75 transgenders take part in 1st Steel City LGBT parade

Jamshedpur: In a first-of-its-kind walk organised in the Steel City to press for their rights, the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender) community took out pride march to make a public resolve to continue their struggle till justice is delivered.
Close to 75 members of the community marched in Sakchi on Saturday that covered a distance of 2 km. Starting from near Super Market (previously Basant cinema area), the solidarity march travelled through Sakchi roundabout, SNP area street and concluded at Jubilee Park.
On reaching the culmination point, the march transformed into a small meeting where the participating members shared their views and suggestions on methods to make the campaign more effective.The hour-long march saw volunteers from Bengal, Odisha and parts of Jharkhand of several outfits that work for the rights of the LGBT community take part in it.
Many participants carried placards with messages like ‘you don’t have to be gay to be a supporter…you just have to be human’ and ‘love has no gender’.
“Our first and foremost demand is to remove Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as it has no place in modern India,” said Amarjeet Singh of ‘Utthaan’ that organised the pride march.
Explaining the purpose behind organising the march, the Utthan functionary said they are expecting the Supreme Court to strike down the provisions of Section 377 of IPC in its next ruling and Saturday’s march is an exercise to garner public support for the cause.
The second issue raised is constitution of a state welfare board to deal with the issues relating to the community. “We demand from the state government to ensure washroom facilities in cinema halls, malls, hotels and at tourist destinations for the third gender members,” Singh said.