It’s Time To March With Pride As IIT Bombay To Organise First-Ever Queer Festival, Rangavali!
We're so excited for this!
We as a country are still far away from accepting homosexual relationships. The taboo surrounding the LGBTQIA+ community still persists, making it difficult for people to come out of closets. The law in the country also does not fully recognise their rights, which hampers their rights to education and jobs. Now is a good time as any to get the older generation sensitised about the LGBTQIA+ community, and to make them aware of the community’s rights. And what better way to do that than to organise a queer festival? In what comes as good news, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay is gearing up to organise the first-ever queer festival!
As per reports, the queer festival at IIT Bombay is named Rangavali and will is scheduled to take place next week. The Saathi Club is organising the festival and the main aim of the festival is to sensitise people and make them more aware of the LGBTQIA+ community. As a part of the Rangavali festivities, activists will be called in for panel discussions about inclusivity and diversity. Along with this, there will be movie screenings and queer ramp walks as well.
All these activities come in as an effort to provide a platform for LGBTQIA+ students so that they can showcase their talents. The administration of IIT Bombay is going to sponsor the first edition of Rangavali, and there are hopes to turn this festival into an annual occurrence like the rest of their tech and cultural fests are! A Pride March will be organised to conclude the queer festivities.
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The timing of the IIT Bombay queer festival could not be better. With the current debate about sex marriages going on in the country, Rangavali comes as a means to make people understand the importance of recognising queer rights as human rights. We cannot wait to see pictures and videos from this festival!
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