Pride Month
By Vishalakshi Chaturvedi
June is the most colourful month of all. We see colours everywhere, be it on the streets or on social media. The hues narrate a story — that of a fight, of a wait and most importantly, of unconditional love. Yes, June is the pride month. Today, there is a surge of sense of awareness amongst us about the LGBTQAI+ community and their rights. The acceptance of the LGBTQAI+ community was questionable not only in India but in the entire world for the longest time and one such incidence gave rise to the Pride Month.
What is Pride Month?
Pride month is partly about celebrating the spirit of the individuals and being proud of the unique gift that they have been bestowed with, and partly about creating an awareness about the rights of the community. There were pride parades held in major parts of India as well, like Delhi’s queer pride parade which when initiated by the committee in 2008 had very few members but now attracts thousands of participants. The Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk, which is also famously known as South Asia’s oldest pride parade is one of the most famous pride parades in the country. There is no doubt that the society has now become more aware and sensitive about the community, but sadly, the LGBTQAI+ community is still battling to get access to their basic civil rights.
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Man behind the rainbow flag
We now know that the rainbow flag is a representation of the LGBTQAI+ rights movement. But why is that so? It all started in 1978, with the man who designed the flag, Gilbert Baker. He was a gay rights activist, artist, designer, and a drag queen. Gilbert later revealed that it was Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, who urged him to create a symbol that would represent the queer community. Gilbert first designed a flag with 8 stripes of different colours and each colour symbolised different elements. Hot pink for Sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic & art, indigo for serenity & harmony, and violet for spirit. The flag was used for the first time in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day parade on June 25, 1978. Later, the colour pink was removed from the flag due to the scarcity of fabric and similar was the story of the colour turquoise. Turquoise was later replaced with indigo, and this is how, the traditional 6 stripes pride flag came into picture.
The flag became an eminent symbol for LGBTQAI+ after Gilbert made a mile long version of the flag for the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. Finally, in 2017, Gilbert added a lavender stripe to the top of his original flag which symbolised diversity and that was his last contribution in the flag.
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The Stonewall Riots
It all started with a police raid in the early morning hours on June 28, 1969. The policed raided this famous place where the young members of LGBTQ community would socialise- the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village. The police arrested the employees of the bar for selling liquor without a licence. The raid was led by Deputy Inspector Seymour Pine and soon the policemen started interrogating the patrons. Raid at a place like Stonewall wasn’t surprising, but the repercussions of the raid brought about a change that took the world by surprise!
The bar was locked, and inside the police questioned the patrons and the employees for hours. The police started releasing those who had an identification but detained everyone who was cross-dressed as per the orders of Inspector Seymour. While few managed to escape, the remaining were prepared for an arrest, as according to the police enforcement the cross-dressers were the most visible lawbreakers and the most vulnerable to be arrested.
The rage and the resistance in the crowed kept growing and the war began, the war fought for the rights of the LGBTQ community. The incident at Stonewall raid spread like wildfire all over the city, followed by a protest that lasted for more than a week.
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Let there be colours
Though the circumstances have changed to a great extent, there are still troubles that the community face when it comes down to basic civil rights or treatment in general. They still face unnecessary comments, jokes, bullying and unacceptance from the society.
Here is a quick question- would you be able to survive without your and basic civil rights? Would you be able to take the hate or the bullying on a regular basis? Will you be ok with jokes being made on you and who you are? If your answer is a ‘no’, then it is time for you to empathise with the queer community and accept them with open arms.
Let there be colours. Let there be love.
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