A few years ago, rainbow parades and people embracing their sexuality was believed to be against the societal norms, and summing it up altogether- they rarely happened. The pride month has begun and it brings along a series of events, stories and testimonies that reminds us how far the LGBTQ community have come and how far they still have to fight for equality. Pride celebrations are not just a part or a festival; it is a clarion call for people to fall in love with whoever they want themselves to be and a reminder of how they need to be accepted by others the way they are.
We welcomed a series of out-dated firsts this year- the first openly gay album in India, first same-sex marriage law in Asia and many other moments of courage and hope that have increased the optimism in the LGBTQ community. Back in 2015, there were only three companies that publicly supported The Equality act to protect LGBTQ people facing discrimination in the workplace, roads even in their own homes- Apple, The Dow chemical co. and the Levi Strauss & Co. Presently in 2019, this number has increased to 500 companies from the Forbes list. If it seems to be a grand improvement, let us also not overlook the fact that over 68% of LGBTQ community experience sexual harassment in their workplace and most of the others chose to overlook such instances.
The Pride month is celebrated every month of June across the world to honour the 1969 Stonewall Riots, which involved police raids at the Stonewall Inn. Within weeks of the raid, members of the LGBTQ community organised themselves into groups and decided to open up about their sexuality without fear of being reprimanded. June 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of this gay liberation movement and it gives out a tinge of hope seeing how far we have come through.
