Gay pride in New Delhi

Last year, I was traveling for work when New Delhi hosted its first gay pride march, so I really didn't want to miss it this year. A bonus incentive was to take little Riyan, my 3-month-old baby, to his first march. But with temperatures ranging between 43 and 48 degrees C, I wondered how practical or kind it would be for a mother to take a baby already suffering from diaper rash to an outdoor march amid the cacophony of Delhi's outdoor music, blaring horns, heavy traffic and crowded streets. Of course, I persevered despite the hovering presence of common sense.

It was stiflingly hot but a 10-minute pre-monsoon shower turned the dry heat into slightly more bearable but humid weather. Rajiv (my partner) and I locked Riyan into his car seat after running the AC in our battered orange Fiat for a few minutes to cool down the perspiring car, and went to scope out the scene. After the success of the marches in Calcutta and Bombay, we were hoping New Delhi's gay community and all those who support the fight for equal rights would come out in big numbers, heat or no heat.

What is gay pride like in a country where homosexuality is outlawed? Colonial era legislation states that "carnal intercourse" is "against the law of nature." If convicted, a defendant can be imprisoned for up to 10 years. Things are changing, however. Just today, a New Delhi high court made a landmark ruling that, in effect, decriminalizes gay sex. It's a huge deal for activists who have been fighting the current laws for many years.

On Sunday, when we attended gay pride, however, there was no such news. Rajiv, Riyan and I decided not to march in the heat but to join the march where it ended, at Jantar Mantar, a large park in central Delhi named after a collection of massive calculation instruments built by a Rajasthani ruler in the 18th century. There is an enclave beside the park where all protest marches in Delhi wind up after they've run their course.

There, by 6:30 p.m., an hour after the march began along a main road very close to Jantar Mantar, a crowd of some 500 to 600 had gathered. There were rainbow flags and bandanas, a lot of people were wearing sparkly, sequined, colorful masks, some carried posters, others were there in solidarity. Almost everyone was soaked in sweat as activists addressed the crowd from a covered dais.

Little Riyan's eyes darted from left to right taking in the crowd, the noise from humming generators that were runing the television vans, the colors, the excitement. A couple, dressed to the nines, with rainbow boas slung across their necks despite the heat, cooed and coddled Riyan for being, officially, the youngest attendant at Delhi's 2009 gay pride parade.

So how does gay pride here compare with gay pride in, say, Toronto? It doesn't, of course. It's tiny, by comparison, and there are no shortage of nay-sayers, and of course folks who don't even know what being gay means. Still, the march went off without any disturbance and was watched in Delhi's living rooms thanks to the presence of all the major channels.

Surprisingly, New Delhi's police force was unmoved. They've probably seen all sorts of demonstrations at Jantar Mantar, so I suppose little surprises them. They stood by and watched with limited interest. It was a hot, hot day, and they were probably counting the minutes left to get off duty and drown out the heat with a glass of cold, chilled King Fisher beer or some "tharra" (the local, homemade variety.)

The next day, my maid asked me where we had taken Riyan. I told her, the gay pride parade. What's that, she asked. I tried to explain what it was and who (including one of India's top fashion designers) was in attendance. She covered her ears with her hands and shook her head in horror. "Don't tell me anymore! What terrible things happen in this world," she said.

So, gay pride parade, a success? Yes. But, as everywhere else, a long, rocky journey ahead. Today's legal ruling, though, was a big step in making gay pride a meaningful annual event.

http://www.globalpost.com/notebook/india/090702/gay-pride-new-delhi