To

To
be a member of India’s LGBTQ+ community is to be marginalised
and persecuted. In the past, sexuality of any form has seldom been
discussed openly here, meaning that non-traditional attitudes
towards love and lust remain taboo. Only the bravest dare come out
of the closet.

In a conservative society, homosexuality was viewed as against
Indian culture, against nature and against science. Families of
LGBTQ+ children were once advised to repress their desires through
forms of counselling, medication and yoga. As adults, those in the
community would be viewed as untouchables, often stripped of basic
rights, bullied publicly and cast out by their own families –
instead many take shelter at brothels. Gay rape victims struggle to
report crimes for fear of being mobbed or lynched. Such emotional
wounds are shared by many of India’s LGBTQ+ community.

There has, however, been a turn in the tide of public attitude.
In 2018, India’s Supreme Court overturned the criminalisation of
homosexuality, a colonial-era law first laid down in 1861. The
ruling gave a refreshed sense of hope and pride among the LGBTQ+
community, a feeling that has bolstered the Kolkata Rainbow Pride
Walk, which I joined last year.

The parade – originally the “The Friendship Walk”, and India’s
first such public celebration – has been held since 1999. In a
display of equality, tolerance, love and solidarity irrespective of
gender, sexuality or religion, people don yellow T-shirts or
colourful costumes and walk streets decorated with art and slogans
reading “walk the rainbow” and “it is my body and my wish… be
gone demons.”

It’s a day not just for LGBTQ+ people, but for all those who
face discrimination. People march for children’s rights, women’s
rights, Dalit rights, the rights of those with disabilities. As the
parade disperses into a festival, exhibitions, film screenings,
discussions and hangouts create the space for discussions that have
been repressed for too long.

To hear peoples’ stories is to understand their struggles and
vulnerabilities, and to realise that our desires may be different,
but they are all equally valid and parallel. There is no “normal”
life in which everyone can be happy. In this photographic series,
as people celebrate and express their identities, I imagine a world
in which everyone’s lived reality reflects their feelings
within.

@sousonai | sourojeetpaul.wordpress.com