Photos: A look at 10 years of Delhi queer pride from HT archives

The first ever Delhi Queer Pride march was held in June 2008 in New Delhi. The celebratory march began at 5.30 pm from Regal Building and ended at Jantar Mantar. (Jasjeet Plaha / HT Photo)

Activist and writer Gautam Bhan (right) at the first Delhi Queer Pride march in 2008. ‘It is also about queer people coming together on an everyday basis to celebrate the respect and dignity that is rightfully theirs,’ he said. (Jasjeet Plaha / HT Photo)

By 2009, the march had gained more momentum and people came out in large numbers to express solidarity for the LGBTQIA movement in India. (Ronjoy Gogoi / HT Photo)

In 2010, scores of people walked along with rainbow flags in the heart of the national capital to make a united call for equality of gender and sexuality and seeking ‘a life without fear’. (Sanjeev Verma / HT Photo)

A scene from the march in 2010, organised by the Delhi Queer Pride Committee. It began from the corner of Barakhamba Road and Tolstoy Marg, and saw members of the community as well as their friends and family turn up with placards, masks and costumes. (Sanjeev Verma / HT Photo)

Participants celebrate during the Pride march in 2011. While the focus has been the repealing of Section 377, which criminalises same-sex unions and the demand for dignity for people who do not conform to society’s ideas of sexual orientation or gender, different movements joined the parade in solidarity with the LGBTQ community. (Vipin Kumar / HT Photo)

A light moment from the 2012 Pride march in New Delhi as participants take a break. (Virendra Singh Gosain / HT Photo)

Three participants pose during the 2013 Delhi Queer Pride march. The parade is a yearly festival, held on the last Sunday of November, to honour and celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and many gender and sexual non-conforming people, and their supporters. (Sanjeev Verma / HT Photo)

A participant holds a placard and wears a mask bearing the image of Queen Elizabeth II during the Pride march in 2014. India never criminalised homosexuality and gay sex in the past. It was the English who criminalised it but India has failed to strike off Section 377 from its constitution. (Arun Sharma / HT Photo)

A participant poses in front of young students (and supporters) of the Delhi Queer Pride movement at the march in 2015. (Manoj Verma / HT Photo)

A participant during the Pride march in 2016. While the Delhi Queer Pride parade is a celebration, it is also a claim to equality and the idea is to reclaim one’s identity and be proud if it. (Virendra Singh Gosain / HT PHOTO)