HAPPY PRIDE MONTH- PRIDE TRADITIONS.

 

PRIDE is an abbreviation for personal rights in defense and education. Social identities are relational; where groups typically define themselves in relation to others. This is solely because identity has little meaning without the “other”. So, can we ignore the “other” identity to examine the concept of identity as a whole? “Other” is the counterpart of “self”, and it means those who are neglected and situated at the margin of the power structure - society. The LGBT is a community by itself consisting of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people. Identity is the cornerstone of all societies and it comprises the culture, beliefs, love, respect and the psychological orientation. Nowadays we are heading towards a world with an identity crisis because every individual is scared about letting out or talking about himself/herself.

As they are scared of judgments, they are scared of how people would react about knowing the truth. But we all are judgmental, as we tend to believe that we live in a perfect society. But, there is nothing called perfect, it's a sham. All of us have our set of flaws or inhibitions. That doesn't make us bad people. Being different has its own uniqueness. Life is all about acceptance. The focus groups contributed significantly to the identification of issues that impact on young LGBT people, as well as helping to identify the supports required to enable educational settings to become more inclusive of their needs. People treat this section of people very poorly. We tend to forget that they are also just like us , but with a different set of personality and preferences. Every individual is built in their own way, that's what we call God's creations right ? It should fortify a new visibility for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people in a broad range of learning environments. At a young age, when these people start engaging in a wide range of learning activities and often participate in social activities and different clubs and community based co-curricular events, they experience bullying and find themselves to be the butt of jokes and harassment.

This group is looked down upon and is also called derogatory names. We should secure safe learning environments for the LGBTQ community. They have faced harassment and discrimination and still do in some parts. But it has also made possible in a lot of aspects, where homosexuality began to speak in its own behalf and demanded their own rights. But the real question is what should be the way of inclusion of the LGBT community in the mainstream? There have been a lot of changes and acceptance amidst society in recent times. Several gay “pride parades” have been organized in several cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Indore , Kolkata , Chennai. These pride parades received a huge amount of support from the common people, media etc. people started generalizing and quoting their normality to each other. Magazines like “pink pages” and “Bombay dost” have been published over the years. LGBT community started protesting in a systematic way by organizing several pride parades. In this manner they have gained the support and guidance of many common people. Our society should start to recognise these differences and learn to accept them irrespective of their peculiarities. We need to inculcate these values and make them feel accepted. Therefore an understanding of sexual orientation is a much needed aspect that is to be addressed in the society and not keep it hidden or treat it like some kind of crime. Take the leap of faith, as we are in this together! There is always honour in

acceptance.

 

BY

Anupriya Das

BA, LL.B 'A' 4th semester