Celebrations in Jantar Mantar.
[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]
This is the new Delhi. It happened in public. Men kissed men. Women hugged women. And cops just watched. On the evening of July 2, 2010, a year after the Delhi High Court’s landmark verdict that legalized gay sex, hundreds of people gathered in Jantar Mantar to celebrate the anniversary. The High Court had overturned the Section 377 of the Indian penal code, a relic from the colonial-era.
It was party mood in Jantar Mantar. People were cheering, singing and dancing. A few men were dressed in sarees. Some were wearing t-shirts bearing provocative images (two London bobbies kissing), or words (“Unfuck the world”). The curious bystanders watched these happy people as if they were seeing pandas for the first time in their lives.
“The gay community has celebrated 365 days without Section 377. Now it has to show whether it can behave responsibly,” says Ashok Row Kavi, India’s leading gay rights activist. “We have to go a very long way to convince the mainstream society that we are equal citizens with equal rights. We have to understand that there are so special privileges for gay and lesbian people. Like other oppressed people, we must learn how to use our rights sensibly.”
The number game
Masked identities
Get the rainbow straight, at least
I’m discreet
It’s a tough life?
Happy hugging
In a gay mood
Gaydar at work
It’s legal since a year
Happy means gay
Cops are on our side
‘Queer’ activist Lesley A. Esteves
Hello, where are you?
It’s a new Delhi
When will I be ‘normal’?
Still a long way to freedom?
We shall live our life
Just celebrate
As a memento
Gathering for the cause
Simple and straight
The straight perspective
Look, my Tee is gay
Just married?
Shy yet naughty
The first anniversary
Hear, hear
Hip hip hurray
The way ahead
Chill, man
