First responses from a galvanised community

These are just some of the emails Delhi Queer Pride began receiving in response to the pride announcement. Each email, whether expressing excitement, offering help with organising and funds or simply sending solidarity, was a shot in the arm and greatly treasured by all of us at DQP. This was an event that inspired not only those of us fortunate enough to have organised and marched in the parade, but (as you can see from some of the emails), had huge emotional resonance for people connected with this city but no longer living here.

June 18, P.M.
Nice and exciting .I would definitely be there .Sure Dear. HUUUUUUURRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHH

June 19, R.S.
i am 32 years old lesbian and I want to be part of u r group .Thanx

June 20, P.D.
this is really a good idea to let people knw that we have our own idientity thru this queerpride. i will be there.

June 20, P
I came to know about the queer pride rally thats happening.. I stay near Bangalore and I am interested in join the rally at Bangalore.. Could you please send me the details of it, such as where it will start and when and so on..

June 21, RK
I heard about Delhi's first pride parade celebration this year and would love to help out in attempting this superb venture. I'm a student from Harvard University currently in Delhi, and while I cannot contribute financially, please let me know what opportunities there are for volunteering at/for the event.

June 22, AA
Dear Organisers: I would like to help in funding or time or materials for this parade.

June 23, Trikone Australasia
I got forwarded the email about the Desi Queer Pride parade in Delhi on the 29th. I just wanted to congratulate you on this endeavor and extend our best wishes for the event. Please let us know if we can offer any support from here. Best Wishes from all the members of Trikone Australasia

June 23, VVK
I am very exited that Delhi finally has its own paride parade. It was also good to read about it in the national newspaper. I got more info on it through guys4men. Bless the people who are doing all this. I would like to help in the run up to the event and on the day as well. Im wondering if anyone is organising a float with dance space music and pom poms. That would be fun! Anything to increase our visibility. I can get some friends for the float if the logistics allow.

(Signed) Charged up, V

June 23, XX
I am interested in volunteering at the Delhi Queer Pride Event on June 29. Please let me know if there is anything I could do. I'm a student of Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi, and have been a part of Kaivalya, a project of the Youth Parliament Foundation that works actively for the transgender community.

June 23, Trikone, San Francisco
I received intimation of the delhi pride plans via an email forward...and am thrilled to hear about it. As someone who lived and worked in delhi till late 2004, when the only thing that seemed to be happening was the tuesday party at xxx - its truly great to see the first steps towards building a queer community. Congrats...

One of the reasons I'm writing also is because I'm part of the Board of Trikone - which is the San Francisco Bay Area's South Asian LGBT association (some of you might be familiar with it). (trikone.org). I'm also the new editor of the trikone magazine - a quarterly - which we are in the process of revamping. The next issue is due in September and it would be great if we could get pictures of the march as well as an article write up about the pride marches in Delhi and the other cities (Just Delhi would be great too). Please let me know - I look forward to hearing from you. And wishing you a fantastic pride!

June 25, XX
I am a crossdresser. I love to wear all the femail dresses whether Indian or Western. But I could not do so often as I have no place to dress myself as a lady. For this reason I feel depressed.I am annxious to participate in the Delhi Queer Pride of 29th June in female mode but without revealing my identity. Can you people tell me any place where I can transform myself as a lady for the purpose of witnessing this great occasion aswellas whenever I wish to do so. Kindly also suggest me some suppot group ,preferably a hijra group, in whose company I can feel secured. When and wherefrom I can acquire the mask to cover my face.

June 25, M
Hello, I am a traveller staying in Delhi for a (suprisingly) long time and have decided to stretch my stay a few days further after reading that the first gay pride march for India will be held here on Sunday. Congratulations! As I am really only staying in town for the march, I will be free for the next few days. Is there anything that I can help you with before Sunday rolls around?

June 26, AM
Dear Dehli Queer Pride,
I'm actually organizing a pride event this year in Toronto. I just wanted to wish you all the best and god bless you for going out there and marching for your rights! Living in Canada is one thing, but knowing that your homeland, there's still so much homophobia is pretty depressing. There's STILL homophobia HERE! just because same-sex marriage was legalized, it means nothing. It doesn't change people's attitudes. Hope all goes well!
Jai HIND!

