Why India should have Pride in September?

This has been a recent observation in the Indian social media space but it is clear it is a classic example of us and our love for copying ‘Western Culture’. How many of you have seen a sudden rise in rainbow coloured logos as soon as soon as June comes. All of a sudden every company has cringy lines like “love is love” and worse plastered all over them. Ahh yes! I forgot it is Pride month, a whole month dedicated to “uplift’ LGBT community and “educate” people about them and spread “awareness”. While it is still not a very popular movement but is certainly a hit among the woke young companies. This is called Pinkwashing, will discuss on it later. Let us first talk about what Pride in India means?

Article 377 was struck down on 6th September 2018 and to this day, there has not been a significant intervention by the government to educate people on it. It is not an easy task but come on! We had dancing condoms in ads. They are not here to be popular, they are here for the right, which might sound stupid in a democracy but is true. We have activists and people scared foe their lives but still fighting for equal rights and opportunities. As much good as they are doing, it will not be enough if mainstream does not assimilate the idea that Queer people exist.

While we are on the subject of activism, another problem stands. This problem is that most of the activism is virtual and heavily limited to the younger, net savvy population. What goal are we planning to achieve if we show our argument to people who agree to us. There is little to none activism offline and in rural areas. India has a huge chunk of population with no internet access and an even bigger population with no social media access. How are you planning to reach these people? It is easy for us to rant online (like me) and see a gaining traction and feel that wave of change is coming. It is not. You have to infiltrate deep in the television, radios and print media to get to this population. Sounds daunting right? Hence you need players like government in the game.One more question to the Net savvy Activist generation out there? WHY ARE INDIANS CELEBRATING PRIDE IN JUNE? Okay, so if I ask Americans the same question they have a pretty answer to it,

“LGBT Pride Month occurs in the United States to commemorate the Stonewall riots, which occurred at the end of June 1969. As a result, many pride events are held during this month to recognize the impact LGBT people have had in the world.”

Good right? And now why we celebrate it in June? “are wo gore log hai na, mast dhinchak dance wala activism karte indradhanush ke sath, uski chaundh dekh hum bhi kar lete” (The white people do that glittery activism with that rainbow, we just follow its awe). Too much? Yes;  Even if it is not that empty of a token, it becomes when we mindlessly just copied it from the other countries. Plus not a single city in India has its pride parade in June, because that is like the hottest month of the subcontinent.

When should we then smart ass?

Did you not read the title; celebrate it in September for FFS. I mean the biggest landmark decision of this country happened then, so why not celebrate it then. Do it because that is when India took the step in that direction. Put it nicely, we do not celebrate our Independence Day on 4^th July right? It is because we got our independence on 15^th August. That was our fight, or struggle and most importantly, our victory. Why celebrate on a day that has no impact for us. When you localise an issue, then it creates a greater impact and a deeper reach. When you see examples of representation from our own people and communities, then only we will see the change happening. When people will study how we challenged to change the world then only the change will spread in the deepest alleys of the country.

Remember me mentioning a fancy word before called “Pinkwashing”. Pinkwashing means to leverage the symbols of LGBTQ community by individual and corporations to gain personal gains, like using festivals to sell their products. Our country has a significantly queer population, with most of it hiding in plain sight. People like them feel so out of sync with the world and people that any such shred of representation or ‘activism’ makes them all mushy and gooey and they hit on the reblog button faster than the person they are crushing on for years. It is not exactly that corporations are pure cis-het evil organisation, who is just “gay for pay”, they too have pure intentions at times but they often get skewed or lost in translation. A good example is the whole Noida metro station menagerie, Which was luckily rectified but not without a huge uproar. So yes, support corporations that are trying but be wary of them Pinkwashing?

How would I know they are Pinkwashing?

Read, Online forums, talk to your LGBT friends and make an educated opinion. It may not be the most popular one out there but it is a genuine one and that matters. Something as small as, having a mention of Discrimination against Queer people in company HR policies is monumental and positive step despite them not hanging rainbows every June. Oh and remember, if you read online, try to keep a very open and centrist mind. There will be articles extremely biased to both sides. That is why it is important to discuss with people you know to ensure you don’t colour yourself wrong. Think on it and ask yourself, “Am I actually fighting for a just cause in this country or am I just raking up brownie points in name of western activism?”