NEW DELHI (AP) — More than 2,000 folks took half in a homosexual pleasure occasion in New Delhi, waving rainbow flags and multicolored balloons as they celebrated sexual variety in India but additionally raised considerations over the nation’s restrictive legal guidelines.

Dancing to drums and music, the contributors walked for greater than two hours to the Jantar Mantar space close to India’s Parliament. They held banners studying “Equality for all” and “Queer and proud.”

The annual occasion comes after India’s prime court docket refused to legalize same-sex marriages in an October ruling that upset campaigners for LGBTQ+ rights on this planet’s most populous nation.

“It’s not about marriage. It’s about equality. Everybody should have the same right because that’s what our constitution says,” mentioned Noor Enayat, one of many volunteers organizing this yr’s occasion.

Earlier this yr, the Supreme Court’s five-judge bench heard 21 petitions that sought to legalize same-sex marriage in India.

The justices referred to as for steps to boost consciousness among the many public about LGBTQ+ id and to determine hotlines and protected homes for these in the neighborhood who’re going through violence. They additionally urged the state to ensure same-sex {couples} don’t face harassment or discrimination in accessing fundamental wants, like opening a joint checking account, however stopped wanting granting authorized recognition to same-sex unions.

Legal rights for LGBTQ+ folks in India have been increasing over the previous decade, principally because of the Supreme Court’s intervention.

In 2018, the highest court docket struck down a colonial-era law that had made homosexual intercourse punishable by as much as 10 years in jail and expanded constitutional rights for the homosexual group. The choice was seen as a historic victory for LGBTQ+ rights.

Despite this progress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist authorities resisted the authorized recognition of same-sex marriage and rejected a number of petitions in favor. Some spiritual teams, too, had opposed same-sex unions, saying they went towards Indian tradition.

Homosexuality has lengthy carried a stigma in India’s conventional society, though there was a shift in attitudes towards same-sex {couples} lately. India now has overtly homosexual celebrities and a few high-profile Bollywood movies have handled homosexual points.

According to a Pew survey, acceptance of homosexuality in India elevated by 22 share factors to 37% between 2013 and 2019. But same-sex {couples} typically face harassment in lots of Indian communities, whether or not Hindu, Muslim or Christian.