
24 July 2018 - 10th Rainbow Pride March
..this is how we look, if you want to see, please see... the slogans were hovering in the air. At that moment everything felt equal. There was a feeling of acceptance.
Acceptance is not easy. To a person, acknowledging the fact of who he is, why he is, takes a long time. And that is all that matters. But why does it become so important to make the society also to accept people the way they are. Because it is normal. The problem comes when institutions and authorities keep people aside and consider them as a 'special class'. People do not become special by choosing the way they dress or behave or engage. But when institutions segregate people by mannerisms and conduct, that is when voices need to be raised and that is what happened on 24th Jun, 2018. It has been happening since 2009 when the first march happened in Marina Beach. And since then June is the Pride month, the month of celebrations for people from the Chennai LGBTIQA+ community. In fact the same day saw thousand of people across the various cities in the world conduct Pride marches.
The 24th Jun march had people who believed in a common cause. It had people from various strata of society who associated themselves with this movement. It was not merely a walk for the LGBTIQA+ community alone. It was a walk by the society. It can be said that such walks need more participation but according to one of the members of the community, these walks are improving year after year with more no. of people voicing their opinions. With social media, the reach and coverage improves and that adds to the population joining these marches.

“So many people are ashamed of their identity and sexuality, which makes them remain firmly in the closet. Unable to cope with this, some even commit suicide. The march is a way that we can get more people to accept themselves and come out of the closet. It is a means to show them that this is a safe space and that a support system exists to help them.” quoted a piece from The New Indian Express
The above statement shows how important it is for more and more people to come out and support the LGBTIQA+ community and nurture faith in them. The whole idea behind this march was to urge more people not to lead their lives based on the expectations that society has thrust, but rather to embrace the identity and sexuality of the members of the community
..and the following placard sums it all up... Happy Pride!!!
