Global Pride 2023: A Movement to End Gender Biases

Are you ready to let Global Pride 2023 steal the thunder of coronavirus and fill everyone with great pride and gaiety, ( no pun intended)? We at TalkCharge are excited about the grand gesture taken by the organizers for a virtual march in 2023. The feeling of immense pride and excitement has enthralled us after knowing that India’s prince Manvendra Singh Gohil will be one of the speakers at this virtual Global Pride of 2023.

Many new changes have been made with many big celebrities from around the world taking place in it. The highlight of this meet would be the inclusive invitation for the specially-abled people who were refraining themselves from joining this gala of celebration due to some reasons. Since this virtual Global Pride 2023 is following all the norms of social distancing, a crowd of 300 million viewers from across the world is foreseen. On June 27, it will be a 24- hour celebration.

Here are a few reasons to attend the Global Pride 2023:

Social Distancing:

More than 200 queer events have been canceled so far due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Online streaming will not just help in following the norms of social distancing but will also allow a broader spectrum of the audience to attend the same.

Non-stop Music at Global Pride:

This event will start at 10:30 am on Saturday, June 27, 2021, and will have non-stop music festivities. Having said that, no one wants interruption when they are in a celebratory mood. The audience can expect a music fest that will go on for the entire day.

Grand and Historic:

This is the first virtual global pride the world will witness. It includes a non- stop streaming of events from the pride organizations and the social groups supporting them. The concept of this global pride is not just restricted to the LGBTQ community but also the allies that support them. It has invited different organizations, society groups, activists, and leaders from around the globe. Since it is a virtual pride, it plans to leave a mark and hence expects participation from the countries where homosexuality is still a crime, and organizing such events is a criminal offense. This price march will start at 10:30 a.m. On Saturday and will go on until 12:41 p.m. On Sunday.

This year’s global pride will be star-studded:

gay pride 2021 is all set to host the remarkable attendees like the prime minister of Norway, Luxembourg, and the first openly gay prince of India, manvendra Singh Gohil. They all are expected to deliver an open speech and their remarks about this journey. Other than them, the famous singers like; Deborah cox, Olivia newton-john, ava max, and Thelma Houston are all set to rock the stage. Adding to the charm, the drag beauties like Pabllo Vittar and Courtney act will also be performing.

A historical event:

all set to break the records, the Global Pride 2023 will be live on all streaming websites like Facebook, youtube, and even zoom. It will be fascinating to see what unfolds for the Indian audience. It is a new leap in this direction, and if all goes successful, then it can be followed in the coming future for the countries where being gay is a criminal offense.

Excited? We, too, are! Coming back to the current scenario, there is a lot that has happened in India also. An event ‘drag-vanti’ is trending over social media. It was the baby idea of Patruni Chidananda Sastry, a famous dancer. Pride month is a magical month, and every year many celebrities come out of the closet. This year it was Vikas Gupta.

We all somewhere knew about his orientation. But, for him, it was liberating for him to finally be able to live his life without worrying about ‘what others would say.’ On June 20th, he took Twitter by storm by tweeting his orientation and thanking (sarcastically) his friend’s Parth and Priyank for supporting his decision and encouraging him at every moment. By posting a series of tweets, he is calling out people who hurted him in the past and showing his newly found freedom of being themselves. Global Pride 2023 is aiming to motivate more people for the same.

However, there are 60% of the people who fear coming out. Not because they are afraid of their identity or are in complete denial. But, due to societal pressure. Hollywood and Bollywood movies are portraying gay characters as funny or junior leads. Some series show that they don’t end up getting married for other reasons. The patriarchal society is glorified, and it is sporadic to see a queer movie on serious subjects. Why does it have to be funny all the time? Why can’t the character be chiseled and all masculine? We all have friends who are in this shadow of guilt. It has taken many lives and, if not taken, then spoiled for sure.

