Coming out is never easy but nor is life in the closet,” says filmmaker Sonali Gulati, an active organiser of Delhi’s first Gay Pride Parade to be held today in Connaught Place. Gulati has the arduous task of encouraging others who are gay in the Capital to acknowledge their orientation and come out in support of this historic event. “So far 150 people are attending, 20 of whom are lesbians,” says the 35-year-old Gulati, who has systematically sent out e-mails to online gay support groups for Indians and has posted it as an event on Facebook. Marchers will jointly carry a colourful 10 by 10 metre Pride flag designed to cover the entire width of the road, and sing popular Bollywood songs with revised lyrics like Papa Kehte Hain Badnaam Karega.
“Gay people worry most about alienation from family and peers and that stops them from coming out. We hope this parade sensitises heterosexuals towards us,” explains Gulati.
The Delhi Gay Pride Parade may be a far cry from the parades in the West, which are mostly irreverent celebrations, but it’s a significant start. This could be the largest display of gay pride and protest, since homosexuality is illegal in India. Gulati says activism was never on her agenda but she felt duty bound to do something for the queer community in India when she came clean about her sexual preferences 12 years ago in America.
A professor of filmmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University, she divides her time between the US and Delhi. Most of Gulati’s six short films deal with identity crisis. The latest Out and About profiles parents of gay children in Asia.
“My mom died before I could tell her. It’s very important for gay people to see images of others like themselves because the isolation is very depressing,” she says.
In 1995, Gulati joined Khush, gay in Hindi, a group on Yahoo for homosexuals to meet each other. “They had 60 members then, now there are 3,000,” she says. After moving to America, she became active in SALGA (South Asian Lesbians and Gays Association), before starting desidykes, a list service for lesbian, bisexual and transgender women. Gulati is a regular contributor to DesiQ, a magazine in California for Indians of alternate sexuality. Right now though, she’s concentrating on work for her community in India. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed about the Parade, but there’s always the chance of a backlash,” she states warily. Then there’s also the chance that this might dramatically change the way homosexuals live in Delhi.
The Delhi Gay Pride Parade starts at Regal Cinema in CP today at 5.30 p.m. Sonali Gulati’s films are on at the India Habitat Centre on July 6 at 6.30 p.m.