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In Pictures: Mumbai’s gay pride parade

Thousands turned out in India’s financial capital for the city’s first march since gay sex was criminalised once again.

Winner of a "eunuch beauty pageant" poses for shutterbugs. Some 5000 people took part in the parade.
By Felix Gaedtke
Published On 3 Feb 2014

Thousands turned out on the streets of India’s financial capital Mumbai for the Gay Pride Parade over the weekend.

Though it was the city’s seventh such parade, the march on Saturday was the first since the country’s apex Supreme Court reinstated a colonial-era law that criminalised gay sex.

India’s LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community has been up in arms since the ruling, and the Mumbai parade gave it yet another opportunity to voice its demand for an end to discrimination.

Buoyed by the large turnout, one activist remarked: “Mumbai has woken up to the fact that the city has LGBT citizens”.

As the participants marched from the city’s August Kranti Maidan to Girgaum Chowpatty, chants and colour were both in abundance. 

Police were on standby as members of the LGBT community hit the streets.
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Participants carried the rainbow flag as they marched.
Activists chanted slogans for LGBT rights.
Participants turned out in colourful costumes for what was the first parade since the Supreme Court criminalised gay sex again.
Activists marched from August Kranti Maidan to Girgaum Chowpatty.
People from all social backgrounds joined the march.
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The marchers demanded that Article 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalised gay sex, be repealed.
The parade made for a colourful and boisterous spectacle and thousands watched.
A lesbian activist demanded that she be given her right to be with another woman.
Though a serious subject as social acceptance was at stake, there was also an abundance of humour at the parade.
Some were cautious and masked their faces, given the existing social prejudices towards the LGBT community.
Friends and relatives of LGBT community members also took part, extending their support to the cause.
Participants at the parade said they were hopeful that the city would finally accept them for what they are: as human beings.