June is marked as Pride Month annually to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and raise awareness about the challenges they continue to face.

It can be traced back to June 1969, when a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a popular gathering space for queer people in New York City, saw a pushback against the authorities. This was a landmark moment for the fight for civil rights.

The Pride Parade, which sees queer people and their supporters march, dance and raise slogans, has become one of the most well-known Pride month events. According to the US Library of Congress, “There were three to five thousand marchers at the inaugural Pride in New York City, and today marchers in New York City number in the millions.” In India, the “Friendship Walk” of July 2, 1999, held in Kolkata, is seen as a precursor to the Pride Parade.

Inspiration from Stonewall, Dandi March

Pawan Dhall, a managing trustee at the Kolkata-based gender and sexuality platform Varta Trust, was one of the 15 people who participated in the walk. He told The Indian Express that the wider movement was in its early stages then, but both English and Bengali media were covering issues related to queer people.

Dhall described 1999 as a “very happening year” for queer Indians, coming soon after the release of Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das-starrer Fire, which told the story of a romantic relationship between two women. It drew protests from groups like the Shiv Sena. “Some news articles at the time projected regressive views on homosexuality,” Dhall said. In response, the few active LGBTQ+ groups in Kolkata organised events for dialogue in the face of misinformation.

In one such instance, a journalist interviewed a psychologist who talked about the “spread” of homosexuality for a supplement of Anandabazar Patrika. The reporter was later invited to a press interaction at Dhall’s house, where the hosts clarified misconceptions about queer people.

By the end of the day, the reporter said that she had come in with many negative ideas, but was leaving with a changed view. Dhall recalled, “She said, ‘This is not a disease. This is not a crime. This is a social reality, and as a journalist, I would like to write about it.’”

“That article did get published with a lovely headline: ‘Chai Chapa Fire’, which means ‘embers under the ashes’. Figuratively, it means a fire that you cannot suppress,” Dhall said. It led to Counsel Club, an organisation he was a part of, receivng around 3,000 letters from people across the country.

Eventually, Owais Khan, a convenor of an LGBTQ+ group, came up with the idea of a “Friendship Walk”, inspired not just by the activism since Stonewall but something closer to home — the Dandi March. “I proposed that we talk about bridge-building and friendship, because we are coming out into the public,” Dhall said of the name given to the event. It could also be difficult to secure police permission for a full-scale parade. Yellow t-shirts were made, saying “Walk on the Rainbow, Friendship Walk 99.”

The walk, its wider relevance

The group assembled at the Park Circus Maidan and then split into two to visit NGOs and government offices to discuss the community’s concerns.

“We pasted some HIV-AIDS stickers in public washrooms, and also visited the Human Rights Commission office. One official was totally surprised because we had reached without an appointment. We left him with copies of queer magazines like Pravartak and Bombay Dost, Dhall said.” A press conference was also held in the evening.

Members of the media were not initially invited for the walk during the morning, which led to it being recreated later, so that photographs could be taken.

A few major papers covered the walk, but Dhall said he felt its impact over time: “In 2005, one person I met said he was at the starting point back then, and while he said he did not have the courage to join us, it marked a turning point in his life.”

Pride parades today are a much grander affair, with more women and genderqueer people participating. Their purpose for the wider movements has also been debated. Dhall said he felt a parade in itself had limited connotations for him, unless it was truly intersectional — addressing the challenges queer people face also due to poverty, disabilities and their caste or other identities.

“We have almost come full circle. The movement grew, but in some ways, it became about LGBTQ+ identities as marketing tools or brands. Now, we are at a stage where our rights are being restricted after having been granted. You are decriminalised, but you cannot donate blood or choose your gender identity,” he said.

But lessons could be learnt from the past, he said: “What would help in this situation better than bridge building again? We need allies again, who will actually stick their necks out, raise resources for you, and stand up for the community.”