June is marked as Pride Month annually to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and the landmarks in the movement for its social progress, as well as raise awareness about the challenges it continues to face today.Many modern political movements for civil rights for the community can be traced back to a 1969 police raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. A popular gathering space for Queer people at a time of limited social acceptance, one night in June saw a pushback against the common practice of authorities attempting to shake down a marginalised community.Since then, the community has sought to mark June with public gatherings and cultural events. One of the most visible forms of such celebrations is the Pride Parade, which sees LGBTQ+ people and their supporters march, sing, dance and raise slogans.According to the US Library of Congress, “By all estimates, there were three to five thousand marchers at the inaugural Pride in New York City, and today marchers in New York City number in the millions.” In India, the “Friendship Walk” of July 2, 1999, held in Kolkata, is seen as a notable precursor to the Pride Parade.15-odd people, with few alliesIn April 1999, Owais Khan, an LGBTQ+ activist, suggested doing something to celebrate “a small pada-yatra (procession) complete with pink triangles and rainbow-coloured peacocks,” according to a BBC report.The rainbow is a common symbol of inclusion and diversity, while pink triangles have often been linked with gay men, though the association has a history rooted in violence. It can be traced back to Nazi Germany, where, as part of the wider political campaign against the eradication of several groups based on ethnicity and other criteria, between 5,000 and 15,000 men were imprisoned in concentration camps.Explained | The new Pride flag: Why the change, what the colours signify“This group of prisoners was typically required to wear a pink triangle on their camp uniforms as part of the prisoner classification system,” according to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. For instance, Jewish people had to wear the yellow Star of David. The gay community has since sought to reclaim the symbol.Story continues below this adDespite some reservations, the small group of men ended up taking a short walk, wearing matching yellow shirts to commemorate it. Fifteen people eventually participated in the parade — seven from Kolkata and the rest from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and smaller towns such as Bongaon and Kurseong in West Bengal. LGBTQ+ community at the 10th edition of Queer Gulabi Pride, Jaipur’s annual Pride Parade, in 2026. (Express photo by Rohit Jain Paras)Novel attempt at advocacyIn an account for Gaylaxy Magazine, one of the attendees and organisers, Owais Khan, recalled the day.“We walked the first lap on the perimeter of the Park Circus maidan. We took a short cut somewhere along the road, but that was okay, it was the spirit and the symbolism that mattered. We finished that part in about half an hour and got together under the same pavilion where we had first met that morning. From there we split up in two groups. One went to North Calcutta, the other to South Cal. We were to meet back under the same pavilion between 2 and 2:30 PM,” he wrote.Story continues below this adThe participants took the day as an opportunity to talk about the community and seek visibility for it. They visited the West Bengal Human Rights Commission office and some NGOs. They also addressed a press conference in the evening amid heavy rain, and posed for photographs that they had earlier forgotten to click. “The reporters were already restless. They requested for a fake walk just outside the venue for the photo-op. We decided to oblige,” Khan wrote.A few newspapers reported on the event and published the photos the next day, which also led to alarm for some who had not come out to their families yet.Khan wrote, “I have often thought about whether it is better to be out in the open, and be suspected about noblest of your intentions; face difficulties with families and extended families and jobs and housing and what not. Or simply gel with the existing realities of the world, and get your ‘fill’ surreptitiously.”He added, “But yes, I have found that being open about my sexuality has had a liberating effect on me. I am able to give more than what I earlier could: to my family, to my job, to my friends, to the movement, to the World at large. Perhaps, only because I have to spend less time inventing a fake life behind which I could convincingly hide my sexuality. Perhaps, also because I am much happier with myself and I can now look at battles further afield.”Story continues below this adAlmost 30 years later, pride parades have spread far and wide, spanning non-metro cities such as Kanpur, Jaipur and Guwahati. Several legal and policy decisions have also affirmed the identities of LGBTQ+ people over the years. While a fierce pushback can be seen from conservative groups in India and across the world, from Stonewall to Kolkata to today, small steps demanding recognition have, in their own ways, added to the larger movement, much as it first did in New York in 1969.