Hundreds of gay activists prepared to march in three Indian cities Sunday in the largest display of gay pride in the deeply conservative country where homosexuality is illegal, organizers said.
Gay rights supporters planned to take to the streets of Calcutta, Bangalore and New Delhi with rainbow flags and banners calling for an end to discrimination and pushing for acceptance in a society where intolerance is widespread.
"We are saying for the first time we feel safe enough and strong enough to come out to the streets and say we have our rights and we demand them," said Lesley Esteves, 32, a gay rights activist who helped organize the New Delhi parade.
While small groups have marched in the eastern city of Calcutta in recent years, Sunday's events are the first gay pride parades in Bangalore and New Delhi.
The marches come just days before the Delhi High Court is expected to hear arguments about overturning a law against homosexual sex that dates to the British colonial era. The law, which forbids acts "against the order of nature," carries a punishment of up to 10 years in prison.
The law is rarely enforced, but activists say it sanctions discrimination.
"Discrimination is widespread because there is no protection or law or societal understanding," said Esteves. "There's discrimination in the workplace, there's discrimination in the family - it's on every level."
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, a senior leader of India's main Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, called homosexuality "unnatural" and said he opposed the gay activists' march.
"I don't think it will be accepted in our country. Most of the people are traditional people, religious people and it will not be accepted in Indian culture," Naqvi said.
Naqvi said BJP supporters would not protest the march because "we are not going to give importance to such behavior."
Still, there are signs that homosexuality is becoming more accepted in India, at least in big cities. In New Delhi, gay and lesbian groups hold biweekly movie screenings and parties, and
organizers say attendance is rising. Newspaper editorials have called for revisions to the law, and prominent writers and activists have signed petitions expressing their support.
Activists say marginalizing gay people is also a serious health concern because it drives them underground and makes them more likely to engage in unsafe sex.
More than 5 percent of gay men are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, compared to 0.36 percent of the general population, according to statistics compiled by the Ministry of Health. An estimated 2.5 million people in India are infected with HIV.(**)
Gay rights supporters planned to take to the streets of Calcutta, Bangalore and New Delhi with rainbow flags and banners calling for an end to discrimination and pushing for acceptance in a society where intolerance is widespread.
"We are saying for the first time we feel safe enough and strong enough to come out to the streets and say we have our rights and we demand them," said Lesley Esteves, 32, a gay rights activist who helped organize the New Delhi parade.
While small groups have marched in the eastern city of Calcutta in recent years, Sunday's events are the first gay pride parades in Bangalore and New Delhi.
The marches come just days before the Delhi High Court is expected to hear arguments about overturning a law against homosexual sex that dates to the British colonial era. The law, which forbids acts "against the order of nature," carries a punishment of up to 10 years in prison.
The law is rarely enforced, but activists say it sanctions discrimination.
"Discrimination is widespread because there is no protection or law or societal understanding," said Esteves. "There's discrimination in the workplace, there's discrimination in the family - it's on every level."
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, a senior leader of India's main Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, called homosexuality "unnatural" and said he opposed the gay activists' march.
"I don't think it will be accepted in our country. Most of the people are traditional people, religious people and it will not be accepted in Indian culture," Naqvi said.
Naqvi said BJP supporters would not protest the march because "we are not going to give importance to such behavior."
Still, there are signs that homosexuality is becoming more accepted in India, at least in big cities. In New Delhi, gay and lesbian groups hold biweekly movie screenings and parties, and
organizers say attendance is rising. Newspaper editorials have called for revisions to the law, and prominent writers and activists have signed petitions expressing their support.
Activists say marginalizing gay people is also a serious health concern because it drives them underground and makes them more likely to engage in unsafe sex.
More than 5 percent of gay men are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, compared to 0.36 percent of the general population, according to statistics compiled by the Ministry of Health. An estimated 2.5 million people in India are infected with HIV.(**)
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