Every year, the month of June is celebrated as the #Pride month. It celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community and reinforces the point that they are equal to people of the straight community and should be treated so. The verdict of decriminalization of gay sex by the Indian Supreme Court in 2018 was a big victory for everyone.
It is well in public knowledge that the people of this community have had to struggle for their basic rights, and they do this by stating that there is #Pride in being who they are. Many Indian queer activists have played a major role in uplifting the community; and they have done so by taking help of media as their weapon.
We look back at some of the incidents in Indian media that proved to be milestones for our LGBTQ+ community.
1. In 1977, noted writer, Shakuntla Devi published the first book on the queer community –‘The World of Homosexuals’.
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2. Ashok Row Kavi, a gay journalist/activist, founded the first Indian magazine for queer men in 1990, called ‘Bombay Dost’.
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3. In 1996, the first ever Indian gay film was made called ‘BOMGaY’. It was a 12-minutes long movie starring Rahul Bose and R.Raj Rao (an author) and others who were shown as different queer men living in Mumbai. It never released commercially but is an important part of Indian LGBTQ history.
4. ‘Sakhiyani: Lesbian Desire in Ancient and Modern India’ was published by Gita Thadani in 1996; it delves into the erotic nature of women with each other in ancient India.
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5. ‘Fire’ –a movie starring Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das and directed by Deepa Mehta was released in 1998; the protagonists played the role of a lesbian couple. Although Shiv Sena vandalized many theaters in Mumbai and Delhi who screened it, it played an important role in showing where the mindset of our society stands.
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6. 1999 proved to be a milestone as it saw India’s first pride parade in Calcutta, it was called the Calcutta Rainbow Pride. And then it saw many such parades.
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7. ‘Facing the Mirror: Lesbian Writing from India’ published in 1999, which increased the visibility of queer women in the country.
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8. In a very brave move, Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil came out in 2002 and became the first openly gay prince in India. He was then invited to The Oprah Winfrey Show.
9. Author R. Raj Rao published the first gay romance novel of India in 2003 –‘The Boyfriend’.
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10. 2008 saw the first and simultaneous Pride parades in Mumbai and Delhi and saw a large turn out.
11. In 2010, The Kashish Mumbai Queer Film Festival –which is now one of Asia’s largest queer film festivals –started. It allowed people to showcase content on these matters which otherwise would have seen critics’ backlash. It was launched with the support of actress Celina Jaitley.
12. ‘Queer Ink’ was also launched in 2010 by Shobhna S. Kumar –it is the first publishing house for queer fiction. It also provides crisis intervention services and educational resources for the Indian LGBTQ community.
13. As a protest against Section 377, the openly gay and proud author Vikram Seth posed for India Today’s cover like this.
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14. Satyamev Jayate –the famous show hosted by Aamir Khan that focused on social issues –aired an episode on ‘Accepting Alternate Sexualities’.
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15. In 2015, Gaysi Magazine published the first ever illustrated queerness anthology, having artwork by over 30 artists.
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16. The first ever LGBTQ-centric web-series, called ‘All About Section 377’ was granted permission to air on National Television, and by 2016 had a primetime spot on NDTV Good Times.
17. In December 2016, many bars and pubs banned queer male couples on the New Year’s Eve. Harish Iyer, and activist, started a #GayWellSoon campaign in protest. Him and other started sending flowers to these bars (inspired from Lagey Raho Munna Bhai) asking them to change their thinking.
18. Fariz Arif Ansari directed ‘Sisak’ –the first silent LGBTQ film –in 2017; it is 20 minutes long. It also made its place in the Cannes Film Festival!
While our brothers and sisters of the LGBTQ community still struggle and fight for equal rights, it is nice to see that this long history is finally giving some fruitful results. We hope they’re treated as equal as the straight community (because they are!) very soon! Happy #Pride Month people!
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