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As we somewhat cautiously head into the new year with many victories on our plates, one verdict stands undisputed - that 2018 has indeed been a year of landmark moments particularly for the Indian LGBTQ community. Even though the Trans Bill is still an ongoing fight, the community as a whole has finally experienced the joy of being heard, if not agreed with (yet). And in that spirit of collective hopefulness, in the small, sleepy town of Dajeeling in West Bengal, two young Indians are organising the city’s first Pride Walk.
An initiative of a 17-year-old student Rupsha Ghosh and a 22-year-old androgynous art model Bodhisatya Ghosh, the walk is being organised to celebrate the recent and long overdue scrapping of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that basically criminalised homosexuality. The walk will be held on Sunday, 30th December 2018, almost like a turning point as the entire nation received to bid this year goodbye. “There’s been a Victory March before in celebration of the scrapping of Section 377 but a walk is first of its kind in the city,” the duo tell Homegrown.
The walk will begin at 12 pm on Sunday in a city located at the foothills of Darjeeling in Siliguri, where the two along with a team of 15 more individuals will gather and walk from Air View More hotel to the Bardhaman Road. Many academicians, lawyers, and young people from the city will be a part of this walk, including Shonali di, the Chairperson of the Transgender Community in Siliguri. But victory isn’t the only agenda of the Pride Walk. At the end of the event, the people from the community will be encourages and provided a safe space to talk about their stories and life. While celebration is definitely key, the Pride Walk also aims to raise a voice against the regressive Transgender Bill. “So far there has been a huge response and the word has spread all around the city. We are expecting at least 80+ people,” Rupsha and Bodhisatya sign off.
To know more, you can follow their official Instagram page.
Feature image credit: the odyssey online
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