Leticia Miranda

Gays Shut Out of the India Day Parade

As gay Indians celebrated the high court’s decision to decriminalize homosexuality, queer Indians here in the US were protesting their exclusion from Manhattan’s annual India Day Parade.

From Minal Hajratwala’s article on ColorLines.com:

Lesbian and gay Indo-Americans and their allies marched and demonstrated last Sunday along the route of Manhattan’s annual India Day Parade today, with signs reading “Gay Hind,” “Indian Gay Proud,” and “Shame Shame FIA, Homophobia is so last year.”

The demonstrators were protesting the decision by the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA) to bar the South Asian Lesbian Gay Association (SALGA) from one of the largest Indian Independence Day celebrations outside of India. More than 50,000 people attend the annual parade, which stretches from 28th St to 41st St in midtown Manhattan.

Nirav Mehta, executive vice president of the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA) has since apologized for excluding SALGA saying it was due to a volunteer’s clerical error.

“We apologize,” Mehta said. “There was some confusion and mistakes, and we will be more than happy to welcome them next year. They can be part of our parade, and we will have no problem.”

Although Mehta’s testimony of what happened goes against the experience of SALGA, it seems there’s nothing more effective to get FIA to own up to their huge “mistake” than a big group of queer Indians.

Read the rest of the ColorLines article here.

Posted at 1:04 PM, Aug 21, 2009 in ColorLines Features | Permalink | View Comments