Kerala to host its first gay parade

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala's first "Queer Pride" parade will march through Thrissur on July 2. Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders will participate to demand that they be treated as normal people. Activists of sexual minority groups are hopeful the event will "improve awareness about them and get better acceptance".
According to Pride committee member Arya Krishnan, "We are not expecting more than 300 people, given existing social conditions." The parade marks the first anniversary of Delhi HC judgment legalizing homosexuality. Krishnan, who runs a queer support group, Vathil, said, "We could never thinking of taking out a parade earlier as it had an illegality tag. After the judgement, we want to fight the stigma."
Reshma who runs a support group for lesbians, Sahayathrika, said, "We conducted a fact-finding study on lesbian suicides few years back. It was found at least 70 women committed suicide as they were unable to cope with the pressure mounted on them by their families to restrict them. There may be many more cases which go unreported."