Pink Divas! rocking the stage at the Bengaluru Pride Mela, 26th Nov 2011.

And if you can’t get enough of the Pink Divas! here’s another video of theirs.

Bangalore Pride March 2011

(view full album here)

Bangalore Pride Mela 2011

Credit: Ravi BT	Credit: Niruj
Credit: Sandeep Krishna	Yummy rainbow coloured cupcakes and knick knacks by Vidya. Credit: Niruj

(view full album here)

Garage Sale Blore Pride 2011

Credit: Rovan	Credit: Rovan
Credit: Rovan	Credit: Rovan

(view full album here)

• Queering the Pitch at The Bangalore Mirror

• The Garage Sale, on The Times of India

• Same-sex marriage: The Panel Discussion online at Pics4news.com

• The Diversity Mela – tv coverage by News9

• Bangalore Pride, the march -

1. tv coverage by New9
2. online at Pink-Pages.co.in
3. online at PinkNews.co.uk
4. online at ibnlive.in.com
5. A not-entirely accurate report by DNA
6. A report on corporate/techie participation in the march at the Times of India
7. At The Hindu, on the 28th of November
8. At The Hindu, on the 30th of November
9. At Gaysi.com – The Gay Desi

(Add links in the comments, for the ones I’ve missed out!)

We have been deprived of our voices, our right to be ourselves, and even our
citizenship. Our chosen family connections are denied by the authorities who
privilege blood over choice. But we are not fighting a losing battle. Section
377 is, for the moment, no longer a threat. More lesbians, gays, kothis and
bisexuals are bravely coming out to their family, friends and colleagues every
day. A welfare board has been set up for hijras in Tamil Nadu and schemes for
pension, housing, and voter ID cards are being discussed. Many same sex couples
are now living a fulfilling life together. The media has been incredibly
supportive in our struggles. All this is a cause for celebration!

And for that celebration, we have PRIDE FESTIVALS, which are partly a
celebration: to rejoice in who we are, to tell the world of our existence, to
affirm our right to determine our lives, and to lend courage to millions more
who are too scared or intimidated to accept their own sexuality or gender
identity, let alone tell their family and friends. But beyond celebration, they
are also a protest: against oppression and discrimination from families, society
and the state; against the denial of our basic freedoms and rights every day;
against the expectation of uniformity of thought, expression and behavior.

Taking this opportunity to remember the fierce activism that has gotten us where
we are, as well as a chance to commemorate the lives that have been lost to
social injustice and hate, the Campaign for Sexual Minorities and Sex Workers
Rights (CSMR)* announces the 4th Annual Celebration of Queer Pride in Bangalore.

We want to be heard. Here are our demands, the things we are fighting for:

We hope the Supreme Court of India will uphold the landmark verdict of the Delhi
High Court in the Naz Foundation judgement of 2009 upholding the right to live
with dignity, privacy, and equality of LGBT people.

Implement the recommendations of the Dwarkanath Commission.

Society needs to be made more aware of, and ultimately accepting of the
diversity of people in this country, specially with regard to sexual orientation
and gender identity. Violence – by the family, the police, the state, or anyone
else, needs to be addressed by the law.

The medical and psychiatric establishment needs to learn to be more sensitive
to, and understand the issues of LGBT people and ego-distonic sex orientation
needs to be removed from ICD 9.

Schools and colleges need to have programmes addressing homophobia, transphobia,
and sexism, and open up spaces for discussion on safer sex practices and related
health issues.

The government needs to legally recognise female-to-male and male-to-female
transgender people and provide free SRS (Sex Reassignment Surgery) under proper
medical supervision, including counseling.

Access to state services and entitlements be made available without
discrimination to all Sexuality Minorities, and especially Hijras and Kothis and
other transgenders. These include ration cards, voter ID, driving license,
savings-credit facilities, insurance, housing, pension, old-age homes etc.

Transgenders are routinely denied access to education as well as employment. The
government, private companies and civil society need to implement schemes in
consultation with the communities in this regard.

The recent decision of Bangalore University to allow people to enroll in
Post-Graduate courses as Transgenders is laudable. However, this needs to be
extended to all levels of education.

Companies and other institutions need to adopt and implement diversity and
non-discrimination policies, with specific regard to gender identity and sexual
orientation.

The current laws on adoption, marriage, inheritance, etc need to change in order
to accommodate families formed by gay or lesbian couples or transgender people.

The government needs to immediately decriminalise sex-work.

All Sexuality minorities, and sex workers living with HIV, need to be provided
with free ART at all levels. There should also be no forceful HIV testing and
test results have to be kept confidential.

