Sakthi Center, SAATHI, Sahodaran, Sahodari Foundation, Sangama and Center for Counselling took the lead in celebrating the Pride month and organizing the Pride march as well. US Consulate had a strong association with us and they organized a web conference on LGBT rights in the USA. Prominent LGBT activists were invited for a special dinner and the Consulate General cut the Pride celebration cake along with his wife.

The organizations which had come together for the Pride month celebration became a coalition. We named it Chennai Rainbow Coalition. Srijith, who is one of the backbones of Sahodari had contributed in a great way in all the pride events. Srivath had done the logo and beautiful posters. Praveen Basaviah had volunteered much of his time. Sharanya Manivannan and Teja were very helpful too.

Aniruddhan Vasudevan, a fierce gay activist and a very close friend, Sunil Menon, the gay rights guru of Chennai who is a fashion choreographer and a great friend, Ramki, the silent thinker and a wonderful LGBT activist, Siva, a spokesperson from human rights organization Sangama and Magdalene who has worked with the LGBT community for a long time and has been there to counsel and guide us in our times of tide were the prominent people behind the June 28th Chennai Rainbow Pride. I was hospitalized for my second sex reassignment surgery and could not do much work. However I was able to participate and also perform in important events. I was one of the panelists at the Human Rights Watch Report release, I performed my play ‘Adaiyaalam’ with Srijith there. Srijith had been a strong representative from Sahodari and had done superb work.

We had a press meet on 26th and I represented the Transgender community in the press. Along with me were Sunil, Magdalene, Ramki, Siva and Anirudhdhan. For the transgender community, the pride month is a real celebration as the state had been forefront in transgender women’s welfare reforms. However, the transmen still live a life of misery and depression. I raised their issue to the press for the first time. There was positive coverage on papers about the pride march. And then the day came. On June 28th, the Pride march started at 4:15 at the Statue of Labour, Marina beach and I was in the very front leading a group of transgender girls. I was vibrant with energy and was moving We shouted slogans 'Our life in our hands', 'Being gay is not a choice', 'Section 377 – go go', 'Transgenders are respectable people' etc. Hundreds of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders walked in the pride march along with their family and supporters. The police were very cooperative. The public were silently watching us with amazement and we walked in PRIDE. We had to stop in between and shouted our slogans and then marched again. The press was all over us covering the event. We walked the 3 kms stretch from Statue of Labour to Gandhi Statue shouting, dancing, celebrating and telling the world who we are and we can only be this way. We want section 377 of the Indian penal code to be read down/repeal. We need equality and justice. We need anti-discrimination laws.

The pride march ended with the participants moving to the sands of beach and the public mingled with the participants. The public were coming up with many questions about the pride and it was interesting to answer them. Press interviews and photograph sessions followed. Red Bull distributed their free energy drink to the participants and it was awesome. We were very happy that the Pride march was successful.

Thanks to everyone who had contributed their tremendous energy and time to make the Pride march a success! Here I share some pictures and articles on Pride march. Thanks to anadagrafiti for his pictures. His link is http://www.flickr.com/photos/...

From Chennai Rainbow Parade

From Chennai Rainbow Parade

From Chennai Rainbow Parade

From Chennai Rainbow Parade

From Chennai Rainbow Parade

More pictures coming soon.