Global Pride 2023 might just start, and many of the people who were living in the closet might attend. But is it a one-day event or just a one-month series? Most of us would be saying that this is not the scenario, and we have accepted the people who are living around us. We have friends who are from this community and we have been treating them with utmost respect and love. But do you think that a small segment of society can bring a significant change? Yes, we can but still, there is a broader section of society who treats this community with hatred and look up to them as if they are taboo. Most of us are either given to some communities and sometimes ask to leave the home. Some families cut all the ties with their sons and daughters just because they belong to this community. It’s not the mistake of modern society but the tradition and values we have been inculcating without questioning them.

If it’s not wrong to love then why is it illegal to love the same orientation?

Our society has been going through many reforms that were once taboo. Beginning from the ‘sati pratha’ to the women not being entitled to the father’s property they have fought. The Indian government also went under significant reforms by legalizing same-sex marriages. If the government can then why can’t we?

Being from the queer community is not an easy task they also share the same set of emotions as we do. They also go through a breakup and the tingling feelings of love. One needs to understand that being gay is not a choice it is as natural as being straight. To give a better understanding of their life and why Global Pride 2023 is such a colossal thing let us tell you a story of the parallel world. Read the story and try to feel the parallelism with your life. It is a real-life incident of a person we know. Right from the beginning, he was not sure what he wanted to be. He always thought of himself as a straight person as there was no guidance. Born into a family of scholars and reputed position holders, still, he was never given a talk about orientations or the standard sex education that every child must receive. He belongs to an upper-middle family.  We would like to name him as Rahul. So when Rahul went into college he met a person who made Rahul comfortable with his orientation and explained the reasons why he was feeling nervous every time he was around a girl. He had a very charming and pleasing personality that could melt anyone’s heart but life was as hard on him as any teenager. He also had his shares of heartbreaks and love affairs with the opposite sex. Until he met the guy and realized that he was always living in a bubble created by an orthodox city. Once he started coming out to his friends and family members most of his best friends started boycotting him. This seems to be quite similar to our stories right? We also had our share of love affairs and heartbreaks and we also are left alone by friends. What’s different from him? We have people who don’t think of us as untouchables but he didn’t have any. The only best friend he had turned his back.

In the hope to start a new life, he packed his bags and took off to the adventures of a new city. This city welcomed him with open arms. Life was again on the track he had new friends but this time he was conscious about his sexuality and never came out. Until one day he met the love of his life. Everything was happy and fairytale for him. But this person too started cheating him and broke his heart with a girl. His love was forced to marry a girl against his will just to gulp the pride of his father. The marriage eventually failed and 3 lives were spoiled. The world didn’t understand Rahul was completely alone. It took him 4 years to finally move on and start living a life where he was happy. But no one cared what’s going on in his head. He stops telling people and begins torturing himself. Eventually, he committed suicide.

Imagine being a guy who is straight and suddenly have to make physical relations or love affairs with the same sex. You will not be able to give your 100% and will start blaming yourself and feel guilty. The same happens with these people. Just because they are not having the same orientation does it means they don’t have emotions? We need to start treating them as human beings first. Start taking interest in their lives, talk to them, treat them with respect. It is not a difficult task to maintain communication in the era of global pride.

Everyone around us is making noises on the internet and boycotting the stars and prominent families who isolate the newcomers and force them to commit suicide. But aren’t we doing the same thing with the people who live around us? Usually, we end up hurting people we love and there is no timeline to realize and apologize. If you are reading this then pledge to make a change and start doing it from home, from yourself.

What if we live in a society where you were traumatized for being straight. Doing things like  ‘tantra-mantra’, taking them to doctors, showing them to psychiatrists won’t change the orientation. They will only go back to the closet and start living a life of guilt and hatred.

Try having a 2 minute of introspection once you are done reading this article and think why are we mistreating the people who could be a great friend, great support, and maybe a great life partner. They already have their struggles, why to add to it? We always talk about gender equality but does gender equality limit women or men? What about this section of our society of different genders, what about their justice? There are so many questions raised by them which we never answer.

Gay, lesbian, queer, bi-sexual; these are genders and orientations, not a slang or abusive triggers. Start respecting them, otherwise, events like Global Pride 2023 are just events and not revolutions.

TalkCharge supports the LGBTQ community and Global Pride 2023. We ask everyone living in the closet to come out. We are here to listen and we are here for you.