As we welcome the month of June, also celebrated as Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall (1969), a series of spontaneous demonstrations triggered by police brutality against the people identifying themselves in the LGBTQAI+ community; there are still many many miles to go.

Indian queer activism history isn’t that long. It can be traced back to the year 1992 when in the month of August a small group of people protested in front of a police station in Delhi, against the arbitrary arrest of people on the suspicion of homosexuality. The scrapping of article 377 by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, was the product of long and sustained activism by various activists and institutions. This journey has been particularly harsh and of course, filled with tribulations, and as Indian society becomes more informed and aware, this journey continues.

We all need to understand that the fight for LGBTQAI+ rights is inherently political and hence cannot be treated as a separate issue. LGBTQAI+ community still constitutes some of the most marginalised sections of society. Indian youth holds the power and the pride, to make efforts bringing LGBTQAI+ rights in mainstream politics. We’re advancing. We all have a role to play. It is not necessary to belong to the community to fight for justice and equality.

This Pride Month, try to reflect on your journey so far. Try to understand how you’ve fallen prey or contributed to systematic discrimination based on sexual orientation. Try to find the number out the number of times you may have possibly, unknowingly, denied one of your close friends, the opportunity to come out to you, just because you failed to build that kind of trust. We all have in some or the other manifestation contributed to this oppression. It’s time we change. It’s time, we all be an ally and make India a much better & safer place to exist.