Come August 12 and the streets of Kochi will have rainbow colours all over with the Queer Pride March and related public meeting taking place in the city.
The march, in its eighth edition in Kerala now, was launched in response to the Delhi High Court’s landmark judgment in 2009 which decriminalised “consensual sexual acts of adults in private”.
In a note, the Queer Pride Keralam team said the parade served as a platform for sexual minorities in the State and their allies to come together, demand their rights in public and bring forward cultural representations and political discourses pertaining to sexual orientation and gender identity.
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The collective had been able to sustain the momentum regarding the human rights of queer persons and bring better visibility to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals in Kerala, it said.
The team hailed the State’s transgender policy initiative, maintaining that the formation of the State transgender welfare board and committees at the district level offered a fresh ray of hope to the transgender community.
However, there was a need for advocacy across administrative levels and the police and the media should be sensitised against the violence faced by transgender women.
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Meanwhile, it was pivotal that the solidarity extended to trans-women be broadened to include gays, lesbians, bisexuals, trans-men, gender queer and intersex people as well.
The Queer Pride March is to start from Vanchi Square at High Court junction and will move towards Rajendra Maidan at 3 p.m. on August 12.