Let’s never forget that inclusivity begins with us

Representational images. Pic/iStock

It is about safe spaces, and making new spaces safe, when it comes to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer (LGBTQ) community.

Recently, this paper carried a first ever Pride march to take place in Vasai Virar. That is surely opening up a new landscape for the community. For many years the march took place in south Mumbai, the first of which itself was pathbreaking. It is vital because it breaks barriers not just metaphorically but literally. too, as the space that the community marches on, the route becomes more than just symbolic. It states that the place is for everybody, it is as much the LGBTQ community's as it is everybody else's. They have a right to be visible and they have a right to be safe being who they want to be. This then, is about inclusivity in the most powerful and meaningful way.

This paper recently carried a report about a Sanskrit teacher who conducts gay marriages. Though these weddings do not have legal sanction, several same-sex couples do hold ceremonies with all the rituals and sometimes, celebrations of a heterosexual marriage.

The Sanskrit scholar stated that there has been no trouble so far in these marriages, but many are usually ‘discreet' with them held indoors so that there is no trouble.

It is time for these ceremonies to be ‘out' like the individuals. Same-sex couples should feel safe having celebrations, parties, gatherings just like heterosexual couples do.

They need to own the spaces and not feel diffident or fearful to inhabit them. There are places termed ‘gay-friendly', which is simply a euphemism for gay people feeling safe there. Time to change that narrative and usher in a time where places do not have to specify that they are ‘gay friendly' whatever that means. As the Supreme Court reserves its verdict on same sex marriages, we must ensure that not all ‘history' or ‘change' is made by the courts, but on the ground, too.