3 pm and the speeches began: Harrish Iyer, Ashok Row Kavi, and even the cast, writer and director of the film Aligarh, the film that just released on Aligarh Muslim University’s late professor Ramchandra Siras’ ordeal with AMU who ousted him when they discovered he was gay, all invoked their own sense of pride.

At 4 pm, the giant rainbow flag made its way to the front of the crowd, and the march began. Leaflets on Section 377 were distributed amongst attendees as well as curious bystanders, and Nasik dhols egged the crowd forward into a rhythmic march.

This year’s parade was markedly different from previous ones. For starters, there were a lot more people. The Humsafar Trust’s official count pegged the attendees at somewhere near 7,500, a dramatic increase from the city’s first parade, which saw only 1,000 attendees. And remarkably, only a handful still wore masks to hide their identity—a huge change from the first parade where more than half the people wore masks. Another distinctive factor were the number of parents who had come out in support of their gay children, marching side-by-side with drag queens, people in lavish costumes, the city’s transgender community, and straight allies.

As the march wound its way from August Kranti Maidan down to Lamington Road, Opera House and then back to the maidan, curious bystanders and people leaning out of their windows were greeted by the incessant drumming of the dhols and chants from the parade, ranging from “We want justice” to “Azaadi,” not to mention a particularly sweet Gujarati slogan, “Taaro Maaro Same Che, Prem Che, Prem Che” (You and I are the same; There is love where there is love).

This year’s pride parade was held a few days after the Supreme Court’s decision to refer its earlier overturning of the Delhi High Court judgement on 377 to a five-judge bench, giving hope once again to millions of LGBTQI Indians that the archaic Section 377 might finally be a thing of the past.
We were there and managed to capture a few images that give you an idea of the size and scale of the parade, as well as the general, joyful mood. Scroll down to see what you missed or, if you were there too, relive the hours the community felt freedom in their numbers, if only for a little while.

The cast and director of Aligarh. From left: Actor Manoj Bajpai, director Hansal Mehta and actor Rajkumar Rao listen as activist Harrish Iyer speaks to the crowd before the march

The giant rainbow flag marks the start of the parade

Sushant Divgikar, Mr. Gay India 2014, accompanied and supported by his proud father Pradeep

Pups march for Pride too

Urmi, a well-loved and recognised activist from The Humsafar Trust, revels in the festivities

You can always count on the parade for colourful, lovely costumes 

Yaariyan, Humsafar Trust’s youth initiative, makes their presence felt with happy balloons

Rainbow flags protect those that hold it up

And despite the legal irony of it all, sometimes cops do too

With over 7,500 people in attendance, this is only a snippet of what the day looked like

Images by Karan Khosla 

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