CSMR constitutes various NGOs and independent organizations working for sexual
minorities’ rights including: Sangama, Samara, Good As You, WHaQ!, Karnataka
Sexual Minorities Forum, Karnataka Sex Workers Union, LesBiT, Swabhava, Payana,
Mangalamukhi, Prakriti, and Alternative Law Forum.

Sunday, November 27th, 2011: PRIDE MARCH!
Assemble at 2 pm, Tulsi park (near Shantala Silk House and next to Majestic bus
stand), march (loud, strong, and visible) to Town Hall
www.bangalorepride.com

On the 27th of November, we assemble at 2 pm at Tulsi park, and walk to Town Hall. This is the culmination of Bangalore Pride, the finale we’ve building up to since last Saturday. Click here for google directions, or just lookit the cut+paste below!

Rococo Gallery is located at 11 Rest House Road.  Rest House Road is the 2nd right turning off of Brigade Road if you are coming from the MG Road Direction.  It’s a one-way so you can’t turn in from Brigade Road if you’re driving.

This year’s Pride Mela will feature only the best that Queer Bangalore (and beyond) has to offer.  From Belly Dance, Bookstalls, Brownies, and Bharatanatyam!
We’ll have on sale tea and coffee, vegan food items, cupcakes, brownies, books, and jewelry.
There will be informational stalls from Enfold Proactive Health Trust, Chennai Dost, Gaylaxi, Inner Sight, Make a Difference, Sangama, the Slutwalk Campaign, and one for and about bisexuality.
We will also have a photo-booth, a secret-rose delivery, a tarot reading stall, and much more!
Of course you don’t want to miss the opportunity to purchase Bengaluru Pride 2011 souvenirs (stickers and t-shirts!)

Inside Rococo Gallery we will display the beautiful selection of images that were contributed for our international photography competition with the theme “IN PUBLIC”

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
(note: performances WILL run on schedule, so please do come early enough to see your friends perform)

12:00 – Forum Theatre by Sangama
12:30 – Ghazal by Biswajyoti
12:40 – Dance by Samara (Zone 1)
12:50 – Song by Samara
1:00 – Dance by Chennai Dost
1:10 – Magic Show by Sam & Dolly
1:25 – Dance by Samara (Zone 2)
BREAK
1:50 – Song by Sumathi
1:55 – Dance by Samara (Zone 3)
2:05 – Short play by Chennai Dost
2:20 – Classical Dance by Taejha (from Chennai)
2:30 – Hip Hop Dance by Adam from Srishti Madurai
2:35 – Dance by Samara (Zone 4)
BREAK
3:00 – The Pink Divas
3:05 – Song by Samara
3:10 – Dance by Payana
3:20 – Poetry by Joshua Muyiwa
3:30 – Dance and Drumming by Bornfree Art School ~ Tiger Band
3:40 – Song by Sydney
3:45 – Dance by Samara (Zone 5)
3:55 – Belly dance by Alex
4:05 – Dance by Samara (Zone 6)
4:15 – 4:30: Encores / extra performances
4:30 – 6:00: DJ sponsored by Party Square

ಪತ್ರಿಕಾ ಪ್ರಕಟಣೆಗಳು ಇಲ್ಲಿವೆ:

English ಇಂಗ್ಲಿಷ್

Kannada ಕನ್ನಡ

 25th November, 5:30 – 7:30 PM at Vishranthi Nilayam on Infantry Road, Bangalore (Opp to The Hindu building)

Post the decision of the Delhi High Court decriminalising consenting homosexual sex, one of the key discussions in the LGBT community has been the question of what next ? Opinion seems divided on this question with some people making the point that the next logical step in the fight for full equality would be to seek recognition for same sex marriage.

However another opinion is that the movement in India should not have to imitate the steps taken in other countries and could possibly evolve its own direction. Key to this opinion is a critique of the institution of marriage building on a feminist critique which posits that marriage keeps in place a patriarchal arrangement to the detriment of women.
The question before the LGBT movement is whether these critiques of marriage should be taken seriously and we need to think of new relationship forms. These could take the form of same sex partnership laws which exist in countries like France, UK, Germany and some states in the US .

On the other hand there is the case for full equality in terms of amendment of the Special Marriage Act ? This is the route down which countries such as South Africa, Argentina, Netherlands and Canada have gone recognising same sex marriage as being on par with heterosexual marriage.

To debate these issues we will have three expert speakers who will share their perspectives. The speakers include

Aarti Mundkur, lawyer with an expertise in family law
Alok Gupta, lawyer and GLBT rights advocate
Nithin Manyath, lecturer at Mount Carmel College and queer activist

The presentations will be followed by an open discussion with the audience.