Pimpri: More than 200 volunteers of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community from different cities gathered in Pimpri-Chinchwad to participate in the first pride march of the city on Sunday.
Participants carried placards and were shouting slogans like ‘I am a gay- that’s okay’, ‘I am lesbian- that’s okay’, ‘Tumcha aamcha same asta - prem mhanje prem asta’ during the march from Ravet to
Pimpri.
Members of Infosys’ Employee Resource Group (ERG) had also participated and supported the rally.
Sonali Dalvi, a transgender activist who sprang into the limelight after being denied entry at a popular mall in Pune earlier this year, was also a part of the march.
“Our fight was always for love and acceptance. Change does not take place overnight as even now we are deprived of certain clauses that the society does not approve including gay marriages, adoption, surrogacy, bank loans, property matters, jobs in organisation and many others. We are still fighting over it and we are sure all these changes will be accepted by the society over a period of time,” Dalvi added.
Citing the reason for being on the streets, Vijay Surkar, President of Aadhar, a community organisation based in Wardha district of the State, said, “The society has not yet accepted us and that is why we are out on the street to tell the society that there is nothing wrong with us - we are same as you.”
Highlighting the lack of opportunities for members of LGBT community, Shreyansh Sharma from Koregaon Park said, “Everybody wants to have a person as a representative of the organisation who is either a woman or a man, but nobody wants us as a representative of the organisation.”
