by, Benish A. Shah, Editor-in-Chief
Marching forward has always been a fundamental right of a progressive movement. Whether it be marching in support, in protest, or in celebration. We have watched the epic marches of the past that provided us our current freedoms and some of us have marched in protest of those that threaten to encroach upon such freedoms. Have we ever stopped to think: what would happen if we were barred from 
marching for something we believed in? Not because the march itself was prevented, but because the persons organizing the march did not believe we had the right to march by their side.
That was the dilemma faced by the South Asian Lesbian & Gay Association (SALGA) this year at the India Day Parade in New York City where they protested for their right to march.
Trying to March
“We applied to march in the India Day Parade in July 2009. The Federation of Indian Associations (FIA) was very enthused with our participation until we told them what SALGA represented. After that, we never got a response from them,” noted Priyanka Mitra, a SALGA spokesperson. At first SALGA thought that they had missed a deadline, but then another person submitted an application in August 2009 to march for another organization and the application was granted. At that point SALGA members knew that their petition was not going to be granted because they represented a so-called “taboo” cross section of the South Asian population: the gay and lesbian population.
This was not the first time that the FIA has denied groups the right to march. In the past they denied a domestic violence organization, SAKHI for South Asian women the right to march because they did not want “depressing” organizations represented on a “happy” occasion. “They said that [Indians] don’t beat our ways,” remembers Priyanka. SALGA has also been denied the right to march. There was a complaint filed against the FIA in the 1990s for denying such groups the right to march. “Now they cannot flat out say ‘no’ to us,” notes Sapna. “Now they can just ‘lose’ our application,” notes Aneesa Sen, in charge of SALGA support & outreach. Unfortunately, this passive discrimination makes it more difficult for groups such as SALGA to demand their right to participate in the India Day parade.
“We were allowed to march once,” says Jignesh Gandhi, a participant in SALGA’s protest at the India Day parade. “The second time [we were allowed to march] was because the community board blocked [FIA’s] application [for the parade] until SALGA was approved to march,” he says.
Priyanka decided to post the issue on Facebook and Sapna Pandya, a public health advocate and SALGA member wrote an open letter as a reaction to this enraging issue. “It’s a constant issue. But this year [was more of an issue] because of 377 being struck down in India. We had a party to celebrate that and then FIA does this.” In fact, 2,000 gay, lesbian transgender & bisexual persons marched in celebration of the 377 ruling in India. Members of the SALGA community in New York City decided to protest the India Day Parade in New York City as a response to the actions of the FIA.
Decision to Protest
The community driven protest was not about disrespecting India on its celebration of independence, but about demanding respect for all Indians. While most Indians marched or cheered for their independence, SALGA members were pushed into protesting for their right to march. “FIA has no right to define who is and who is not Indian,” says Sapna. Aneesa notes, “They assume it’s all about sex, that’s the general perspective. If we keep quiet about [being LGBT], people are okay with it. it’s only when we are open about it.”
The group was careful in their decision to protest, taking care to be non-violent while getting their point across. Being South Asians with a sizeable immigrant population they were aware of potential deportation issues that may come up if there were arrests made during the protest. They started the protest off in a cordoned off area where protestors could stand and then walked parallel to the parade on the sidewalks. “Jay Sean gave us a thumbs up sign,” notes Jignesh. Several persons joined SALGA protestors as they walked as they gained more attention from the parade spectators. “An uncle said ‘Why are you standing here beta, you’re legal in India now,’ because of the 377 ruling. [When we told him about FIA’s decision] he said that ‘it was a shame.’ All ages and communities came up to us,” says Sapna.
LGBT in South Asian Communities
The FIA’s actions seem starkly familiar even though India struck down 377. LGBT persons are not always welcomed with open arms in the most progressive families, and in a country of constrained sexuality and gender discussion they find difficulty as well. However, there is less violent backlash against the LGBT communities in India or by Indian Americans because it is hidden – it is an issue that is not discussed openly, it is talked about behind closed doors. “The Indian community is very reputation focused. It’s not about what you actually do, just what people know that you are doing,” says Jignesh.
As long as an LGBT person stays quiet about their sexual preference, they are fully accepted. “Staying quiet” often means not discussing, marrying in a heterosexual manner, and not being a community activist. “[South Asians] are passively homophobic,” notes Sapna.
Yet Sapna notes that “queer organizing here is different from back home [in India].” She says that there is a growing queer movement in Mumbai and it’s easier to talk about there. The movement is linked to the HIV awareness work and people can openly talk about sex, the use of condoms, and the importance of the HIV discussion. “Here, it’s harder to talk about it. We haven’t been able to talk about sex or HIV. Nobody comes forward. In Bombay, we have done condom demonstrations,” she notes. Sapna also notes that her partner is a Pakistani woman who has come out to her parents in Pakistan, “Her parents are very accepting, yet very religious. And very loving. They live in Pakistan and we visited them.”
What does that say about the LGBT movement in South Asian Americans? Perhaps it is as simple as the general immigrant experience: immigrants have latched onto the conservative approach of the India that they left behind in the 70s, 80s and 90s, teaching their children those old ideas and concepts. Instead of moving forward with the India of today, they are clinging to out dated ideas that South Asia has progressed beyond.
FIA’s Response and SALGA Moving Forward
They did not get back to SALGA after the protest. The FIA did respond to reports, giving a half hearted apology and labeling it as a “clerical error” according to Priyanka. “Someone at the head of FIA said that it was no error,” laughs Aneesa.
Interestingly, Aneesa notes that no one had a burning desire to march in the India Day parade, but the point was to show LGBT South Asian Americans that they had community support. “As a general rule we don’t approach a lot of South Asian organizations,” says Aneesa. The group wanted to do this to show LGBT persons that are closeted and having difficulty coming out that there is support for them. “We want to open up the dialogue. Not just about SALGA, but about the community overall,” says Sapna.
Moving forward, Aneesa says that SALGA does want to partner with South Asian organizations after the striking of 377 in India and the passing of Prop 8 in the United States. “Now being gay and desi – this is our time. Now the community is very mobilized, Prop 8 might have been a blessing in disguise,” says Priyanka. SALGA is working on setting up a hotline to help provide a resource for LGBT persons. They want to reach out to all New York entities and become a more active organization that can serve the need for LGBT individuals of South Asian descent.
In addition to their community work for LGBT persons, they will continue to try and reach out through parades and festivals. As Priyanka notes, “India Day parade is a soft parade. Pakistan Day parade is a hard target.” After all, SALGA is more than a support group for the LGBT community, they are a vehicle of change and acceptance on a larger scale, throughout the South Asian American community.