June 27, JA
I wanted to know about the committee that you guys talked about in the email. What sort of help would you be needing in fundraising and organizing the parade?
JA, University of Maryland, Class of 2011

June 28, DS
While I don't know yet if I can actually make to the Pride parade tomorrow or not (I live in Gurgaon, so I always have transportation issues) I would love to get involved with the queer rights movement in India in general, and Delhi in particular. If there is any way in which I could help out at any time (petitioning, political advocacy, publicity, anything) do please let me know. I'd love to be of help! If you could direct me to other ways I could get involved in the queer rights movement here, please let me know that as well!

Announcing Delhi Queer Pride '08: June 29th: 5:30pm, Regal, CP

The email announcement for Delhi Pride that went out on all queer emailing lists in India on the morning of June 18



***Forward Widely!***

Delhi Queer Pride '08

This June, for the first time, Queer Pride celebrations will erupt on the streets of Delhi, alongside simultaneous marches in Kolkata and Bangalore!

Queer Pride is a celebration. It is about loving who we are, whether lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, hijra or straight, and affirming everyone's right to be respected for their own sexual choices.

This year, queer people, friends, and allies take this message to the streets!

5:30pm
Regal Cinema, CP
Sunday, June 29th

We'll gather at Regal Cinema on the CP Outer Circle, then parade our pride along the Inner Circle, through Central Park, down Janpath and right to Jantar Mantar, where we will have celebrating, singing, speeches and a candlelight vigil.

********Forward this message widely to your queer friends and straight allies -- lets get everyone to CP!**********

**If you want to be out on the street and yet under cover, we will provide masks to cover your face, or bring something along yourself. Nevertheless, please remember this is a public event.**

Delhi Queer Pride Commitee is an open forum of city residents. Anyone can join - please email delhiqueerpride@gmail.com to be part of organising Delhi Queer Pride '08. We are also fundraising for the Pride, so email if you want to contribute or volunteer!

Planning Delhi's historic first Queer Pride, Jun 29, 2008

Naz Foundation (India) Trust, petitioner in the case against Section 377 in the Delhi High Court, called a national level meeting in April 2008, in New Delhi, to discuss several issues facing the Indian queer community, including 377 and beyond. One of the momentous decisions taken at this meeting was to organise, for the first time, coordinated Queer Pride marches in all the Indian cities which have a large queer presence. The pioneering city of Kolkata had already been organising pride marches for several years on June 29, commemorating the Stonewall Riots in New York, a day on which several cities across the globe erupt in pride celebrations. Going through with this effort would see the first ever queer pride parade in India's capital.

On 7 June, an email went out on all the queer lists in Delhi, asking people to come for a planning meeting at the Indian Coffee House, Mohan Singh Place, birthplace of several progressive movements in Delhi. The reason this venue was chosen was that in initial conversations, activists had decided that Delhi Pride would not being organised by or identified with any one particular organisation or group, but would be a community effort.

Quoting from the introductory email: Delhi will (finally!) join global Queer Pride celebrations with a big event on June 29. Pride is just that, about parading, celebrating and taking pride in our difference onto the streets. It's high time we wrap the national capital in queer colours during Global Pride Week 2008.’

35 queer people in Delhi responded to this email and turned up at Mohan Singh Place on June 16. This group became the Delhi Queer Pride Committee, 'a space for queer and queer supportive individuals based in Delhi who collectively organise annual Queer Pride celebrations and events in the Indian capital'.

At the meeting, quick decisions were made about the route of the parade and that the parade would be followed by a Pride party for queers in Delhi. People volunteered for the work of putting Pride together. This included announcing pride (see next post), getting police permission to march, organising masks for those who were not out but wanted to march, making the queer flag that would lead the parade, making queer badges, buttons and flags, writing the Delhi Queer Pride leaflet, printing this in Hindi and English, handling the media, and much more.

That night the email id delhiqueerpride@gmail.com and the Delhi Queer Pride googlegroup was quickly created for all who attended the meeting. The fact that so many people volunteered for the work and we could coordinate on the googlegroup meant that we had no need to meet again to plan for the Pride, which was just two weeks away. We only met for a raucous placard-making a few days before Pride.

Everybody present that evening had a sense that what we were about to do was historical, and that our parade would be a big event in Delhi and India’s queer history. But none of us, as we left Indian Coffee House on June 16, had an inkling of the massive impact that Delhi Pride would have -- how mindblowing it would be for its queer citizens, how it would capture the curiousity of this city, or of the enthusiastic and largely celebratory response of the national and international media. The new email id was getting excited messages from queers right away. And it seemed as if our phones began ringing instantly with queries from journalists across India and the world.