Fridae

Photo from news.in.msn.com

India Today reported on Nov 29, 2010:

Their faces were unmasked.

And the pride was stronger than ever.

The third edition of the gay pride parade - the first after consensual homosexual relationships were decriminalised in the country - in the Capital on Sunday was an unusual display of confidence by the lesbian-gaybisexual-transgender (LGTB) community.

Clad in rainbow colours and dancing to the sound of drums, the gathering marched from Barakhamba Road to Jantar Mantar in Central Delhi with a different inclination.

This time, they were celebrating their sexuality as against the previous years when they marched to assert their rights and protest against the criminalisation of samesex relationship.

In July, last year, the Delhi High Court passed a landmark judgment revoking the controversial Section 377 of the Indian penal code that criminalised same-sex relationship.

"I do not know or care about how social acceptance has changed after the high court verdict. But yes, I have changed. I feel more confident and I know that I am not doing anything wrong since the law of the land does not have a problem with it," said Pooja (18), a student who wished to be identified just by her first name.

"The judgment was a clarion call and asserted what we have been fighting for years now. But, I am a little disappointed by the turnout at the parade. I expected more to turn up to celebrate the anniversary," said Vineet Trikha (30), a communication trainee who was there at the parade.

The strongest evidence of the (slow but sure) change in the attitude of society towards the LGTB community was the presence of family members at the parade.