A grandmother walked up to the stage and said, “If I can be here and say that my grandson is gay so can you.” She received a standing ovation at the gay parade in the city on Sunday, where almost 3,000 people turned up. Many who spoke about the discrimination they face as homosexuals.
Twenty-two-year-old Divya’s real name is Dev Singh. Dev allegedly got fired from his job when his office got to know that he “wasn’t straight”. Presently fighting to get his job back, Dev is working as peer educator with an NGO for LGBTs. He has come all the way from Jaipur with his friend Raksha to participate in the city’s gay parade. “There was no problem till I went to work like a man, but my ordeal started the day they got to know I’m gay,” he said, teary eyed. Incidents of daily humiliation is something each one of them share.
Like Dev, 16-year-old Harshit (name changed) says that he quit studying when his college friends found out that he has a boyfriend. He was ostracised. “My friends bullied me. Many even called me ‘cursed’,” says Harshit, dressed in a shimmering black halter dress.
A transgender from Delhi, Sonia, 25, says that her community lives at the mercy of the police. “We face a lot of harassment at the hands of police,” she says.