Bhubaneswar: The Odisha capital witnessed a wonderful Pride March on Sunday. Waving rainbow flags, sporting faces painted with the rainbow-hued pride flags, and holding placards demanding equal rights in society, scores of LGBTQIA+ members of the Odisha Rainbow Collective and their supporters walked and danced during the Rainbow Pride March from the BDA Colony in Unit IV to Subham Market Complex in Satyanagar in the capital city.
Every year, the LGBTQIA+ Pride March is held in June but this year the members of the community had to postpone their programme owing to the just-concluded Ratha Yatra of the Puri Srimandir’s Holy Trinity.
Aysha aka Asisha Behera, an LGBTQ+ activist in Bhubaneswar who has been working with the community in Odisha for nine years now, said, “Our aim is to create awareness among people and remind them of our dignity and rights. We have been demanding equal rights in marriage, property, and partner selection. We are colourful, and very special, and wish to break the gender norms in society. We are struggling for a gender-inclusive society.”
The Rainbow Pride March highlighted the need to respect each other irrespective of gender, colour, and sexual orientation. “We are happy that things are gradually changing in our favour and we are getting a lot of support from our families and people,” Aysha observed.
While Amit Bisoyee aka VictWhoria Jumbobutt said, “I have been a member of the Pride parade organising council in Bhubaneswar since 2009. Initially, only members of the transgender community participated in the Pride march, but our visibility is growing. Today, we have members from all the LGBTQIA+.”
“Earlier, we were vulnerable, but now we are confident as our families have also understood the need for equal status for us in society. Even the state government is supportive to a certain extent … it has provided financial help for transgender children and built a special hostel for them. We now want the government to support us in the same-sex marriage issue, which is pending in the Supreme Court.”
The mood in the LGBTQIA+ community seemed to be pretty upbeat today with the Odisha government announcing a slew of welfare measures for them in the recent past.
Avinash Mahapatra, whose sister and niece joined the Pride March today, said, “Let’s enjoy the pride… let’s raise our voice for our rights today to make the future of the children of the LGBTQIA+ community better.
Meera Parida, a National Pride Council member, emphasised that things have undergone a sea change since she first started the Pride March in Bhubaneswar in 2006. “In those days people used to mock us. People stayed away from us because of phobia and stigma. Today they support us because they are aware that we have been deprived of our legitimate rights,” said Meera, who was the first transgender vice-president of Biju Mahila Janata Dal.
